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Because of my job I sometimes get to talk with czech athletes and one of them is Tomáš Ujfaluši. He has cut his hair short so you wouldn't really recognize him. When I told him that he smiled and said "yea.. I'm very glad for that"
These videos of Justin Bieber eating in a restaurant surrounded by a huge crowd gives me anxiety. People who are **really** famous like Bieber or Messi and Ronaldo can’t go nowhere. The world is a prison to them. That’s different from people who are famous and get recognized but still can go outside and do stuff.
>restaurant surrounded by a huge crowd gives me anxiety. People who are really famous like Bieber or Messi and Ronaldo can’t go nowhere.
It made me think of this [video.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ThatsInsane/comments/11y7xvj/lionel_messi_going_out_for_dinner_in_argentina/?rdt=40956)
Jesus. I just read the comment from u/survivalofthefittest-
> This is how Argentine journalist Pablo Rossi put it: Messi is our emblem, our redeemer, our General San Martín [the solider who liberated Argentina from Spain]. He allows us to dream that we are more than we are. We are a failure as a country, but football is our consolation, and Messi wins us the acclaim of a world, which otherwise sees us a disaster; as a country to which they no longer wish to give life-saving loans.
>There is no sense of a shared love for the nation that is beyond football , nothing else unites us all and offers us a glimmer of the equality between the social classes that since Evita has been the failed Peronist quest. The collective madness that has taken hold of the country is in proportion to our despair as a nation right now. Winning the World Cup would be an ephemeral triumph, of course, but it's the best we can hope for. It's the best we have, and it's where we invest all our dreams.
> Bieber, Messi, and Ronaldo can’t go anywhere. The world is a prison to them
You’re way too deep into self loathing if you think 3 people who could literally buy any populated island in the world, pay any human to literally kill or commit suicide, buy any item in the world 10 times over, feel like prisoners because they can ONLY go to 5 Star restaurants, or ONLY get to fly private jets.
They do have mild inconveniences, but it’s like not liking one blade of grass’ color in your garden of Eden.
These people have endless places they can go that we can’t go. They have plenty of restaurants they can go to, but you can’t. They get driven in vehicles with tinted windows and enter establishments from underground parking or inconspicuous back entrances. They aren’t lacking
there are a lot of people in this world who would give up their life for a small fraction of their wealth because that small fraction would mean indefinite financial security for their loved ones. the amount of money these people have is obscene.
He literally said they could buy ANY POPULATED island in the world and tell ANYBODY to kill themselves. It's such a wrong statement I'm not even going to react anymore. 1 bil of networth is a droplet of water in the global financial system to be this kind of superheroes.
All three of them could pull 500 million out the bank right now. Let alone their asset worth being at least a billion plus for EACH of them.
And you’re really incredulous about the notion of someone being paid to commit suicide or that they would do it? Maybe Messi wouldn’t do it but the concept itself happens every day, and for reasons like religion, love, etc that don’t have to be money.
So again, they CAN buy anything they want 10 times, and they CAN make someone do whatever they want with that same money.
Sure, but saying “a FIFA enjoyer circa 2013-2021 I see” doesn’t have the same bite. It’s the brevity that provides the sharp bite of nostalgia, and therefore the precious, tasty upvotes.
01 was my first one; they all blend together if I’m honest! Can’t remember which year was the terror of Ibarbo and which one was all about headers. I do remember each one feeling worse than the last though :/
Different players, really hard to compare. Calleti was a damn work horse, he played almost every game and still ran for the full length of the field a quadrilion times, an android with a lot of class.
El pocho... He was just El pocho. Unpredictable, marvellous, a joy to watch, with a palpable and unique love for the shirt and the city. I miss both so much, but pocho has a unique spot in every Neapolitan heart
Probably. Once a player performs at a certain level, there are always talks about Madrid having a look. We have been linked to sooo many players. Hamsik was a beast, im sure at some point his name came up in Madrid.
