The World Cup is over and it lived up to its fanfare, with the best in the business not able to predict the unpredictable and still the cup was able to throw up mouth-watering contests throughout the knock-out stage. But nothing is well that doesn’t end well, and Zidane's head butt was fitting tribute to the Cup and his career.
It was about 111 minutes into the grand finale, the midfield maestro playing last match of his career, got into a little contretemps with an Italian player Materazzi, a verbal scuffle, a bit of unpleasant repartee, and decided to, as they say in France, open up a can of whup-ass on the lad. Since then lots of stories are going around why he went into uncontrollable mode, what would have been the result of the match had he not got sucked into the issue etc. The way the media especially electronic media has hyped this incident, it seems that he did not headbutt once but went into headbutting mode and stopped only when he was red-carded. At least this would seem to be true for a person who did not see the live-telecast of the match and later on saw the footage.
i think Zidane was just the right person present at the right time and right place. Incidence like this inspires writers like Shiv Khera to come up with infamous "Winners dont do different things, they do it differently". Zidane surely didn't prove the statement wrong, since he did different thing (mind you not things), instead of doing it differently, as he ended up in the loosing side. But, he still went on to become hero of the Cup with the golden-ball, for the best player award in his kitty. He was very innovative. How can one find a more sensible way to end one’s glorious career, guiding the team in the run up to the finals and leaving them in the dying minutes having played the part in the final game? The team definitely needed to prove that they can win without Zidane. Of course it wasn't planned, but if it deserved the Cup, this was needed. What was planned was the headbutt. It’s a win-win situation for both. Now Zidane could be remembered for a long time like Maradona’s hand of God goal and some day Materazzi may make tons of money by writing autobiography or telling a reporter what exactly he said to Zidane.
I am not very surprised by the head butt incident per se, but what surprises me is the reaction of the people both inside and outside France. The French are defending Zidane tooth and nail and believe that he was provoked. They are also speculating what would have happened only if he lasted till full time. Also how Materazzi was wrong in provoking him with the racial words. Materazzi has a well-earned reputation as nasty player in Italy's tough Series A, and his role in the ugly drama was nowhere near as surprising as Zidane's. Whatever they say doesn’t absolve the behavior shown on the field by a player of Zidane’s stature. He is respected for his skill world wide and so many children emulate him. If they really try out his extra-curricular ‘headbutt’ skills, it would be termed as a "childish" skill in the true sense of the word.
Also it’s difficult to understand how he could have won the cup for the Les Blues even if he lasted till the final hooter. i mean the only difference between victory and defeat was the penalty kick of Trezeguet and his shot was similar to what Zidane took in the same match earlier. Just Zidane got lucky and Trezeguet wasn’t. The incidence only gave to the French, a golden excuse on a platter. Outside France the comments are basically divided equally some people approving and some not. But mostly they are not speculating on the outcome of the match with different sets of inputs.
Also we don't know what exactly was said by Materazzi to Zidane. Of course Zidane can come up with his comment on the episode but that doesn’t force us to believe him and if yes we need to give Materazzi equal chance for his side on the issue. The argument is, outside Shiv Sean head quarters, inside the boxing ring and Sunny Deol movies, this behavior looks completely offcolour. The argument applies as much to Zidane as it does to the rioters protesting against Danish cartoons and desecration of Mrs. Thackeray statue. The only other incidence in sports that comes close to this was Tyson biting off a piece of Holyfield's ear. But we can’t equate the two as both the players have different image and the rules of the two games are poles apart.
Now i am tempted to relate the incident to Indians and cricket. Only David Shepherd could have saved the face of FIFA had they appointed him as the official as he could see the coming Nelson. Take Rooney's case, after he was red-carded, English fans went berserk and the coach himslef had to make a statement to prevent spoiling career of their poster-boy. Similar incident happened with David Beckham in the last edition of the tournament. Now Britishers invaded India and imparted some of the bad qualities too (not denying the fact that good qualities outnumbered the bad ones by a big margin) and certainly this is one among them. How else can one explain the crowd booing their God in its own den at the Wankhede Stadium at Mumbai, when Tendulkar failed to perform. But it amazes me how a player enjoying similar stature (nickname Zizou means a person close to heart) gets a different treatment. It only tells the underlying influence of the culture, also how two European countries behave differently when faced with similar situation.
Now only thing left to be explored is why only head butt and no other butt when so many parts are protruded from the human body. Is it also related in any way to cultural? Has it got to do anything with the culture of France or the culture of Algeria from where he comes? We know why Lance Klusenor could hit such powerful sixes as he played some tribal sports before playing cricket. Before i delve into history what seems logical now is, Zidane knew very well not to use his hand as Italians would have appealed even before he could raise it, and leg wouldn’t have given the force to put a giant like Materazzi on ground. So Zidane was actually very sensible in his head to put it into multitasking.
