Zidane Nooooooooooo !!!!

That was the yell heard two floors up and one floor down in my building sending my neighbours in alarm. I apologize, but all is well. We all saw the game. We know that Italy won in penalties 5-3 after the extra time. But that which stands out most and will be remembered above all else in that game was the solid headbutt Zinedine Zidane landed in the chest of the seemingly innocent Materazzi which sent up flying off his feet landing hard on the pitch. This act rightfully won him the red card and an instant ejection from the game and the tournament. Hearts dropped like rocks as the red card went up, almost in slow motion, into the air! A seemingly sad end to a great career.



However, the question that remains and lingers on the minds of everyone is 'was he provoked?' Those who are quick to dismiss this as a mere act of aggression by a frustrated player would undoubtedly say 'no.' But for the rest of us, the more reasonably minded would venture to say 'yes' or even 'quite possibly.' As I watched the match and saw Zidane react that way my instant reaction was that he was provoked...something "very serious" must have been said to provoke this world class player in the final game of the most prestigious competition and in the final game of his career for him to even risk something like that, let alone to do it. So what was said? My thoughts were that Materazzi must have insulted Zidane's mother; others, along with me, thought also that he must have made some racist remarks. Coming from the tensions with the Spain game where Spain's coach was fined for racist remarks which he still has not apologized for against team-mate Thierry Henry would be a sensitive spot for the captain of the defending World Champions.

So the speculations continue and with no word yet from the captain as to the provocation only lends fuel to the growing speculation. And added to that Materazzi's silence only gives credit to the assumptions that he did indeed provoke the captain with some insultive remarks. And what he did say only made him more guilty: " "It is absolutely not true, I did not call him a terrorist. I'm ignorant. I don't even know what the word means," the Italian news agency Ansa quoted Materazzi as saying..." This is an excerpt from the recently publiched BBC article - Zidane blames Materazzi insults - about the headbutting incident. Oh. My. Goodness! Do you kiss your mother with that mouth? Can Materazzi actually expect us to believe that he doesn't know what the word terrorist means. He has either been living under a rock in a hole somewhere, incredibly stupid or very insultive of all our intelligence, individually and collectively, if he expects us to believe he does not know the meaning of the word terrorist. That statement alone lets me know that he is guilty of something. And for those who might say otherwise this is a direct quote from an Italian paper by an Italian who questioned him in Italy. [Read the BBC article for the full story]

Like the article says we should be getting some more news on this next week. So for now we wait and in the meantime we speculate. Already it's amazing how many articles have been written condeming Zidane's actions, ridiculing the man and the player. Those are the very same ones who will get their foot in their mouths when the true story comes out and they are wrong - too quick to judge.



But despite their rapid praise to criticism, inspite of the red card Zidane, the most hopeful to lead his team to victory with the most consistent thumbs up, won the Golden Ball award for the World Cup's Best Player.

For now I'm agreeing with those who say that he should have reacted differently, no matter what was said to him. Very little justifies acts of physical aggression towards someone else especially in a regulated and friendly zone as the football pitch of the worldcup finals. But if it turns out that Materazzi did make racial slurs or offensive remarks I hope the light of judgement and the sharp forked pencils and tongues of those many writers who are quick on the tip aim this light at the true culprit of this incident and highlight this act for the rest to know what it really is.

The life's lesson here, as my friend's mom pointed out, is that you could be on the top and have everything going for you with the world cheering you on and in a minute it could all just fall apart from one silly spur-of-the-moment judgement-call/action. These were not her exact words but it is to the effect what she said.

Was this the act of a man who acts aggresively or was this the stance of a legend, a conscious man standing up? Let's wait to find out. In the meantime let's get back unto the pitch and play ball.