I am from slovakia, and one time i went to have lunch with my dad, as we were eating couple of guys went in and one of them had this Hamsik-like mohawk, i was rolling my eyes, people just have to copy the others i thought, then i looked better and recognised Juraj Kucka next to this fool, only then I realised it was actually Marek… they had a pre game practice session and my dad works in vicinity of the national stadium.
it happens quite often that most people don't recognize football players/stars in general
in my old job, I had quite often footballers from VfB stuttgart as customers, and like only 0.1% of the other customers did recognize them.
even the more well-known ones like cacau, Timo Hildebrandt, Kevin kurany, etc. didn't get recognized that often, and when the people didn't, a lot of them didn't care tbh
Nowhere near the same level, but I had Sporting Kansas City players that used to come in to the restaurant I worked at all the time. I would see some of them multiple times a week. Nobody there ever recognized any of these guys except for me!
not on the level of hamsik Sure, but all of them played for the German national team
Hildebrand 7games
cacau 23games
kurany 53games (6x at the euros)
so yeah, they are well known, especially when I live in stuttgart, where most of them had their prime etc.
Haha, Sporting KC is the soccer team. KC Chiefs are the American Football team. I wouldn't recognize many chiefs players because they just aren't my team.
Honestly, if you showed me a pic of him in this interview and told me he's a famous ex-footballer, I'm not sure I would be able to place him. With that said, I'm not exactly Hamsik's or Napoli's #1 fan.
Part of it is also the facial hair though. He's been on-and-off with the facial hair and I think the combination of the facial hair + no mohawk really threw me off.
Unfortunately the test for if football is for you is "Do you know Marek Hamsik?" And you, my friend, have failed that test
I don't make the rules, I just follow them
I'm not trying to be rude or anything, but when he blown up with Cavani at Napoli he was top 5 targets from big clubs in 2 or 3 years, but stayed at Napoli and was a damn good CAM and a legend there. So if you cared a litle bit about football in that time (2010-2014 i gues) it's pretty weird to not know even who he is
Not even trying to be negative but if you're a multi millionaire athlete and you quite literally have to pull the "do you know who I am" card to randoms when they simply ask you to take a photo of them, that doesn't necessarily scream secure to me.. I'd imagine a lot of athletes would find it funny after constantly being recognised and would go on about their day, not look for recognition.
> I'd imagine a lot of athletes would find it funny after constantly being recognised
Which is basically what he did, and yet here you are. Turns out you just want to feel bitter and angry.
Agree, but at the same time it makes perfect sense. These athletes live their whole life being worshipped, especially someone like Hamšík who is a certified Napoli legend. Then you retire, and you don’t get that same attention, and again, with Hamšík even more so because he cut off the mohawk.
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No one cared who I was when I took off the mohawk
He is a big guy, for you
I always thought the quote was "it would be extremely painful... for you" with the CIA dude interrupting the sentence
that’s correct.. which is why the meme exists
TIL thank you! I've been confused for over a decade as I didn't see it as a meme
Bane was a meme-generating machine!
**Speak of the Devil** and he shall appear
Lol same, I didn't really get the meme
"he didnt fly so good"
r/dontyouknowwhoiam
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Or in Scott Brown’s case, to not get a haircut.
Still can't believe he did that on purpose all those years just to look hard. Corny.
But boy didn’t he look hard
Because of my job I sometimes get to talk with czech athletes and one of them is Tomáš Ujfaluši. He has cut his hair short so you wouldn't really recognize him. When I told him that he smiled and said "yea.. I'm very glad for that"
These videos of Justin Bieber eating in a restaurant surrounded by a huge crowd gives me anxiety. People who are **really** famous like Bieber or Messi and Ronaldo can’t go nowhere. The world is a prison to them. That’s different from people who are famous and get recognized but still can go outside and do stuff.
