I don't give a ****what his justification for it was I don't believe physical violence on the soccer field is justifiable, but I am curious as to the reasons behind it. Verbal abuse and taunting are even lower blows. In this age when many of the plays are scrutinized more by the television cameras than by the referee, I've seen a lot of deliberate violence on the soccer field. Which act is more despicable-- setting out to disable an opposing player and making it appear unintentional or openly head-butting one in response to a verbal slight? I would say the former. The arena of the mind does have a ring and the violence it spawns oozes out in words and plots that would evoke retaliation.
posted by quark at 09:58 PM on July 21, 2006
We may never find out what it was that Matterazzi said to Zidane to incur the headbutt, but, there will always be a cloud of "what-if's" hanging over the Italian victory. The Italian team should discipline Matterazzi for diminishing their win and for taking away the world's attention from the true hero of their game-- Buffon. I am more of a fan of the Brazilian players, but what Zidane did made me admire him enough to look more closely into his career history. pssmealy, you are right. Zidane did wait for the right moment to pop someone.
posted by quark at 12:46 AM on July 21, 2006
Commentary on Zidane's gesture by Dany Laferrière
I guess that's the end of this thread unless urall and yerfatma are actually pushing through with their one-on-one and will deign to share the results with us. It would be interesting to know what the author of the original commentary thinks of this board.
posted by quark at 02:52 AM on July 23, 2006