Zidane Wins World Cup’s Best Player Award
Mondial 2006 coup de boule de Zidane (YouTube video goodness)
I’ve seen a lot of things in my life, a lot of things that make me go “Hmm….”, and a lot of things that just leave me dumbfounded and speechless. What Zinedine Zidane was thinking was as he head-butted Itally’s Marco Materazzi in the chest on Sunday is beyond my comprehension. Of course, this assumes that Zidane actually WAS engaging in any sort of rational thought at that moment.
Let me see if I have this straight: You’re playing in the World Cup final against a formidable Italian team- so formidable, in fact, that they’ve taken your French team into overtime. You’re the French captain, one of the best players of all time, and you just happen to be playing in your last match of what has been a surpassingly brilliant career. You’re also one of the best penalty takers of all time. So what do you do?? YOU HEAD-BUTT MATERAZZI IN THE CHEST, EARNING YOURSELF A WELL-DESERVED RED CARD, AND YOU’RE FORCED TO LEAVE THE PITCH IN SHAME. No, you’re not necessarily the reason France lost, but does anyone doubt for a minute that you couldn’t have come up with a better effort for a penalty kick than David Trezeguet?? Puhleeze….
Yes, Zidane won the Golden Ball as the World Cup’s outstanding player, and it was well-deserved. Unfortunately, no one will remember Zidane for winning the Golden Ball. No, what he will be forever remembered for is planting his forehead in Marco Materazzi’s solar plexus-the Golden Meltdown, if you will. It was a moment of complete, unadorned, unadulterated brainlock, and it just might have denied France the opportunity to win the World Cup.
It’s one thing to be a dumbass and make a simple stupid mistake. It’s quite another to earn your DUMB@$$ AWARD in a game that was literally watched BY THE ENTIRE WORLD. Yes, 47 bazillion people saw Zidane make a complete horse’s ass out of himself, and in one fell swoop, he went from hero to goat. Who knows what might have happened if Zidane had been on the pitch for the penalty kicks? His countrymen are certainly wondering…and so far Zidane’s not talking.
Yes, ‘tis better to be thought a DUMB@$$ than to be Zinedine Zidane and prove your worthiness before the entire world….