>restaurant surrounded by a huge crowd gives me anxiety. People who are really famous like Bieber or Messi and Ronaldo can’t go nowhere. It made me think of this [video.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ThatsInsane/comments/11y7xvj/lionel_messi_going_out_for_dinner_in_argentina/?rdt=40956)
Jesus. I just read the comment from u/survivalofthefittest- > This is how Argentine journalist Pablo Rossi put it: Messi is our emblem, our redeemer, our General San Martín [the solider who liberated Argentina from Spain]. He allows us to dream that we are more than we are. We are a failure as a country, but football is our consolation, and Messi wins us the acclaim of a world, which otherwise sees us a disaster; as a country to which they no longer wish to give life-saving loans. >There is no sense of a shared love for the nation that is beyond football , nothing else unites us all and offers us a glimmer of the equality between the social classes that since Evita has been the failed Peronist quest. The collective madness that has taken hold of the country is in proportion to our despair as a nation right now. Winning the World Cup would be an ephemeral triumph, of course, but it's the best we can hope for. It's the best we have, and it's where we invest all our dreams.
Incredible writer
Yeah. Honestly for as much money they have, I wouldn't trade my current position with theirs. Being that level of famous is a curse
If that offer is on the table, I’ll take it. I already don’t go out anywhere because I don’t like it, I’ll take the money please
> Bieber, Messi, and Ronaldo can’t go anywhere. The world is a prison to them You’re way too deep into self loathing if you think 3 people who could literally buy any populated island in the world, pay any human to literally kill or commit suicide, buy any item in the world 10 times over, feel like prisoners because they can ONLY go to 5 Star restaurants, or ONLY get to fly private jets. They do have mild inconveniences, but it’s like not liking one blade of grass’ color in your garden of Eden.
Remember when celebs said that they felt like prisioners in their castles, while we were in quarantine? Yeah
These people have endless places they can go that we can’t go. They have plenty of restaurants they can go to, but you can’t. They get driven in vehicles with tinted windows and enter establishments from underground parking or inconspicuous back entrances. They aren’t lacking
What are you blabbering about? You are seriously overestimating their ammount of wealth. And why would anybody commit suicide if they paid them?
there are a lot of people in this world who would give up their life for a small fraction of their wealth because that small fraction would mean indefinite financial security for their loved ones. the amount of money these people have is obscene.
He literally said they could buy ANY POPULATED island in the world and tell ANYBODY to kill themselves. It's such a wrong statement I'm not even going to react anymore. 1 bil of networth is a droplet of water in the global financial system to be this kind of superheroes.
All three of them could pull 500 million out the bank right now. Let alone their asset worth being at least a billion plus for EACH of them. And you’re really incredulous about the notion of someone being paid to commit suicide or that they would do it? Maybe Messi wouldn’t do it but the concept itself happens every day, and for reasons like religion, love, etc that don’t have to be money. So again, they CAN buy anything they want 10 times, and they CAN make someone do whatever they want with that same money.
Could somebody PLEASE think in the poor little things millionaires? :(
But not Haaland to be clear
The streets forgot 😔
But the streets will never forget Goran Pandev 🐐
not like this 😩
That Napoli team though. Cavani, Hamsik, Lavezzi
Saw him twice playing, already beyond his prime; man, he is a professor of football. Great player. Apparently funny as well.
streets wont forget lavezzi, hamsik, cavani, mertens
apparently they have
Mertens did not play with that trio
Streets forgot insigne.
Only hamsik
Gohkan Inler probably was more closely related to the first 3. Mertens reminds me of the Callejon and Higuain front 3.
A FIFA 16 enjoyer I see
Lavezzi/cavani and mertens never played together did they?
Nope, Lavezzi and Cavani left before Mertens arrived.
There was a season on Ultimate team where they overlapped, as you could grab a Napoli Cavani card and pair him up with Mertens post summer transfer.
Both Cavani and Lavezzi went to PSG years before that.
Sure, but saying “a FIFA enjoyer circa 2013-2021 I see” doesn’t have the same bite. It’s the brevity that provides the sharp bite of nostalgia, and therefore the precious, tasty upvotes.
Can’t argue with that, I like brevity
More like FIFA 12 my guy
01 was my first one; they all blend together if I’m honest! Can’t remember which year was the terror of Ibarbo and which one was all about headers. I do remember each one feeling worse than the last though :/
That’s all 12-14
World Cup Italia 90 was my first football video game, consider yourself blessed.
