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[Pu the Owl]

Zidane got the Golden Ball. This means yesterday's episode couldn't ruin his career as much as some emphatically declared, after all.

[dan da man]

Well done Italy, wanted them to win after the game they had with Germany.

And Zidane will always be a legend...



https://homepage.ntlworld.com/vic.lig...zidane6hit.gif

https://serv1.imagehigh.com/imgs/ih00..._zidane29b.gif

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ebs/Zidane.gif

[Berserker]

Congratz to Italy, they deserved to win IMO. They played a good and solid game this WC, for me Cannavaro was the man of the tournament. But I guess it was inevitable that Zidane got it seeing it's the end of his career and he was such a great player.

Those gif's are awesome Dan, unbelievable that a player with his experience does something that stupid.

[Vic Viper]

Originally Posted by dan da man

Well done Italy, wanted them to win after the game they had with Germany.

And Zidane will always be a legend...



https://homepage.ntlworld.com/vic.lig...zidane6hit.gif

https://serv1.imagehigh.com/imgs/ih00..._zidane29b.gif

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ebs/Zidane.gif

ROFL !!!

[Bogart]

Haha, great gifs! I found this game!

Use your head, Zidane!

[Pu the Owl]

Originally Posted by Bogart

Haha, great gifs! I found this game!

Use your head, Zidane!

Now we can all be Zidane!

[Frozen]

Originally Posted by dan da man

Well done Italy, wanted them to win after the game they had with Germany.

And Zidane will always be a legend...



https://homepage.ntlworld.com/vic.lig...zidane6hit.gif

https://serv1.imagehigh.com/imgs/ih00..._zidane29b.gif

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ebs/Zidane.gif

ROOOOFLENATION, this is going to be my sig from now on.

[Berserker]

Originally Posted by Panuru

Zidane got the Golden Ball. This means yesterday's episode couldn't ruin his career as much as some emphatically declared, after all.

I read an article by a known sportjournalist, who explained it all IMO. It seems the winner of the Golden Ball is chosen before the final is played. If you look back it explains a lot:
Kahn winning it in Korea/Japan while he screwed up the final by his mistakes, while Ronaldo should have gotten it because of being topscorer(8!!! goals) with beautiful football and scoring twice in the same final.
Ronaldo winning it in France 98, while he couldn't get a normal shot in during the final and Zidane almost single handedly winning the WC for France.

And now this affaire with Zidane winning while they always claimed that winning the ball was also about fair play and being a gentlemen...
So far for taking that award serieus huh!

[Hylas]

Saying he's sorry on TV and affirming "but I don't regret it!". What kind of stupid apology is that? Tsk... He got sent off 16 times during his career. And there's still somebody saying he's an harmless man. Imagine how harmless a person who loses his temper like that is in real life... He's still one of the greatest players, but if he needs violence to defend himself in occasions like that, he's a rather weak person. And what about Chirac calling him hero? Man, sometimes French people can be really weird...

[Berserker]

Sepp Blatter says that there will be an investigation and the golden ball might be taken away from him.

PS Harry, Panuru when is the verdict, they keep stalling it??

[Frozen]

Originally Posted by Hylas

Saying he's sorry on TV and affirming "but I don't regret it!". What kind of stupid apology is that? Tsk... He got sent off 16 times during his career. And there's still somebody saying he's an harmless man. Imagine how harmless a person who loses his temper like that is in real life... He's still one of the greatest players, but if he needs violence to defend himself in occasions like that, he's a rather weak person. And what about Chirac calling him hero? Man, sometimes French people can be really weird...

It is easy to judge someone when you are not in their shoes, and I don't know about you but I have been a soccer player all my life (not professional, of course) and there are many, many, many times when you feel like KILLING some bastard for many different reasons (all those reasons have to do with him provocating you).

Whatever Mazzerati told Zidane, I am sure he deserved what he got, and guess what, Zidane is sticking to his guns, (and that is strong) he apologised because he did what he did at the wrong place and the wrong time (that is what was stupid), but he did what he felt was right and put Mazzerati on his place and made it very clear that he was not going to take his shit. And I believe that is the reason why all of France supports him, because not only he's a legendary player, he's not a hypocrite who will not stick to his guns.

[Hylas]

Ok Frozen, but apologizing and saying you'd do the same ina similar circumstance is stupid IMO. What kind of example are you thinking this represents? He said he was sorry for children watching, but the message he's telling children is headbutting or hurting someone is right if you're offended. A person who's considered national hero should at least know some offnces must be dealt with in another more civilized way, or they must be ignored. Whatever Materazi said to him, the fact a person who's considered an example, especially for young people, can show violence is the way to solve a problem isn't that good. He should have apologized saying these things are wrong, period. That violence can come natural, but it is never a solution. Saying he would do it again is like saying nothing. It's like saying he's not sorry, after all. I do not criticize the man himself, but the fact a public icon should be more careful than any other and be an example of decency in public and private. If not, he should admit he doesn't deserve to be called more than a skilled player, and should stop being arrogant.

[Pu the Owl]

Originally Posted by Berserker

PS Harry, Panuru when is the verdict, they keep stalling it??

I don't know when it will be. They keep on delaying...

In the meantime... a new way to solve problems!

[Frozen]

Hylas, I understand your point of view perfectly, and agree, someone in his position as a public icon and an example to young people should not have retorted to violence on, like I said, the wrong place and time, I do think it was stupid to head butt Materazzi when it was his last career game, however, (and here it is where you and I don't click), a man needs to go to certain extremes some times in order to set up boundaries between himself and other men, in this case, Materazzi was abusing him, in a split second, Zidane made a decision to make it VERY CLEAR that he would not accept his abuse, not from him or anyone else, and SHOWED him, with an action and not words (like it is said, actions speak better than words) what happens when you violate that personal boundary.

