|
A Happy Jock is a Productive Jock
Joe Dimaggio had Marilyn Monroe. David Beckham has Posh Spice. Rocky had Adrian. Members of China's national team, however, will be lucky to have their squeezes around to help ease pregame jitters. The squad's popular Serbian coach, Bora Milutinovic, revived a hoary controversy surrounding sex and athletic performance when he told his players their wives and girlfriends could accompany them to the Cup—an innovation disturbing to the puritanical Chinese establishment. TV commentators denounced Milutinovic for violating an "unwritten rule" barring Chinese players from scoring anywhere but on the pitch. Unauthorized displays of prowess "diminish a man's hormonal level and sap his fighting spirit," carped the influential newspaper Southern Daily. Of course, some coaches have long discouraged lovemaking the night before the big game saying it causes Jell-O legs—Muhammad Ali abstained for six weeks before fights—but scientific studies have found no correlation between sex and the saggy sportsman. In the end, Milutinovic, who brought his philosophy of "happy soccer" to China, conceded to critics by saying he would prefer it if female companions got rooms in separate hotels and visited their men only "to drink coffee." Does anyone have the number for room service? |