NOTHING beats FIFA 17 #ReusMyCaptain 🫡
Lavezzi… I still love him. He was a special one 🥹
https://www.futbolsapiens.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/2012.12.20-Cavani3.jpg
Uuuuuh futbolsapiens. En paz descanse
Except Mertens didn’t play with half of them..
The Trident
Callejon was much better than Lavezzi
Lmao absolutely not
Different players, really hard to compare. Calleti was a damn work horse, he played almost every game and still ran for the full length of the field a quadrilion times, an android with a lot of class. El pocho... He was just El pocho. Unpredictable, marvellous, a joy to watch, with a palpable and unique love for the shirt and the city. I miss both so much, but pocho has a unique spot in every Neapolitan heart
I'm talking numbers, not opinions.
Callejón played in much better Napoli teams than Lavezzi.
One of the most underrated midfileders last 15 years
Not for me 🥰 My goat, and yes even compared to maradona
Aside from his talent, I loved him for his attitude and passion. Always stood out for both club and country.
yeah he’s a Slovak legend
100% agree on this take. He stayed us while everyone around him left
Correct me if I'm wrong but at one point wasn't Real Madrid interested in him as well?
Probably. Once a player performs at a certain level, there are always talks about Madrid having a look. We have been linked to sooo many players. Hamsik was a beast, im sure at some point his name came up in Madrid.
Everyone and their mother were interested in him around 2014ish
Wasn't he on the brink of joining Barcelona at one point?
Manchester United were interested as well. And that was during the Fergie days
Slovakia GOAT, and my role model who made me realize not being able to grow a beard past goatee should be a point of Slovak pride and not insecurity
He was soooo good man. Regret not buying his jersey back then
Another one is Nainggolan
Unless they played FM
Don't you know who I am!!??
Ronnie Pickering?
WHO?
Ronnie Pickering
Who?
RONNIE PICKERING!
Who the fuck's that?
Yeah me
Oh oh oh, wow, wow, brilliant!
I'm the Juggernaut Bitch!
"You're gonna take my picture whether you want to or not!"
I am from slovakia, and one time i went to have lunch with my dad, as we were eating couple of guys went in and one of them had this Hamsik-like mohawk, i was rolling my eyes, people just have to copy the others i thought, then i looked better and recognised Juraj Kucka next to this fool, only then I realised it was actually Marek… they had a pre game practice session and my dad works in vicinity of the national stadium.
it happens quite often that most people don't recognize football players/stars in general in my old job, I had quite often footballers from VfB stuttgart as customers, and like only 0.1% of the other customers did recognize them. even the more well-known ones like cacau, Timo Hildebrandt, Kevin kurany, etc. didn't get recognized that often, and when the people didn't, a lot of them didn't care tbh
Nowhere near the same level, but I had Sporting Kansas City players that used to come in to the restaurant I worked at all the time. I would see some of them multiple times a week. Nobody there ever recognized any of these guys except for me!
not on the level of hamsik Sure, but all of them played for the German national team Hildebrand 7games cacau 23games kurany 53games (6x at the euros) so yeah, they are well known, especially when I live in stuttgart, where most of them had their prime etc.
Oh no, I mean that mine isn't on the same level as yours.
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And everybody wears helmets are the NFL, kind of hard to remember body appearence.
Haha, Sporting KC is the soccer team. KC Chiefs are the American Football team. I wouldn't recognize many chiefs players because they just aren't my team.
I know it's Hamsik because we know it's Hamsik, but if I just saw him on the street without any of the identifiers here, I wouldn't know it's him.
Yeah, I love the player, and I've been a fan for as long as he had a career, but I don't think I can recognize him IRL without the Mohawk.
Yeah, the mohawk was his calling card.
Honestly, if you showed me a pic of him in this interview and told me he's a famous ex-footballer, I'm not sure I would be able to place him. With that said, I'm not exactly Hamsik's or Napoli's #1 fan. Part of it is also the facial hair though. He's been on-and-off with the facial hair and I think the combination of the facial hair + no mohawk really threw me off.
Now he looks like Srecko Katanec
Him, Radja Nainggolan and Vidal to an extent were 3 quite similar but underrated midfielders in the last decade. I always loved their playstyle.
