I’m such a loser. Will you marry me?

Let’s all try to be charitable as we consider the weird spectacle of Raymond Domenech, coach of the French national side, proposing to his girlfriend Estelle Denis after France bowed out of Euro 2008 with a lousy performance against Italy.

It’s hard, after all, for North Americans to grasp the pressure the coach of a major European country faces at these tournaments. It makes you do crazy things, like blame your team’s "closed" style of play on the cul-de-sac layout of their hotel digs. Or imagine you’re a character in a Nora Ephron comedy.