A couple of weeks ago, I commented on the psychological aspects of Phil Mickelson's collapse on the 18th hole of The US Open Golf Tournament. Today, we see the great French footballer, Zinedine Zizane fall victim to an eerily similar fate.
Here's the money shot, compliments of the amazing Flickr:
And, here the video, thanks to the equally astonishing YouTube:
That's Zidane head-butting Italian defender Marco Materazzi in the chest. Zidane has had one of the most illustrious careers in professional soccer history. He was captain of the 1998 French team that captured the World Cup. He'd announced his retirement, effective at the end of the current tournament. He'd played 17 years of professional soccer at the highes level.
Today, in an instant, all of that recedes to the background as this image is seared in the global consciousness forever.
I love the French commentatary on the video: "E pourqois? E pourquois? E pourquois?" Which, of course, means: "Why? Why? Why?"
The lesson? You never get to indulge your demons without consequence, particularly on a world stage.
This is what makes sports such a compelling pastime.
Fortune is fickle, my friends, fortune is fickle.
Forza Italia!
Bizarre ending to a great career.
I've seen some video of Materazzi courtesy of another blog and he is no angel, but whatever he did to Zidane surely didn't warrant such a vicious head butt, especially considering the circumstances.
Zidane got his team to the final, but he may very well have cost them the victory.
Posted by: John Wagner | July 10, 2006 at 10:38 AM
Truly, truly bizarre moment, John. I love all the lip reading buzz that's going on, everyone trying to figure out what Materazzi could have said to elicit this violent reaction. We all try to make sense out of the senseless and this event certainly qualifies.
Posted by: Tom Guarriello | July 11, 2006 at 05:20 PM