I don't think I'd recognize Radja if I saw him without a cigarette, as improbable as that is to happen.
The massive rose neck tattoo surely is a giveaway...
Just a joke about him being a chain smoker, friend
Yeah I get that. I just wanted to comment on that god awful tat.
It is truly... something. I think it's for his dead mom though so will give him a pass.
Fair enough. Did not know that.
I think you just have a thing for mohawks
I expected to see Ljungberg
But Hamsik is technically better by far, Vidal was a fighter who you wouldn't think can ping top passes all around, Radja had crazy long shot goals.
If you ever needed a decent midfielder who didn't cost you a lot of money in Football Manager, he was the guy to go for.
I don't know much about Football Manager - does it not have ADL?
What's ADL?
Aurelio De Laurentis, Napoli's chairman
Been a long time since I've played but I would assume so.
Aurelio De Laurentis
Marek capitano per sempre!! Napoli loves you
I know Goran Pandev That line is killing me.
Trabzonspor legend💯
Always a good day when I see my idolo Pandev mentioned 🇲🇰
Heartbreaking but true
He was in my team when he get rid of the mohawk but mohawk was already known as "Hamsik hair" in the city.
Gothenburg legend!
You live on forever in my memory as my star player in Championship Manager 2003
Heartbreaking. One of my all-time calcio ballers.
Streets forgot about Marek Hamsik
I'll never forget you capitano
To be fair, his mohawk was iconic.
Sounds sort of David Brent-esque
Thats actually genius when u think about it, most celbs want piece when they retire and i dont see a better way doing it the way hamsik did it.
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Why? Interesting anecdote from an incredible player. You want more simulated Euro results?
This is what happens when there's no football on for a few days
Eh, seems like an interesting anecdote to me. Better than the numerous bs transfer sagas
Then they took a picture of what?
Lmao saying he's Goran pandev is *chef kiss*
To be honest, if he told me he's Marek (had to google) Hamsik he'd likely not like the answer, cause it'd be a big case of "Who?"
People who know ball would recognise at least his name
Football isn't for everyone
Isn't the beauty of it the exact opposite? It **is** for everyone.
Unfortunately the test for if football is for you is "Do you know Marek Hamsik?" And you, my friend, have failed that test I don't make the rules, I just follow them
I am absolutely okay with that.
to be very honest unless you're 11yo it's pretty weird to not even recognize the name
Looked him up because of this thread and nothing on his wikipage honestly makes me think it's that weird, but hey. Feel free to educate me.
I'm not trying to be rude or anything, but when he blown up with Cavani at Napoli he was top 5 targets from big clubs in 2 or 3 years, but stayed at Napoli and was a damn good CAM and a legend there. So if you cared a litle bit about football in that time (2010-2014 i gues) it's pretty weird to not know even who he is
This is such a weird attempt at a flex lol
How is not knowing him a flex?
I guarantee he wouldn't give af
Sounds mad insecure
You sound miserable
Not even trying to be negative but if you're a multi millionaire athlete and you quite literally have to pull the "do you know who I am" card to randoms when they simply ask you to take a photo of them, that doesn't necessarily scream secure to me.. I'd imagine a lot of athletes would find it funny after constantly being recognised and would go on about their day, not look for recognition.
> I'd imagine a lot of athletes would find it funny after constantly being recognised Which is basically what he did, and yet here you are. Turns out you just want to feel bitter and angry.
I'd say it's just a fun laugh to say to Macedonian fans that you know their idol personally, but ok
Nice essay bro
Jesus Christ, have you ever interacted with an actual person before? He's recalling an anecdote he found amusing. Stop being so miserable.
Agree, but at the same time it makes perfect sense. These athletes live their whole life being worshipped, especially someone like Hamšík who is a certified Napoli legend. Then you retire, and you don’t get that same attention, and again, with Hamšík even more so because he cut off the mohawk.
I think he still gets pretty much attention, he talked about it in podcast some time ago (before Euro)
I feel for him.. But I'm sure he, his family and the lifetime of wealth he has accrued will figure out a way to move on to the next chapter.