What not to do on your last day on the job
I normally pay scant attention to sports but we were invited by a friend to watch the World Cup finals (in HD thank you very much) and drink some adult beverages. We were happily chatting away, my interest having wained a bit after 120+ minutes of non-scoring ‘action’ when I noticed a quick jump cut and an Italian player flying through the air.
A quick flick of the Tivo remote and the amazing details of the event were reveiled. Apparently unprovoked, premeditated (he obvioulsy check to be sure the ref. wasn’t watching) and a bit surreal. This behaviour would not be tolerated in an NHL game, could it possible be acceptable during an event as prestigious as World Cup? Happily, a line official did witness it and he was tossed.
Zidane must have had one too many balls to head. He decided, during the final game of a World Cup, as captain of his national team, during his last game with that team, that it was a good idea to head butt an opposing team member. Despite his illustrious career, whatever other accomplishments he has acchieved, he’ll be remember for this event. Not exactly the legacy one would strive to leave behind.
Sadly, it seems that the players at the highest levels of professional sports are guilty of violently anti-social behaviour, both on and off the field. How are these people still employed? If anyone in the ‘normal world’ head-butted a co-worker on the job they would very likely be immediatly terminated and charged with a crime. What were the consequences of this holligans actions? tossed from the game (and some may argue the end of France’s chances to win the Cup).
If this is an example of World Cup play then I’m glad I missed it.
July 11, 2006 - 7:41 am
The claim is that Materazzi called Zidane (or Zidane’s mother) a ‘dirty terrorist,’ a reference to Zidane’s Algerian ancestry. Materazzi, of course, denies it, but a British paper is supposedly hiring a lip reader to figure out what was said. And I’m a bit ashamed to know all that, actually.
Although I did stumble on to something while watching – the ONLY way to watch soccer is to TiVo it (ReplayTV, in my case) and play it back at 2x speed. Everything is WAY more interesting.
July 11, 2006 - 7:44 am
Sorry, “reference to Zidane’s Algerian ancestry” should have read “slur on Zidane’s Algerian ancestry.” Forgot to fix that before posting.
Also, there’s a joke there about Materazzi’s car suddenly exploding with him in it, but I’ll let somebody else make it.
July 11, 2006 - 9:05 am
Zidane is 34 years old; what could have Materazzi said that he hasn’t heard before?
As I said in my comment on your blog; special kinda stupid.
BTW, did you spew your drink in shock when you read that I had actually watched it?
July 11, 2006 - 3:15 pm
According to the lip-reader (who can read lips phonetically but doesn’t know Italian) and the translator (who can’t read lips), Materazzi first called Zidane the Italian equivalent of the n-word for Arabs (if that makes any sense). Apparently that wasn’t quite enough to set him off, so he allegedly then called Z ’son of a terrorist whore.’ I agree, it still shouldn’t have been anything he hadn’t heard before.
OK, I thought of a joke. New Onion headline:
Materazzi Killed By IED While Leaving World Cup Final
Zidane: “That’ll teach him not to call me a terrorist”
And yeah, I did a double-take after the first paragraph. You’ll love this one – since I picked up the game just before half time, you watched more of it than I did!
July 12, 2006 - 1:34 pm
Update:
I guess that this equates to “My bad…”.