Thanks, Jose Etxeberria!

If there's any football league in the world that needs some serious shaking up then it's the Spanish La Liga. C'mon. Every season ends up with either Real Madrid or Barcelona as the winner! 

If you're in search of a cool thing in La Liga then its with midfielder Jose Etxeberria (pronounced as "E-che-ber-ri-a") of Atletico Bilbao. Well, he did retire after the last season but did you know that he played his final season for the Basque team -- for free!

C'mon! How many players will do that? This is just as good as Michael Jordan playing minor league baseball.

After 13 years with the club, Etxeberria saw his stock dip as he was placed on the bench. But it was his love for the game that made him stay. His final home game for Atletico Bilbao was against Deportivo where his side won 2-0. When he was taken off the pitch, he was given a standing ovation by the home crowd.

Imagine, a former team captain demoted to the bench yet he still comes back. No wonder he is a hero to the fans in Bilbao.

Etxeberria scored 122 goals in his career that spanned two decades for the Spanish Youth team to the National Team all the way to the pros with Real Sociedad and Atletico Bilbao.


I brought up Etxeberria because yesterday while guesting on the Sports Insider, I discussed the English Premier League (it's a two team fight between Chelsea and Manchester United while my LFC hopes for the sun to shine on Anfield). If there is any league that is wide-open right now it's the Bundesliga and perhaps Ligue 1. For La Liga, as much as I'd like to see Barcelona extend their reign, I'd dearly love to see some of the smaller teams pip the faves for the title.