Generation gap......amidst the World Cup madness

By Zee Monodee

As fellow Diva Kayla Perrin pointed it out in the last post on here, no one is really escaping World Cup madness. Everyone is rallying behind their countries, and since I'll never see Mauritius in there, I fell back on my other land, England. Sadly, they went back home yesterday (with a defense that looked like a colander so much it was ribbed with holes!).

But, we're divas here, so we're not gonna talk about tactics and strategy on the field. No, we'll talk about... Men! Of course!

Now I may be getting old, but there wasn't one single bloke out there on the field this year who made me go 'yum!'. Check these out here - slideshows of the hotties of 2010 (sofeminine.co.uk & glo.msn.com). Well, yes, they are good-looking... if you're into Twilight and Gossip Girl. Not if your idea of 'hero/fantasy' material needs to be at least 30 to make it on your hit list. And no too - Cristiano Ronaldo's body may look fab in that Armani underwear advert but he is way too cocky for someone so under 25!

This made me think - is there a generation gap somewhere there? And not just in football, but aren't the 'hot' guys of today just, uhm, you know, young...? All those guys on the pitch - early 20-somethings. That's the same age as the Twilight boys (and most of us flirt with cougar territory where these actors are concerned). What happened to age? Are the men of today just young, don't mature as quickly, or is there a crop of youngsters lining up?

I think of this example all the time - Back in my days, the 90s, our hit thing was Beverly Hills 90210. A cast of high school 'kids' living 'the life' in that rich LA area. Today, the 00s (of 2000), there's Gossip Girl as the same kind of stuff, except that GG is in New York. The battle of the (generational) hotties? Take a look:

On the left, Luke Perry who played Dylan McKay. On the right, Chace Crawford who plays Nate Archibald.
26 years old at the time for the first, 22 years old for the second - both playing a 17 year-old teenager.
While a true 17 year old teenager looks like this guy (Logan Lerman of Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Gamer).

A few years back there was also this movie, The Covenant, where then-20-years-old Steven Strait played 18 years-old Caleb Danvers. This one was close to 'home' on the age thing.

But, is it just me or are we seeing lots more boys out there? Or (yikes), am I the one getting old and seeing a generation gap?

Coming back to the World Cup, hotshots this year include Argentinian Lionel Messi. This 22-year-old looks like this on the pitch. Okay, looks good, and mature. Anyone caught the video for Shakira's Waka Waka, the official theme of this South African World Cup? Here it is, and seeing him in there, as a 'regular' guy (at 1.24 mins, 1.55 on the pitch, and 2.46) made me want to go, 'Ooooh, he's sooo cute!!!'. Not exactly set-your-blood-on-fire reaction, innit?

So this World Cup I am asking myself where all the good men have gone. In the past, there has been a steady crop of manly hotties in the national teams, and I miss them players such as (okay too, no reason not to enjoy some eye candy!):

Luis Figo - Portugal

Gabriel Batistuta - Argentina

Alessandro del Piero - Italy

David Beckham - England (though he did make some striking appearances in charcoal-grey vest and tie on the sidelines)

Ruud Van Nistelrooy - Netherlands

Michael Ballack - Germany

Paolo Maldini - Italy

So maybe I need to bide my time. In another 4 years, if the guys who are playing this year are still in the circuit, I may get to see some 'men' and not little boys there (though having seen 30-year-old Steven Gerrard step for his first game as a scruffy, lanky 18-year-old teenager in the English Premier League, I doubt I'll ever be able to see him as the mature, married father of 2 he is today!). And maybe too, I won't feel like I am well beyond my prime (by then I'd have crossed the big 3-0!).

From Mauritius with love,

Z