Wednesday it’s integrity in sports and politics.

First Ronaldo.

One of the world’s most talented soccer players and accomplished whiners in the world was obviously not getting enough attention recently so he decided to change that.

In a game in which he scored two goals he choose not to celebrate the goals and when the inevitable questions were asked after the game, he simply said he was “sad.”

He didn’t say why he was sad, he simply reverted to his 10-year-old childish personality and said that’s just the way it was.

Of course Ronaldo’s sadness spawned front page headlines and the search for the Holy Grail of soccer . . . what would make Ronaldo happy?

Short of a complete psychological makeover, it would be difficult for anyone to assess why a guy making tons of money, playing on one of the glamour teams in the world, a guy who can have whatever he wants, would be sad.

But sometimes it is difficult to figure out children.

One newspaper story probably comes as close as any to the true sadness behind Ronaldo. He has almost everything but he doesn’t have everything and when someone fails to get everything they want, it is always someone else’s fault.

It isn’t really a question of money the story says, although Ronaldo isn’t exactly happy he isn’t the highest played player in the world. Somehow 10 million euros net isn’t enough because others are making the same or more.

Nope, the story says Ronaldo is more worried about “respect, affection and recognition. (Ronaldo does not feel he has the backing of his club, his teammates or the fans.”

He doesn’t feel the team supported him enough in his desire to be chosen UEFA Best Player in Europe, or that they won’t change the rules for selecting the captain which right now is based on how long a player has been with the club and he’s also unhappy because he believes the players do not see him as a leader on the club.

Here’s the classic. Ronaldo is also upset he was not defended by all fans when he was booed at El Bernabeu Stadium.

Is it all true?
Most likely it is.

Some fans may join Ronaldo in feeling sadness.

Some will feel rage that Ronaldo continues to act like an egomaniac regardless of the cost to everyone else.

Some simply ignore the tantrums whether they are leg-kicking, roll around on the floor tantrums or the quiet, please-notice-me-I-am-sad tantrums like this one.

Ronaldo becomes yet another star athlete who has lost touch with the real world as he strives to gain something he never will.

He won’t gain it because it is something that’s not given to you it has to be earned . . . respect and leadership.

No amount of sadness or manipulation will ever change that.

Canadians can spin our country’s performance any way it wants but it was poor. It was so poor that the media had to seize whatever opportunities they could and beat them to death as they did the women’s soccer team. A bronze medal in a sport that has a reduced field to begin with is a fine accomplishment and it was deserved but it’s far from a Top 4 finish at a World Cup for example.

It’s the story that captured the imagination. Canada almost beat a United States team it hasn’t beaten in years running into some unfortunate refereeing on its way to a loss.

What should really be celebrated is the fact a Canadian soccer team finally responded positively to a pressure situation.

As a soccer fan, it was wonderful to see the sport finally get some attention from people other than those who love the sport. We will see whether the momentum remains until the 2015 World Cup being held in Canada.

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The Olympics aren’t about National Basketball Association players coming in and dominating the sport. They aren’t about Serena Williams, Roger Federer, Andy Murray coming in and dominating the sport.

The Olympics are more about events such as team handball, wrestling, judo, archery, shooting, running swimming, gymnastics events that many countries never see and that never get the kind of international publicity of other events. That’s the beauty of watching Olympic events.

There is a greater value in a gold medal won by a modern pentathlete or dccathlete, rower or team handball player than there is in a gold medal won by a team with LeBron James, Bryant and the handful of other NBA stars.

Perhaps the Olympics should consider going to an age-rule for basketball and tennis as they do for soccer. You have to be under a certain age to be eligible.

It took more effort for the American professionals to work up some emotion at the win than it did to actually win.

The 2012 Games currently going on in London are being covered in Canada by a broadcasting consortium that includes TSN, CTV and Sportsnet.

Their coverage has been widespread. That’s the good news. There are multiple sports to choose viewing from throughout the day and night.

CBC won’t be able to match that and that is the bad news.

The good news is we won’t have to put up with the same feature or news event being covered at least once on all three stations.