It was about 111 minutes into the grand finale, the midfield maestro playing last match of his career, got into a little contretemps with an Italian player Materazzi, a verbal scuffle, a bit of unpleasant repartee, and decided to, as they say in France, open up a can of whup-ass on the lad. Since then lots of stories are going around why he went into uncontrollable mode, what would have been the result of the match had he not got sucked into the issue etc. The way the media especially electronic media has hyped this incident, it seems that he did not headbutt once but went into headbutting mode and stopped only when he was red-carded. At least this would seem to be true for a person who did not see the live-telecast of the match and later on saw the footage.
i think Zidane was just the right person present at the right time and right place. Incidence like this inspires writers like Shiv Khera to come up with infamous "Winners dont do different things, they do it differently". Zidane surely didn't prove the statement wrong, since he did different thing (mind you not things), instead of doing it differently, as he ended up in the loosing side. But, he still went on to become hero of the Cup with the golden-ball, for the best player award in his kitty. He was very innovative. How can one find a more sensible way to end one’s glorious career, guiding the team in the run up to the finals and leaving them in the dying minutes having played the part in the final game? The team definitely needed to prove that they can win without Zidane. Of course it wasn't planned, but if it deserved the Cup, this was needed. What was planned was the headbutt. It’s a win-win situation for both. Now Zidane could be remembered for a long time like Maradona’s hand of God goal and some day Materazzi may make tons of money by writing autobiography or telling a reporter what exactly he said to Zidane.
I am not very surprised by the head butt incident per se, but what surprises me is the reaction of the people both inside and outside France. The French are defending Zidane tooth and nail and believe that he was provoked. They are also speculating what would have happened only if he lasted till full time. Also how Materazzi was wrong in provoking him with the racial words. Materazzi has a well-earned reputation as nasty player in Italy's tough Series A, and his role in the ugly drama was nowhere near as surprising as Zidane's. Whatever they say doesn’t absolve the behavior shown on the field by a player of Zidane’s stature. He is respected for his skill world wide and so many children emulate him. If they really try out his extra-curricular ‘headbutt’ skills, it would be termed as a "childish" skill in the true sense of the word.
Also it’s difficult to understand how he could have won the cup for the Les Blues even if he lasted till the final hooter. i mean the only difference between victory and defeat was the penalty kick of Trezeguet and his shot was similar to what Zidane took in the same match earlier. Just Zidane got lucky and Trezeguet wasn’t. The incidence only gave to the French, a golden excuse on a platter. Outside France the comments are basically divided equally some people approving and some not. But mostly they are not speculating on the outcome of the match with different sets of inputs.
Also we don't know what exactly was said by Materazzi to Zidane. Of course Zidane can come up with his comment on the episode but that doesn’t force us to believe him and if yes we need to give Materazzi equal chance for his side on the issue. The argument is, outside Shiv Sean head quarters, inside the boxing ring and Sunny Deol movies, this behavior looks completely offcolour. The argument applies as much to Zidane as it does to the rioters protesting against Danish cartoons and desecration of Mrs. Thackeray statue. The only other incidence in sports that comes close to this was Tyson biting off a piece of Holyfield's ear. But we can’t equate the two as both the players have different image and the rules of the two games are poles apart.
Now i am tempted to relate the incident to Indians and cricket. Only David Shepherd could have saved the face of FIFA had they appointed him as the official as he could see the coming Nelson. Take Rooney's case, after he was red-carded, English fans went berserk and the coach himslef had to make a statement to prevent spoiling career of their poster-boy. Similar incident happened with David Beckham in the last edition of the tournament. Now Britishers invaded India and imparted some of the bad qualities too (not denying the fact that good qualities outnumbered the bad ones by a big margin) and certainly this is one among them. How else can one explain the crowd booing their God in its own den at the Wankhede Stadium at Mumbai, when Tendulkar failed to perform. But it amazes me how a player enjoying similar stature (nickname Zizou means a person close to heart) gets a different treatment. It only tells the underlying influence of the culture, also how two European countries behave differently when faced with similar situation.
Now only thing left to be explored is why only head butt and no other butt when so many parts are protruded from the human body. Is it also related in any way to cultural? Has it got to do anything with the culture of France or the culture of Algeria from where he comes? We know why Lance Klusenor could hit such powerful sixes as he played some tribal sports before playing cricket. Before i delve into history what seems logical now is, Zidane knew very well not to use his hand as Italians would have appealed even before he could raise it, and leg wouldn’t have given the force to put a giant like Materazzi on ground. So Zidane was actually very sensible in his head to put it into multitasking.
Adieu World Cup 2006!
***
Some one has said "The head contains the brain, in most people" And most athletes, who believe this, wear helmets to protect the precious and vulnerable part.
Couldn't the sentence be corrected to "In women, the head contains the brain; physical placement in men varies. Regardless, men apparently have removable brains, and frequently leave them at home on the dresser when dealing with women or sports."
Just somehow seems more accurate that way.
2 comments:
Very pretty site! Keep working. thnx!
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why don't u write anything about u?
lal bahadur patel
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