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Arsenal: Dear Juventus, please refer to Aaron Ramsey as Super Rambo
By Josh Sippie
Arsenal have officially said their farewell to Aaron Ramsey but I, for one, will still look forward to Super Rambo sightings in Italy.
There weren’t a lot of things to celebrate in the latter stages of Arsene Wenger’s tenure at Arsenal. There weren’t any Premier League titles or Champions League trophies, but what might have ended up being a tremendously disappointing close to an era turned into anything but.
One big reason why was Aaron Ramsey, Super Rambo, the Welsh Xavi. The 11-year Arsenal man had always been pegged as a future star from the moment he arrived at Cardiff and, speaking from a personal standpoint, he was the first jersey I ever owned. Something about the way he played felt like it was an unmissable talent and I wanted to be one of the first people to jump on the Rambo bandwagon, which I now have permanent residence on.
One horrific broken leg later, and the faith of the club invested in him, despite sickening treatment from fans at times, Ramsey came out of the wilderness with a gratitude towards the club that translated to an unending passion for wearing the red and white.
The moments that made Ramsey a latter-Wenger-era legend piled up incredibly fast. Not all of them had to do with winning trophies either, though most of them did. I was on a family vacation when Arsenal played Hull City in the FA Cup final that would end the trophy drought and, watching the match alone, for fear of what emotional damage I would sustain if it went awry, I was expecting a precarious venture into PKs.
When Ramsey slotted it home just inside the near post, I circumnavigated the couch I’d been sitting on about 50 times, singing “We Are The Champions” and pledging to name my first born son Aaron Ramsey Sippie.
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It wasn’t the last bit of magic that he would inspire that calendar year either. Just seven months later, he scored what remains to me the most amazing goal I have ever seen. You all know what I’m talking about – the frozen rope he fired against Galatasaray. The one that made Yaya Sanogo more famous for his facial expression his actual ability.
I’ve seen curlers and backheels and bicycles, but to hit a ball that straight and that perfect from that far away, it defied logic for me.
After a few seasons of recurring injury problems, Ramsey made his heroism return front and center when Arsenal had their biggest test in years – an FA Cup Final against Chelsea. For all those that said Hull City wasn’t big enough, and Aston Villa wasn’t big enough, here we had a club that was big enough, no matter the competition.
It couldn’t have gone any other way. Aaron Ramsey, in the 67th minute, a headed goal that could only have worked because he read the game perfectly.
Ramsey built his fortune on instincts. He could read the game to perfection. He knew when to make his run, he knew how to finish the run, he knew how to spot a run. He was a cerebral player, and his brain often doesn’t get enough credit. You have to be a thinker to appear in the right place at the right time so often. You have to see things before they happen, imagine how they will pan out before they do. Ramsey did that.
We called him Super Rambo for a reason. Because for a club that so often struggles with individual inspiration, or with inspiring belief, Ramsey was like a super hero. When he was on the pitch, he was capable of anything. He could score from 40 yards or tuck the perfect pass or be exactly where he needed to be when a cross came into the box.
He inspired something greater than the often humdrum status quo and he did it with a constant smile on his face. He did it with an energy and enthusiasm that always stood out as something unique, and enviable.
And this year, in a season that we knew would be his last from way too early on, it was as if nothing changed. With limited minutes and no future at the club, Ramsey was still smiling, scoring, assisting, as if he was going to be here for the rest of his life. And I wish he was.
Dear Juventus, you are getting a maestro. You are getting a player that will inspire your fans, that won’t quit, that can change games. So please, refer to him as his proper name – Super Rambo.