Honestly, seeing an almost frothing Canadian interviewing gushing at an eighth place finish is bad enough but seeing it done by three different gushers on three different stations is too much.

For those who care nothing about who wins or loses and are only interested in the competition, the lack of perspective by television desk jockeys is one of the main reasons so many are turned off an event where flag waving and excuse-making by media has become commonplace.

The classic came during the Olympic women’s road race involving Canadian Clara Hughes. After the race, one of those television desk jockeys explained that while Hughes didn’t win a medal, she at one time led the race.

He failed to mention that Hughes led the race when every racer was still in the peloton and she was merely at the front along with another 20 or so riders who took turns “leading the race.”

Athletes just want to be respected and given credit for how hard they work. They are the last people who want the media to make excuses for them.

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Please, please, please, stop calling women or young women “girls.” They are athletes or young women, or women. Calling a 25-year-old woman a girl is demeaning.

The funny thing is, you don’t hear announcers calling adult men “boys,” ever.

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Finally, cheating is a standard at the Olympics. Some athletes get caught, others don’t whether it’s drugs or simply manipulating the system. The badminton scandal saw four teams thrown out of the Olympics for losing games deliberately so they could get a better seeding in the next round. The teams were so obvious about it, Olympic officials had not choice but to toss the teams out.

But what’s incredible is that the Japanese women’s soccer team is still in the Olympics after their coach admitted manipulating a result against South Africa to get a better seed in the next round.

The Japanese coach admitted telling his players not to score in the second half.

Why are the Japanese still in the Olympics?

The four-year-old USL Premier Development League soccer franchise is holding the PDL North American finals at Cove Road Field Saturday. The Blues have a chance to win a title that is one of the most difficult to attain considering how many teams play in the PDL.

The team’s on-field success is terrific, proof that you can be successful in soccer in this city. That on-field success comes because FC London has long-time, knowledgeable soccer people at the helm especially Martin Painter as coach. In four years FC London has made the playoffs every year.

But success only comes with tenacity and organization behind the scenes. Ian Campbell is the owner of this franchise and given the size of his wallet he could probably get a bunch of people to do the hard work. But with Campbell soccer is a passion and he is tireless in his pursuit of making this franchise successful. He and his FC London’s organization and other teams are always in the community getting involved and participating. When things turn difficult, and there have been times when not all was smooth sailing, Campbell and the organization simply worked harder to find a way to makes things better.

The product on the pitch is evidence of Painter, Campbell and everyone else’s hard work. FC London is the essence of what a community owned team needs to do. But they also constantly find players that are worth spending money to come out and see.

The Blues may not win the North American title but when they play Seattle on Saturday at Cove Road Field it will be a show and an experience. The place will be jammed with thousands of fans turning the German Canadian Club into a soccer festival.

It is the kind of night soccer fans in this city wait for.

It’s a reward well merited for bogth those fans but especially FC London.

While these are penalties to Penn State and its football program, it is a warning to every other university not only in the United States but in many ways Canada as well.

And it’s about time the warning was issued.

University sports and those who run university sports, has developed a culture where they believe they are in a world unto themselves. It is a world where you do whatever you can to advance and protect your sport. It is a world where lies and deceit are placed on a scale of little white lies up to Penn State level. It is a world where coaches and sports administrators demand respect while not giving any back. It is a world where programs often give the middle finger to fans, their own administrators and the media, where accountability is only a word and where they actually believe that what happens within the confines of a team structure remains in the confines of a team structure, no matter how horrific or illegal that activity is.

It is the essence of Sports Gone Wild.

In the months that have gone by after the discovery of Sandusky’s abuse, coach Joe Paterno’s and other leaders at Penn State’s attempt to cover up the abuse, there has been a public debate that has attempted to separate what Sandusky did, what the football program did along with attempts to exonerate Paterno. It’s what happens in the culture of sports. No matter what happens, we will defend our actions because we are not accountable to the real world.

