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Monday, July 10, 2006

How Zidane made me root for Italy

Despite my conflicted neighborhood loyalties, I was rooting for France in last night’s World Cup Final.  At least, I was until the team captain, Zinedine Zidane viciously headbutted Marco Materazzi. (Video)

I was personally humiliated that I’d been standing in a public place cheering for a team whose captain had committed such a brutal, thuggish, and seemingly disproportionate act of violence. I was glad when the French lost because of Zidane’s abject failure as a captain, a sportsman, and a human being.

As much as I wanted the French to win, I felt like it was a moral victory that you can’t be that much of a dick in front of one billion people and get away with it.

Zidane didn’t just have a personal lapse, he fucked up as team captain. His vicious outburst revealed a catastrophic weakness for the French side. The team deserved to lose for what he did.

Asad Raza has an excellent post on the Zidane incident.

[x-posted at Majikthise]

Posted by Lindsay Beyerstein on 07/10 at 11:40 AM
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