7/4/2002: Ronaldo-esque Chinese boy
 

http://cellar.org/2002/ronaldoboy.jpg

Count Zero requested an image for Brazil's winning the World Cup, but he didn't have an image and all of the images I saw were rather ordinary. (Brazil winning the cup? That's not unusual! They are the football power of our time...)

This one is more interesting because it's a young Chinese toddler whose hair has been cut and styled to match that of Brazilian hero player Ronaldo's hair as he wore it in the finals, with all but a front bit shaved off. This kid is in Beijing, too, not Hong Kong or Taiwan.

The point is, if Chinese society has opened to the point where styles are coming from world events, where even infants can be indoctrinated -- then, slowly, they are moving into step with the rest of the world, and with that will come more and more reforms. If a Chinese babe has a hero from truly the other side of the world, well that's awesome. Once again sport is the common language of the people.

It's a beautiful thing.

... but Sports is still not a Forum in the Cellar. ;)

Interestingly, it did have a section in previous incarnations! Should it have one now?

Sports Forum on the Cellar
 

I think Sports woud be a major forum topic. There's always something going on in major sports that captures the interest fo the masses. There's always some controversy. There's rivalry and heated debates. The nice thing about sports is that everyone is an expert, even if all they have to go on is a computer and a TV. ;)

And there are personal sports interests and experiences that could be discussed in a Sports Forum.

[bragging]Hey, just yesterday, my son went to a minor league baseball tryout at the invitation of the Pittsburgh Pirates ... that was a fun experience, even though he didn't make the cut this year. He's still got time.[/bragging]

There are other sports forums, some using vBulletin, too, but none with the community of the Cellar.

And so it is done.

Might not be based on Ronaldo...
 

Are you sure that this boy's hair was cut to match Ronaldo?

Such haircuts were actually once quite common for small children in China, and this might just be a kid with a traditional haircut. In fact, when my (Chinese) parents saw Ronaldo's haircut, they said, "Hey! His haircut is just like what Chinese children used to get!"

So my guess is that this kid's hair was not actually cut to match Ronaldo.

Re: 7/4/2002: Ronaldo-esque Chinese boy
 

Well, it's only the second time it happened in my lifetime...
I hope you're not talking about the haircut ! :)

Some people here are also getting this hideous haircut. I think they should be fined for ugliness.

(It's not so bad on the kid though)

Re: Re: 7/4/2002: Ronaldo-esque Chinese boy
 

If they fined for ugliness in Philadelphia, most people here would be incredibly poor. :D

(Sorry...I was waiting for an opening to throw that out. :) )

Huh! Interesting Ken.. I don't know what the real story on this one is. The Reuters caption suggested that it was a World Cup thing, but maybe they weren't aware of that coincidence.

Re: Might not be based on Ronaldo...
 

not to nit pick, but... is is a boy or a girl? i dont see too many boys wearing halter-tops. but who knows. :)

See, these are the cases where I really should capture the caption. I think it referred to what the kid was wearing as some special Chinese garb, not just your every-day shirt.

Re: Re: Re: 7/4/2002: Ronaldo-esque Chinese boy
 

That's because I'm not there for people to emulate anymore. :rolleyes:

Brian

Re: Re: Might not be based on Ronaldo...
 

It's a traditional Chinese children's outfit. That's another sign.. the outfit is from the same style that the haircut is. Again, I don't know if there are rural areas where they still actually dress kids like this normally, or whether this is a dress-up thing; hard to tell without context, but I think the Reuters folks were probably just extrapolating without doing real research. :P

Here's ronaldo....

Couldn't find a better picture of his haircut.

Here it is... Kissing the world cup with Rivaldo.