As I said in my post above, not only are we dealing with a situation in which a man is enforcing his boundaries, we are also dealing with a situation in which it is VERY HARD to control your emotions, furthermore, Football is a sport of a violent nature even though there are limits and rules to be followed.

Now, having taken the action that he did, he demonstrated to Materazzi and the rest of the world that he will not accept whatever insult was being thrown at him, and he took a specific stance. By stating that he did not regret what he did, he was REASSURING everyone that he did what he did in order to, again, MAKE IT VERY CLEAR that he does not condonde abusive behavior from anyone.

I believe that he said he was sorry because he did it in public and, for the third time, did it at the wrong place and time.

Now that is what I am talking about when I say that he stuck to his guns, think about this, if he had said that he regretted doing what he did, he would have shown WEAKNESS as someone who lost control of himself, someone who is not CONGRUENT with his thoughts and actions (he demonstrated plenty of congurence by standing on his own beliefs and self -assertiveness; in this case, headbutting the guy and then later stating he did not regret doing so)

Why did Chirac call him a hero? Because he spoke for the French, I imagine, if you hit them, they'll hit back.

I must say, I do not believe in Jesus' concept of "if they hit you, offer them your other cheek" and I believe that if someone hurts you, you must hurt them back so they understand that what they did is wrong and you will not let them do that again to you, and bear in mind that verbal offences can hurt much more than physical ones, and I am sure that whatever Materazzi told him hurt Zidane more than Zidane hurt him with the head butt.

[Pu the Owl]

Both players are guilty. The fact is while we're perfectly aware of the fact on the pitch verbal offences are common and should not be taken too much into consideration - I think most of the time these offences are pretty much generic and not so very personal as they could sound - a violent act has a stronger impact on the viewer. Fame implies you have more responsibilities. If you are a role model, you have to behave in a balanced way. Players are often described as models and heroes by the media, while most of the times they're the opposite of it: they're not balanced people at all, they can barely speak and spell and they are prone to acts a normal person would condemn if his neighbours committed them.

What upsets me more is all the racial hate that came out of it. Press calling Italians parasites, fascists, vile individuals and cheaters. Using an episode like that to feed a general despisal against a country. Most people believe what they are told, even if it's just some ignorant statement made by some idiot journalist to obtain attention. So, someone in the present case affirmed Materazzi provoked Zidane with racial slurs, and even after Zidane himself denies it, the public opinion keeps on shouting "Materazzi is a racist! Italians are racists! Let's strip them of the title and let's boycott their country!". Some moron even declared we don't have black players like France or England or other teams because we have racial prejudices, while it's for historical reasons only. Italy has never had a real colonial past, while countries like France or England did. Italy has always been an unstable country, we reached national unity no more than 150 years ago. Italians themselves were strangers in their own country before that. They, the Italians, were the immigrants, they could not "afford" to open themselves to others, they had to look for stability ouside their own national boudaries. The economical and social bases of a country have to be stable to allow the country to be opened to other realities. For us, immigration is a relatively new phenomenon. How can a football team be ethnically varied if the country itself is not? Italy has never offered promises of richness and wealth, well, if you don't count the Roman Empire, but that was more than 1500 years ago And lacking colonial history, it had nothing to offer to immigrants before the present day. What has this to do with racial prejudices? Racial prejudice is everywhere. We have our racist individuals, but no more nor less than any other country. It's not a global attitude, it is the attitude of single persons. So why are we being attacked liek that for a silly episode like the one between Zidane and Materazzi? Both are irresponsibles who cannot play a game without losing their temper, one with words, the other with actions. In this case actions resulted worse than words because of their vehemence. But that's all it can be said.

[Berserker]

People act like Zidane is some holy guy who was insulted to the extreme and finally took a stand, that's one s^&#@ load of crap IMO. That guy made some very nasty dirty fouls in his life and got sent of near 20 times with a red card in his career, which is a lot for a non-defender(even for a defender) so he has his history of nasty stupid actions. And Frozen by stating that it is right that he didn't take the insults anymore you're stating something rather strange as you said earlier you played football your whole life than you know about the insults. If players should react like Zidane every single time they are harshly insulted it would be more like the K1 or that insane icehockey where people are constantly fighting each other. They should try to keep that out of football and set an example so people won't follow Zidane's style of reacting. That's all IMO off course.

[Pu the Owl]

Berserker, the verdict will be today in the late afternoon or tomorrow. I just read it on the newspaper.

[Berserker]

Originally Posted by Panuru

Berserker, the verdict will be today in the late afternoon or tomorrow. I just read it on the newspaper.

Do you think that winning the worldcup may have influence on the verdict, cause there are voices going to postpone(???) the harsh punishments? Maybe the euphoric state of becoming world champions clouds peoples judgment?

[Pu the Owl]

They said their intention is to do the opposite and be very strict with those found guilty. They clearly stated there won't be options as amnesty. Players themselves at the end of the WC requested the verdict to be exemplary. But it's very uncertain, as you know how things can go in cases like this and it's very easy to have a dissatisfying verdict when there are so many controversies to be faced.

[Berserker]

Oh ok, cause in the dutch press they kinda bring the news as if the constant stalling of the verdict is prove that there probably will be amnesty, but I just think it's because of the whole negative image they have of Italy being this super corrupt country....