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07/12/2006: "Not Enough, Zizou ... Not Nearly Enough"
Let's say you're in the public eye at the biggest possible event. You do something so wrong, so heinous, that it far overshadows the event itself. What do you do?
Here's what you don't do - you don't try to justify your actions. And yet, that's just what Zinedane Zidane, heatbutter extraordinaire, tried to do today. After his actions resulted in his expulsion from the championship match of the World Cup, arguably contributing to his French team's loss to Italy, everyone has wanted to know one thing - why.
Today we found out. Zidane held a series of interview with the French press to try and rebuild his tattered reputation. But rather than step up to the microphone, hat in hand, and accept responsibility for his actions, he tried to blame the Italian he attacked, saying he'd insulted his mother and sister.
"I would rather have taken a punch in the jaw than have heard that," Zidane said, stressing that Materazzi's language was "very harsh."
... snip ...
The France captain said he felt no regret for his act, "because that would mean [Materazzi] was right to say all that."
"My act is not forgivable," Zidane said. "But they must also punish the true guilty party, and the guilty party is the one who provokes."
Please ... how lame is that. Anyone who has played sports has dodged this kind of insults from grade school. They haven't invented the insult yet that would justify his actions.
He had a chance - one chance - to separate himself from the sporting bullies of the past. But by dodging responsibility for a totally irrational act, he has permanently linked himself with Juan Marichal, Kermit Washington, Todd Bertuzzi and Mike Tyson in a very small and very unenviable club.
