A New Year resolution defines as a commitment that a person makes to complete a set of goals or break certain habits, for the better. Since Mario Balotelli joined Manchester City, you could argue that, as a player, he’s slowly breaking habits that had hounded his career to date. However, while he is improving his attitude and performance on-the-pitch, his off-the-pitch antics continue to intrigue, interest and infuriate everyone.
Making a New Year’s resolution, should prove itself as beneficial to the person making the commitment. It is a goal, or a set of goals, that should, over the forthcoming year, improve a person’s worth and accomplish something worthwhile. Fernando Torres and Andy Carroll probably share similar New Year’s resolutions, to score goals more frequently, and Steve Kean’s is probably something to do with continual deceitfulness throughout the entire year, in what can only be described as lawful extortion.
By committing to a New Year’s resolution, a person is acknowledging the need for new traits in new beginnings. It comes after reflection upon their wrongdoings over the previous year and culminates in seeking forgiveness and it seems that Mario Balotelli has already started, or at least the air of comical mystery around him has, to seek that forgiveness.
His habits, that Mancini advises he should change, “I hope the New Year can bring a different way for him,” have included, among many other happenings, driving into an all-female prison in his Mercedes Coupe with his 17-year old brother because they were, “especially curious at the fact it was a women’s prison,” handing £1000 to a homeless man as he left a casino and exclaiming, when asked by police why he had £5000 in £20 notes in his pocket, “because I can. I’m rich.” Some may see this, including myself, as a rich man’s lighthearted ways, but The Guardian label it as “self- aggrandising acts of vulgarity.”
What the writer of the article entitled, “Mario Balotelli gives Britain a new buffoon” in which he states that the Italian’s behaviour makes Wayne Rooney seem parochial, fails to do, among slamming the Manchester City striker as a “real idiot’s idiot,” is credit him for the good things he has done off-the-pitch, or attempt to search for some logic in his lightheartedness.
Mario Balotelli was born in Sicily to a Ghanaian couple and as an infant, he suffered a serious illness that is fatal to most, having to undergo a series of operations on his intestines. This was all before he had reached the age of 2. Then, aged 3, social workers in Brescia, where he was being raised, advised that the young Ghanian Italian should be fostered, as they struggled to raise a young Mario in a cramped home. From 3-years old, Balotelli was brought up by a white Italian couple, who he now, after growing apart from his biological parents, calls mamma e papà. Now, as a professional footballer, playing for mega-rich Manchester City, he is aware that he has a, “a responsibility as a role model to children,” before adding, “I try to fulfil that.” A far cry from the unsurprisingly unnamed blogger that described Balotelli as the new “idiot laureate.” Balotelli is giving back.
If Balotelli is expected to go all out on a New Year’s resolution, merely slating his off-the-pitch behaviour and grouping it as “off-the-field misdemeanors” is shallow. In his first act of pleading for forgiveness, Super Mario supposedly drove around Manchester handing out money to passers-by, all whilst donning a Father Christmas outfit. If that isn’t worth forgiveness, then driving around Manchester after the Blue half had beaten the Red half, high-fiving all City fans from his convertible Bentley is. Unfortunately, like many stories about Balotelli, both of the above are unconfirmed; just think of him as the Chuck Norris of football.
Most heart-warming of all the Mario myths, be they true, false or unconfirmed, is his quest for justice in the playground; a story quite believable considering the racist taunts he suffered, growing up as a black child to white adopted parents in a racist part of Italy. One morning, having finished training at Manchester City’s Carrington training ground, Balotelli jogged over to where fans were watching, to sign shirts and autograph books. He was faced with a young lad asking him for his signature and Balotelli quizzed the kid over why he wasn’t in school. When the Italian was told by the youngster that he was being bullied at school, he drove the kid and his mum, who was with him at Carrington, to the school before demanding to see the headteacher. He then proceeded to identify the bully and saw over an apology and handshake, before leaving again in his Maserati.
Whether it’s true or not will remain a mystery unless Balotelli confirms the many unconfirmed stories of generosity and the ridiculous. However, that remains unlikely, “‘I am a very, very private person, I know some players like being the centre of attention and I admit that when I first became a player I liked fame, too. But that feeling lasted only for three months. Then I realised what it was really like to be the centre of attention all the time. It isn’t all good.” It is believable though; a porter at the apartment block where Mario resides has stated that, ‘Mario treats me really well, he’s a good guy. When I asked him for a signed shirt it was there, he’s very kind.’
Either way, the hearty Italian should not curb his ways: “With enigmatic players like Balotelli, you have to ignore a lot of what they do – he’s worth the hassle,” said Keown. After all, Balotelli won’t change his ways; ”Every day I fight against Mario and sometimes I would like to give him a punch.” said Mancini. “He couldn’t. I do Thai kick-boxing,” replied Balotelli. Of course, he was joking. His character is infectious, his behaviour is admirably rebellious and his talent is supreme. But is he a, “new figurehead for footballing buffoons” like The Guardian claims, or is he in fact a, “playful jiber, delivering with affection: a young man who does not always wish to take life so seriously,” like the Daily Mail states?
For me, this year, if Balotelli is to set a New Year’s Resolution, like his boss suggests, it shouldn’t be to have “a different way.” Balotelli has reignited many a love affair with football and his only commitment for 2012 should be, “To keep them asking, why always me?”
Written by Jordan Florit for www.maycauseoffence.com/ For more articles visit my website or my Twitter @JordanFlorit
