Losing it

OK. We all know the story. Italy won the World Cup - and to be honest, I was cheering for them. Maybe it's cuz I grew up on a street with Italians and I remember that summer of '82 when our street was a red/white/green party and the singing and whooping lasted well into the wee hours. However, I must admit that my favourite player is Zinedine Zidane. The now infamous French player who head-butted an Italian player in the final moments of OT. Would France have won if he had not left the game with a red card? Who knows. But you can bet that people will be blaming him for all sorts of stuff. I was listening to the BBC sportscasters ripping him a new one... calling him a 'disgrace' and 'unsportsmanlike'. Well, that may very well be true but I can tell you that whatever words were said by the Italian player Marco Materazzi, you can better believe that it was pretty bad. And I think I would have done the same thing in the heat of the moment. There is speculation that he was called a 'terrorist' or a some kind of slam against him being a dirty muslim or an Algerian fugee... the list goes on. This all reminds me of the lyrics to a Kenny Rogers song, Coward of the Country:

I promised you, Dad, not to do the things you done.
I walk away from trouble when I can.
Now please don't think I'm weak, I didn't turn the other cheek,
and Papa, I sure hope you understand:
Sometimes you gotta fight when you're a man.

(or a woman)

So dear Mr. Zidane. I think you're still an ace. You're the hottest football player in the world, evah. And whatever your reason was for acting that way, I suggest that you keep it to yourself and move on.

Check out this article from the Toronto Star.