Penn State’s penalties are severe but no penalty would have been severe enough. Paterno’s statue will be taken down. In truth, if Penn State wanted to remind everyone of what really happened, the phony saint’s statue should be left up with a postscript, “He is a man who preached about humanity but sold out the well-being of children for the sake of a football program.”

There will be plenty of moaning and groaning about the penalties punishing the school. Most of it will focus on punishing a group of individuals who had nothing to do with what happened.

There is a $60-million fine representing about one year of football profits, a four-year bowl ban, all wins from 1998 to 2011 are vacated and a variety of other punishments.

In announcing the punishments Mark Emmert, NCAA president, makes some laudable if laughable points. It seems like some of these guys have just come in from another planet.

Emmert warns about “athletic culture taking precedence over the academic culture.”

You think!!!!!

“We’ll dramatically scale back our TV contract to avoid the hero worship and athletic culture I’ve just vilified,” he continued.

Good luck with that especially when the NCAA has to leave millions of dollars on the table. People get stupid over sports. It takes over their lives to the point where they so idolize athletes, many of whom are jerks and jackasses, that they turn a blind eye to child sexual abuse.

But the line has now been drawn. We aren’t naïve enough to believe that this alone will prevent those who play, coach or administer teams from continuing to keep their culture, practices and mindset separate from the real world.

We aren’t naïve enough to believe that these people won’t be defended for doing it by the many people who have nothing else but sports to get them through the day.

But the penalties and after-shock of Penn State will give them pause for thought about the consequences of attempting to do what Penn State did.

It also challenges everyone else, fans, media and players alike to do the right thing by making teams accountable when sports culture goes wild.

Since returning though, it has surprised me how many people of Polish descent in London followed the tournament with tremendous interest, even if soccer was not high up on their priority scale.

What was important to them was how people viewed their country in terms of friendliness, preparedness and in general the overall view of visitors who travelled to Poland.

Was it enjoyable?

Poland was not completely prepared for the tournament but there was an awful lot to do. When their road system and train system is finished, it will be an easy country to travel.  To all the Poles in this area, rest easy. Being situated in Poland for the tournament was a stroke of luck for those who drew that straw, the people, the food, the atmosphere, the facilities where all first class.

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One of the best things about having time off in July is being able to watch the Tour de France bike race. Aside from interviewing Mohammed Ali, covering the juiced up race and racers is at the top of the bucket list.

Since it likely won’t ever happen, I have to be satisfied with being a voyeur and watching on television.

But that doesn’t prevent me from venting frustration at one of the most difficult sporting events in the world.

There is still two weeks to go until the Tour reaches Paris for the final stage. No one knows whether Bradley Wiggins will retain his lead or Cadel Evans or someone else will take over before Paris. As those who follow bike racing know, the final stage is usually a ceremonial stage. The only thing to be decided is who will win the stage race. Whoever leads the Tour de France the day before Paris, is the winner even if they lead by 10 seconds, one second or 10 minutes.

During that final stage, the leader’s team is pictured sipping champagne while the race meanders to Paris. The expectation is that no one, especially the second place challenged will disrupt the Sunday ride.

Is there anything more ridiculous?

You train for a year to compete, and compete is the optimum word here, in a 2,000-kilometre bike race With one stage left you are 10 seconds behind and the expectation is that you meekly ride out the day in the final stage and allow the leader to win.

Yes, I realize that on a flat stage like the last in the Tour, it is difficult to make up time. I also realize that it has become tradition to not challenge on the last stage. It’s also tradition that bike racers dope but that doesn’t make it right.

It would be marvelous if when it came down to Paris there were only a few seconds separating the top riders. Maybe someone would be willing to buck tradition instead of continuing to do something that is so dumbass.

After all, it is a 20-stage race, not 19. That’s like a hockey team trailing by a goal playing only 59 of a game’s 60 minutes.

Since I am sharing an apartment in the outskirts of Warsaw with two other writers, Cathal Kelly of the Toronto Star and John Doyle of the Globe and Mail, Cathal (I would normally say Kelly but for some reason, that seems to offend him. He says it is so impersonal,) anyway Cathal has named it Canada House. From now on Canada House means the apartment.

My fly killing adventure at Canada House.

