Zinedine Zidane - Why the Head Butt

[dangler]

An unfortunate ending to one of the greatest careers ever

Zidane still kicks ass in my book

[nibbles]

i just dont understand why this is being compared to mike tyson eating ears... mcsorly beating heads, or palmeiro injecting butts..

it was a headbutt to the guys chest.. a bee sting hurts more then that..

the most overplayed and over discussed thing on tv today.. pratt and taylor were being especially annoying about it

remember its a headbutt to the chest.. not even a headbutt to the head..

at least ronaldos little headbutt has now been overshadowed for awhile.

[Grizzly]

i dont understand why everyones making such a big deal out of a headbutt to the chest..

any real man can take a headbutt to the chest... but because it was in the girliest sport ever, it looked like he shot the guy with a shotgun...

the little girls legs magically came out from under him, and he rolled around on the ground like a little girl..

soccer and diving is so pathetic.. i wish he would have punched the guy in the face and stomped on his scrotum... thats what he deserved.

... clearly you know nothing about soccer and have never played ... in fact I am not sure why i am even wasting MY time responding to your comment .... TROLL.

Grizz

[nibbles]

ahahahaha... man you kids are too funny

when you know youre wrong, just dont respond... calling someone a troll just makes you look that much weaker..

you too funny

[Grizzly]

ahahahaha... man you kids are too funny

when you know youre wrong, just dont respond... calling someone a troll just makes you look that much weaker..

you too funny

Kids ?? Nope I don't think so ... not knowing what I am talking about ?? Uhhh no again ... I've played and followed soccer for over 30 years ...

anways ... moving along ... every sport has the trash talk and Zidane should have been more controlled in such a big game ... likely the turning point in the match. France was by far the better team in the second half and seemed to be pushing for the win.

Grizz

[Grizzly]

An unfortunate ending to one of the greatest careers ever

Zidane still kicks ass in my book

Yeah agreed Dangler ... disappointing finish ... all around great player ... Golden Ball winner though for tourney MVP.

Grizz

[rockalt]

A truly shocking and disappointing finish to the career of one of football's greatest. I couldn't come to terms with it... I still don't think I can. It was France's game, Zidane's World Cup... I really thought his ending would be triumphant.

There's no excuse for losing your cool and costing your team the game. I wouldn't say it was vicious or a terrible incident, but certainly it was deserving of a red card and was a shameful act by a player with such a great reputation. To be fair, however, there's no place in the game either for racist comments, and it's bloody well likely that Materazzi said something of that nature.

Personally, however, in my eyes I think it was the attempted "purple nirple" that set Zizou off! Seriously though, it's possibly that Materazzi could have also been playing with Zizou's shoulder, which he had hurt earlier.

Hate to see the game end in penalties though, especially when the Italians, aside from a great first half, had absolutely no right even being in that game.

*Sigh* C'est la vie. The Italians are world champions, and in the end, that's all that matters.

[Meerschaum]

Hmmmn.

You know, after looking carefully at the following slow-motion video replay of the "incident", I'm starting to think that there might be something to this whole North African/Terrorist slur conspiracy.

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/1757/5 ... 3b61ae.gif

Come to think of it, Materazzi did go down like he was shot . . .

[Madcombinepilot]

LMFAO!!!

Meers, that was great! where did you find that little gem?

[nibbles]

i dont care if youre 100 years old and have played 100 years of soccer

headbutting someone in the chest is NOTHING

soccer is such a girly sport

[Ropesauce]

Nice link Meerschaum

Does anyone have some Troll remover handy?

I guess the Insemination process must be on hold on the llama farm

[Puck]

A few comments:

1) Orts - that was a superb suggestion (re: sun)
2) Not sure why Nibbles is so interested in the apparently 'girly' sport of soccer. Hmmm.

3) Rikster, I had the exact reaction you did: I really couldn't come to terms with it. France had been relentlessly attacking and showing signs of going ahead when some on-field comment causes Zidane to snap. I was so appalled I almost started cheering for Italy. As it was, I ended up kind of neutral.
4) It really is disappointing and surprising to see Zidane go out that way. I think France could have pulled it off in extra-time.
5) If you know Zidane is that sensitive to racial comments, then why don't the opposition yell it at him every game?
6) Italy, while outplayed down the stretch in the final, did have a very good tournament and they were enjoyable to watch. No more defending at all cost with no attacking like previous World Cups, they moved the ball forward well and provided some excellent goals. They are a worthy champion.
7) I hope to see a few of the U20 World Cup that is hosted here in Canada next year. There will be some world class players present, there will be some superb performances.

[dangler]

6) Italy, while outplayed down the stretch in the final, did have a very good tournament and they were enjoyable to watch. No more defending at all cost with no attacking like previous World Cups, they moved the ball forward well and provided some excellent goals. They are a worthy champion..

Well put, I couldn't agree with you more .

What about the "Purple Nirple" theory?

[Meerschaum]

The English papers (who else?) have had Italian lipreaders review tapes of the World Cup final.

According to them, the offending phrase from Marco Materazzi which gave rise to what some wags are now calling "the Headbutt of God" was along the lines of "your mother is a terrorist whore."

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news ... c358ea459b

Sadly, Zizou is fluent in Italian - having played for Juventus for a number of seasons - and so was actually in a position to understand the taunt. One more example of how bilingualism is the root of all evil. Needless to say, this incident would never have happened had Zidane been a unilingual Ukranian.

In light of Marco Materazzi's comments, I as an objective legal observer believe there are only two just and measured responses to this ugly, racist incident:

1) FIFA must strip Italy of the World Cup and award it to the most deserving side - the Czech Republic. (While not the best performing team in this tournament, the Czech's certainly have been the most polite. Maybe It's time to give more credit to the Lady Byng side of the game. ); or

2) Zidane's mother should be permitted to firebomb Materazzi's house, kidnap his wife and children and behead them LIVE on al Jazeera.

PS - Check out this secret Italian soccer training video . . .

http://usa.worldcupblog.org/group-e/sec ... video.html

[acidcool]

Guys guys, do we really have to get into a childish argument about FOOTBALL (not soccer) being a sport for wimps?

Each sport has its pros and cons and their own fans. If someone likes ballet (which i think is utterly boring!), then so be it. I'm not going to blast ballet for being boring. I just wouldn't watch it. Its all about choices.

As for Nibbles, if you thought that Football is a sport played by weaklings, what are you doing watching the World Cup? Just switch off the telly and watch some baseball, which i'm sure you look, cause its sooooo much more exciting!