Did Gerard Piqué Flip off the Camera During the National Anthem?

During the playing of the Spanish national anthem before Spain's match against Croatia this afternoon, Spanish defender Gerard Piqué had an interesting moment. The cameras typically move down the line of players as they solemnly observe their anthem and as the camera panned around the trio of Piqué, keeper David de Gea, and Sergio Ramos, Piqué made a gesture that looked an awful lot like he was giving the middle finger to the camera. It's tough to say definitively, so here's what we are going to do: we're going to make a list of reasons why this is a GIF of Piqué flipping the bird and a list of reasons why this is not a GIF of Piqué flipping the bird and come to a conclusion based on those lists.

Reasons Why This is a GIF of Piqué Flipping the Bird

• I mean, just look at that hand positioning. It's clearly an unnatural position and should be booked as such.
• His middle finger, and only his middle finger, is sticking straight out.
• He looks pretty surly.
• ESPN cut away right as it happened, suggesting they thought it was a flipped bird as well, and wanted to get it off the screen.
• Occam's razor.
• de Gea, whose shoulder is home to the flipped bird, has recently found himself embroiled in a prostitution scandal and perhaps Piqué felt the camera was lingering on him too long because of it.

Reasons Why This is NOT a GIF of Piqué Flipping the Bird

• There is a theory circulating that he was merely cracking his knuckles.
• ….That's all I've got.

Conclusion

The cracked knuckle theory is, I guess, possible. HOWEVER, that could have been Piqué's plan all along: Flip the bird and do it in a way that creates plausible deniability, allowing him to get away with flipping millions of people off. Given the stakes—millions of people having been wrongfully flipped off—and all the demonstrable evidence, I'm disinclined to accept this cracked knuckle theory.

[ESPN]