First of all, they have some really big flies in Poland. I don’t know what they eat and I don’t want to think what they eat. But they are big ones.

There is nothing worse than a fly getting into the house and buzzing around your ear. As I lay my weary body down to sleep, I hear this horrendous buzzing sound in my ear. I check my blood pressure and it is fine. Then I see it. The Fly. It looks like a sparrow. I have nothing big enough to dispatch the fly as it buzzes from room to room.

So I take off my shorts. They are big shorts, the nice long cloth kind. They cover lots of air space and I’m not going to let the mutant from some horror show escape.

The fly has lots of jam unlike me who just got home at 3:30 a.m. from a road trip (by the way, did you know that the sky actually lightens at 3 a.m. in Poland? But I digress.) So I chase the fly. He escapes. Or maybe she escapes.

I stand in the middle of the doorway and wait for him to land. He refuses to land. He buzzes me like Tom Cruise in Top Gun. I swing and miss and slam the wall. I swing again and hit floor.

“Hey, what’s going on up there,” says Cathal. “Want me to come up.”

No since I don’t have any shorts on.

I finally calm down and remember my favourite television actor Kwai Chang Caine (David Carradine, Kung Fu) .

Flashback.

Master Po: Close your eyes. What do you hear?

Young Mo: I hear the buzzing Master.

Po: Do you not hear your heartbeat?

Mo: I hear Cathal popping the tab of his beer can.

Po: Do you not hear the individual beats of the fly’s wings.

Mo: No Master, how can you hear it?

Po: How can you not?

It was enough. With David Carradine as my inspiration, I close my eyes and swing. The buzzing stops. I can’t find the body but the fly is no more.

Master Po: You’ve done well, Grasshopper.

Mo: Where has the fly gone Master?

Po: Nowhere. Only the vessel which holds the spirit is dead. But the fly’s spirit now lives in all of us.

That’s kind of gross. But at least it’s over. I put my shorts back on and lie down.

Five minutes later surrounded by silence, I feel blissful sleep come over me,

Buzz, buzz.

I open one eye.

Buzz, buzz.

To hell with you Master Po.

The communications are often complimentary, at times critical. They are often enlightening if at times critical. They are colourful.

It is a joy to be contacted by these well-spoken, respectful individuals.

“Hey Meathead, (That’s me.)
“Ur quick to shoot down Italy every chance u get or ur praise them in 1 sentence and crucify them for 2 paragraphs!
“The reality is ur a jealous sports writer who knows diddly squat about soccer.
“Ur a joke… how u predicted the pork chops or pork n cheese to finish 3rd, almost dropped my plate of lasagna when I read that!
“Oh and today in ur top 5 moments u seemed to forget, as always…. To mention that the ballerina, ronaldo… who self proclaimed to better than messi…. Hahahahahaahah…excuse me for a second…. Didnt do jack (expletive deleted) against Germany…. U should have seen all the pork chops on dundas st. crying!
“Oh that made my day!!!
“Forza Azzurri!
“4 world cups and counting! (Fortunately this guy has five fingers I think or he might not have figured that out.)
“Dont worry my skinny (hahahahahah) little biased sports writer, in 2 years when the chops get thrown out of the world cup u can cheer on Brazil…. Hahahahahahha
“How pathetic u porkchops are!”

Signed

Your brother-in-law

Ok, it wasn’t my brother in law who wrote it. But I am Italian. I was born in Italy.

That was a full email. Here are some excerpts from others.

“Dear Mr. Dalla Costa,

You suck.”

“What planet are you from? Really! Do you come from the Planet Suck?”

“I like to think I’m a reasonable person. I’m not the kind of guy that usually writes to writers especially since most of them don’t know anything. I’m like to discuss things in a reasonable fashion, respecting someone’s else opinion. But the point you made about soccer having changed to the point where you wouldn’t take your daughter, is idiotic. How can you say that? It’s a stupid point. Kids can go downtown and see people drunk. They can see fights. They can see people call each other racist names. They don’t have to go to a soccer game for that. So what difference does it make?”

