verbal gymnastics wrote:I'm sure there's a ZZ Strop joke in there somewhere!
Or just one about him being a zizi. Or do they already call him that affectionately?
I do feel bad for the guy, let me go on record. He fell for the cheapest of tricks. Still, years of experience (including an understanding of his own temper) should have inured him to such tactics. Ugly, sad, and ugly again, all around.
I am definitely in for Fantasy Premier League this season and look forward to reverting to form.
There's speculation now that Materazzi made some sort of terrorist reference that set Zizou off, but as others have said there is really nothing that excuses that sort of reaction. It's really unfortunate, as he has always been one of my favorite players. In a single moment of madness he's tarnished what was a very good reputation. Bummer.
At the same time I know a few Azzurri fans and am happy for them. On Sunday afternoon I was driving along Sunset Boulevard with my sister and there were Italy fans out on the sidewalk waving flags and drivers honking horns as they drove by. I thought it was quite an entertaining final after a few dud matches in the knockout stage.
One thing I have definitely noticed with this World Cup is the greater level of interest from a lot of non soccer fans here in the States. The match was the lead story on all the morning shows the next day, people like my aunt and cousin (who have shown no former interest in the sport) were glued to their TVs for the final, and the tournament seemed to be on people's minds everywhere I went (there was a large Italian-American family on my flight out to LA, the kids all decked out in replica kits and Italia hats).
I didn't know anything about Zidane except that my oldest son used to think he was the best player in the world, but I was really impressed that he made a point of getting Figo's jersey and WEARING the icky sweaty thing. I thought it was a beautiful gesture of R-E-S-P-E-C-T, and I am a sucker for beautiful gestures (and underdogs).
Overall I was disappointed with the World Cup in that in my view there were no great teams, there were no players that either achieved greatness beyond what they already had or achieved greatness. A lot of reputations were damaged (not specifically Zidane but Ronaldo, Ronaldhino, Beckham et al). And as for the diving, rolling etc and standard of refereeing
I would like Germany to have won it purely because of the attacking way in which they played. Far too many teams played defensively by playing a lone striker.
We deserved what we got because of a baffling decision to take an untried 17 year old who had no chance of playing and once we had lost both Owen and Rooney we were scuppered. We had a manager who still did not know his best formation after 5 years, who did not know that Gerrard and Lampard do not work well together but did not have the bottle to drop one of them and a man who would stick with his captain and showbiz pal who has struggled in the last three tournaments.
The main thing I have learned about the England team is that I have been unfairly harsh on Owen Hargreaves.
