Phil Ball Signs Off

This yellow card is being shown to Phil Ball (and is shown with all the consideration and professionalism one must of course muster when cautioning a giant of the game) for interrupting his seasonal column on La Liga and bidding 'Hasta la vista' to Spain's first division football in favor of the desert sands of the Middle East. Just for the rest of this season, or so Phil says.

However, the whole piece feels like the end of an era. Phil has signed off before with no small flourish of finality, but always with the conviction that a new season will start like clockwork. There's far more reminiscing here. There's talk of his first column (back in 2001), the hardest to write (after the Madrid train bombings), and last season's tribute to Athletic Bilbao (one of Spain's oldest clubs). He mentions seeing Becks come and go, and there's the image of Spain's long-awaited European title. It's all the faces flashing before you, before the finish. And just think--Barca may well now win back the league with not a word from Phil! Conspiracy theorists will surely sink their teeth into that one.

Hopefully, Phil will be back. His Monday morning reports are the stuff more sportswriting should be made of. It's a snapshot of Sunday in Spain, all of consequence and inconsequence up for discussion, but firmly rooted in the ritual of Spanish style. The only question now: is this column too nostalgic to be only an intermission?

Answers on the back of a postcard, please.

Phil Ball cautioned per Section B-1 for a professional take down.