“Hey dumbass, do they pay you to write that crap? I would do it for free and be better at it. All they’d have to do is pay my bills and feed me. Dumbass.”

Finally I got a nice one.

“Dear exalted friend,

“I just wanted to let you know that I am a solicitor for the estate of Esquire Edith Givens. In searching her papers, you come up as the only distant relative even though you may not remember the dear Madame. But she left you more than 15 million pounds.

“All that is needed is banking information including account numbers. Please contact me at . . . . “

Now, isn’t that nice.

Try the McDonald’s Restaurant on the road to Poznan, Poland near Lodz.

Now you think who would review a McDonald’s restaurant?

Not so fast. Expand your mind. Let your imagination run wild. Do not think North American McDonalds.

Part of this is for my kid at home Juliana. She’s made a studies of McDonald’s eating at everyone she sees. It’s become the hangout for her and her slew of friends, Gillian, Maddie, Misa, Hope, Danica, Sammy K., when they aren’t doing something else.

When I pulled into the parking lot with travelling companion Toronto Star’s Cathal Kelly, I didn’t think I would review it. I mean, it is McDonald’s.

But having been on the road since early morning the furnace needed to be fed.

I ask for a large caffe latte (delicious) and an Egg McMuffin with sausage (I point to the picture.) The McDonald only has breakfast items on the board.

An Egg McMuffin is only an Egg McMuffin right?

So I believed.

But this wasn’t your ordinary muffin with tire-flattened sausage.

The first bite was surprising.

Soft, fresh muffin, an egg cooked perfectly and the sausage, oh my God, the sausage! I have no idea what they put in it but the spices were nirvana.

It was so good I had another which was just like the first.

The menu was not your average North American menu either. There were breakfast sandwiches with bacon, egg, lettuce tomatoes on real Portuguese buns.

Flash forward 14 hours.

On the drive back to Warsaw, we were passing the same McDonald’s. We hadn’t eaten since that morning.

What awaited us at the apartment . . . delightful if frozen Dr. Oetker pizza.

We pulled into the McDonald’s.

The board was changed and the breakfast items had been replaced by dinner items.

I went for the Big Euro combo, while Kelly went for a wrap.

The wrap was at least a 10-incher and mega-fresh.

The Big Euro was big. It was two patties, cheese and all the condiments. There was not a sesame seed to be seen on the bun. The bun looked as if it had just come out of the oven. The tomato and lettuce were crisp and fresh.

The additions to the menu were chicken wings the kind with bones in them. They were bar-food worthy.

The people working there were all adults and no matter how long the lineup, you were in and out in a hurry. They put the word fast, back in fast food.

We are heading back to Poznan Monday.

I think I’ll try the wrap.

I have decided to no longer take long train rides to other cities. That is the life saving decision. After several experiences with first class travel on trains in Poland, I would rather walk. First class is an single compartment with six seats. You have no choice as to compartment mates.

Second class is the same type of compartment only they add two more seats and two more people. It’s the same space, just more people.

Warsaw to Gdansk takes six hours. It’s daylight on the way up. You can actually stand, open the window just outside your compartment and have the fresh air blow in your face. Everyone is relatively sober and relatively, ahem, fresh.

Gdansk to Warsaw, takes six hours. It is nighttime. It is raining. It is damp and smelly. You can open the window only if you desire a severe rain lashing. Some of your compartment mates are now not sober and not so fresh. They sprawl over the seats, take off their shoes (oh joy) and allow everything to relax including . . . oh, never mind.

After standing for two hours, I’d had enough and had no choice but to sit down. Everyone else was asleep and I slid into my seat, it took two minutes for the man next to me to lovingly slide his head onto my shoulder breathing the sweet smell of Zywiec beer.

I not so lovingly got up, letting go of his head.

Never again! If I had more than two pair of jeans with me, I’d burn the pair I wore to Gdansk.

So given the choice of gagging to death or risking some form of transmittable disease, I made my life threatening decision.

I would travel the rest of my stay in Poland by car.

Stay tuned. I hope I have the opportunity to talk with you all again.