World Cup - Germany '06

[kmc]

I agree with your take, Nate. Obviously, the asshole here ia Materazzi and there is always a reason to kick someone's ass.

[phil]

kenholzman said:

luke said:

All professional athletes are doped up.

I've got a really hard time arguing with this. A few years ago I would've disagreed, but now this is getting close to being a self-evident fact.

Naaah ! Every cyclists run the Tour de France
strictly on flat water ... !!

[Kensterberg]

LOL Phil!

Yep, nothing but Evian powering those legs!

[JesusLooksLikeMe]

I felt very sad about the Zidane incident. The guy shouldn't have bowed out from football that way. But years from now we'll look back and remember him as the great player of his generation - he bridged the gap between Maradonna and Ronaldinho quite beautifully.

And he's always had a dark side, as 14 red cards will testify.

Materazzi is just a clown, who spends his whole career being involveds in sendings off - usually his own. He was ridiculous at Everton when he played in England.

I don't think doping is prevalent in soccer.

[phil]

I don't think doping is prevalent in soccer.

5 players from the Real Madrid are suspected
of being involved in the Spanish blood doping scandal ... !

There are 200 names on the "list" ...

[phil]

Here's the list of the products that were seized in the Madrid lab
during the Puerto Investigation raid :

- Andriol - Androderm - Norditropine - Actrapid - Legalon
Benexol - Rohypnol - Hidroxil - Synacthène -Spirulina
Eposine - Actovegin - Thioctacid - Solcoseryl ...

any of those would put a one-legged midget in the Tour de France ... !!

[Ryosuke]

That Italian player is a scumbag and deserves more than a headbutt (like international ridicule, maybe?). Zidane has nothing to be ashamed of.

[luke]

For every enhancement drug that is illegal as steroids, there are ten that are just as potent but completely legal. Not to mention how many are undetectable.

Every professional athlete is doped up. From that Japanese guy who eats all those hot dogs to Iverson to Ronaldo to Mayweather. In the year 2006, we have reached a competitive level in our sports that the human body cannot achieve without enhancing itself with drugs. Be they steroids, human growth hormone, or a handful of legal pills that equal the same fucking thing.

</moral guy by pinot noir>

[NdY]

www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1152654613877&call_pageid=1044529386722&col=1044529386490

Now that the pop psychologists, kinesiologists and Italian lip readers have had three frenzied days to assess Zinedine Zidane's battering of Marco Materazzi, let's consider the incident calmly.

It wasn't "shameful" or "an ugly end to a great career" or "a shadow over the game" — all descriptions used recently. It was understandable, excusable and, in a bizarre way, admirable.

We know the Italian started it. Materazzi has admitted to goading Zidane. And Materazzi is a man who knows how to get under someone's skin.

Much has been made of Zidane's famous temper — the Saudi he stomped on in the 1998 World Cup, the 14 red cards over a 17-year career.

But whereas Zidane is a superstar with a mean streak, Materazzi is a journeyman known for little else. The Italian's two-footed horror tackles are legendary. He was once suspended for two months for cold-cocking a former teammate in a post-match tunnel brawl. He has been derided by his countrymen as an "animal" and booed the length of Italy.

So what we really had here was the artist and the enforcer trading barbs after a tangle well off the ball.

We may never know exactly what was said. Does it matter? How much would it matter to you if some chirpy goon who'd been tailing you for two hours insulted your mother or your wife or your race? There's also been talk of a tug on Zidane's injured shoulder or a nipple tweak. Whatever it was, it was annoying enough in Zidane's opinion to warrant action.

Zidane could have waited for an opportunity to spike the lanky defender later in the game. He could have faked an injury the next time Materazzi brushed against him in the hopes of getting him sent off. That's what most of today's soccer stars would have done.

Instead, he squared up to him, took one purposeful step and gave him the old "Marseilles handshake." How Materazzi was caught totally off-guard is more curious than why the head-butt was delivered in the first place.

It was inelegant. It was wrong. But it was a far sight more manly than a sneak attack or a kick in the privates. For me, watching infamous divers like Francesco Totti or Thierry Henry step up to give their post-match two cents about Zidane's "madness" was more nauseating than the attack itself.

After he hit Materazzi, Zidane quietly waited to be sent off. When his (perfectly correct) punishment came, he turned and walked away without complaint. Meanwhile, Materazzi thrashed about on the ground as if he'd been beaten with a mallet, rather than knocked on the chest. I know who I thought looked more dignified.

All sports are about aggression. We prefer that aggression controlled. But it will come spilling over now and again. This does not mean that villains have taken over and there is no more good in the world. It means the players are not emotionless cyborgs. Spontaneous outbursts of violence — and we're not talking about malicious attacks meant to cause serious injury — are part of every contact sport.

Also, let's leave the "he let the team down"' angle out. Zidane speared Materazzi 110 minutes into a 120-minute contest. Ten men can defend just as easily as 11 for 10 minutes. Zidane was injured. He'd also nearly missed a penalty early in the game, so it's not clear if he felt confident enough to take one during the shootout. The game came down to steel and luck. Italy's penalty shooters had more of both. Zidane's presence wouldn't have changed that.

Zidane could have calculated all these factors in that instant between hearing the jibe and launching himself at Materazzi. After all, few players ever made decisions more quickly on the pitch.

We don't know how it happened. Zidane has chosen not to explain himself yet. Frankly, he doesn't need to.

He walks into history rightly regarded as one of the sport's gentlemen. He may not have turned the other cheek, but nor did he dive or whine or fake injuries or give up or badmouth his opponents or blame others when the team did badly. He was also the game's greatest exponent of the past 20 years.

Nothing that happened Sunday changed any of that.

[dolly]

Good article Ndy. Considerately written and without sensationalism.

[Kensterberg]

Um, Fuzznuts, could you do something about that last post? Not exactly safe for work ... or appropriate for this board ... ugh.

[RocDoc]

OOoooof, outta nowhere...almost lost my lunch.

Wait! I didn't eat yet...but still....damn that's fucking nasty.

[Fuzznuts]

OK I changed it. Better?

[RocDoc]

Oh great! Another new one...

'Scuse me but what's up here?

[Fuzznuts]

Were you seeing the same thing I was?