So, despite being tucked away on the boat this weekend, I still managed to catch the World Cup Final on Sunday....of course, we all favoured Italy, because, hey who favours the French? (I'm just kidding, Olivier, Xavio and Arnaud and all you other Frenchies out there!)
Piled into the Yacht Club's outstation caretaker's house, we had beer (at 10:30 AM, perhaps it was a little early for that), hot-dogs and various footy fare and sat down to watch what turned out to be an exciting match. No, I didn't think going to a shoot-out was perhaps the best way to end the final, and I did think that with Zidane and Henry out, Italy should have easily scored during that last bit. But you got to give credit to France for putting up a good fight. Who you can't give credit to is Zidane....
His headbutt was not only shocking but unjustified. Only, of course, like anything, there was some "justification": The Paris-based anti-racism advocacy group SOS-Racism issued a statement Monday quoting "several very well informed sources from the world of football" as saying Materazzi called Zidane a "dirty terrorist." Now let's say that Materazzi did say those words to Zidane...can you justify what Zidane did?
"Zidane is someone who reacts to things," said Aime Jacquet, Zidane's coach at the 1998 World Cup. "Unfortunately he could not control himself. It's terrible to see him leave this way."
With the whole world watching, how could Zidane think he could get away with it? Maybe because it was his last game and he figured he could go out with a bang...as they say, bad press is good press. But, sheesh, try going out with some dignity...maybe he wants everyone to hate him.
Now, I've had the misfortune of losing my cool and doing some pretty stupid things - I do know of the point where all you can see is blind rage and you drive down the road screaming at the top of your lungs, or say things you don't mean to say. So, it's not to say I don't understand. But isn't civilty what seperates us from the animals? And can losing your cool ever really be a fair excuse? I don't think it's a good excuse for me when I blow a gasket...understandable perhaps, but dissapointing at the same time. We should be better than that.
It's a tricky subject and something that's been on my mind as of late. What's most annoying is the fact that Zidane is staying mum on the subject and won't give anyone any clue of what drove him to such a childish act. Maybe somethings can't be figured out...or aren't meant to be.
