> Travis Fast wrote:
>
>> It is a beautiful article. Levy is right. The story has all the
>> elements
>> of a great narrative. And for sure the ladies I know think Zidnae is
>> more
>> beautiful than Achilles. Zidane is now one of the most perfected
>> heroes;
>> he is a flawed hero and that makes him even more beautiful. Cheers to
>> Levy...he gets it.
>
> ===================
> I think the US radical sportswriter, Dave Zirin, has a less lyrical but
> better understanding of what what may have provoked Zidane's outburst:
>
Factually, yes it seems to be a more solid account precisely because it gives a probable explanation for why Zidane's actions seemed to be of someone convinced all was lost. But Levy's post is about the symbolic not about "facts." It is a Eulogy not an investigation. That is why I liked it and I liked Chirac's remarks.
> A Racist Slur at the World Cup?
> By Dave Zirin, AlterNet
> Posted on July 11, 2006, Printed on July 11, 2006
> http://www.alternet.org/story/38780/
>
> Imagine Michael Jordan in his last game, with the score tied in overtime,
> knocking out his defender with a punch to the throat. Imagine Derek
> Jeter in
> game seven of the World Series, at bat with the bases loaded,
> thrashing the
> opposing team's catcher over the head with his bat. Our collective shock
> would only be exceeded by disappointment. No one, fan or foe, would
> want to
> a see a great player end their career in an act that speaks to the worst
> impulses of sports: when hard competition spills over into violence.
>
> Now imagine if Jordan and Jeter claimed they were provoked with a racial
> slur. Does their violence become understandable? Even excusable?
> Herein lies
> the case of French National team captain, the great Zinedine Zidane.
> Zidane,
> competing in his last professional match, was kicked out of the World Cup
> final in overtime for flattening Italian player Marco Materazzi with the
> head-butt heard around the world. Zidane, or Zissou as he is known,
> became
> the first captain ever ejected from a World Cup championship match.
>
> The announcers denounced Zissou for committing a "classless act and the
> French team withered, eventually losing to a demonstrably inferior
> Italian
> squad in overtime. The following morning the international tabloids with
> their typical grace, gave Zissou a new nickname: "butt-head." Less
> examined
> was the fact that Zissou was literally carrying a lightly regarded French
> team to the finals. Less examined was the fact that Zissou had been
> grabbed,
> kicked, and fouled all game by the vaunted Italian defense. Less examined
> was the fact that Zissou had almost left minutes earlier due to
> injury, his
> arm wilting off his shoulder like a wet leaf of spinach. This unholy
> amount
> of pressure is the primary reason the 34-year-old veteran snapped and
> planted Materazzi into the pitch.
>
> Now the great mystery is what set Zissou off. What could Materazzi have
> possibly said to send him over the edge? Answers are beginning to filter
> out. According to a FIFA employee transcribing what was said during the
> match, Materazzi's called Zissou a "big Algerian shit." A Brazilian
> television program that claims to have used a lip-reader said Materazzi
> called Zissou's sister "a whore." The highly respected French anti-racist
> coalition SOS Racisme issued a press release stating, "According to
> several
> very well informed sources from the world of football, it would seem
> [Materazzi] called Zissou a 'dirty terrorist'."
>
> Materazzi, in an answer that can only be called Clintonian, said, "It is
> absolutely not true. I didn't call him a terrorist." Of course he didn,t
> comment on what he did call him. Zissou himself has only said cryptically
> that he would reveal what Materazzi said "in the coming days."
>
> Right now, we do not know beyond a shadow of a doubt what was said but
> all
> the circumstantial evidence points at least toward a variant of SOS
> Racisme's claim. Zissou is the son of Algerian immigrants who has sparred
> verbally with Europe's far-right political machine for more than a
> decade.
> He is an outspoken anti-racist on a team that has defined itself by its
> multiculturalism and stubborn insistence to stand up against bigotry both
> inside and outside the sport. Materazzi on the other hand, will be
> playing
> this year for the Italian team Lazio, where his father was the former
> coach.
> Lazio's fan club, The Ultras, are notorious for their Fascist-friendly
> politics. Lazio's hardcore Ultras, known as the "Irriducibili," have
> members
> in Italy's extra-parliamentary far right and try to use the club to
> recruit.
> The group has frequently uses racist and anti-Semitic banners, one time
> hanging a 50-foot banner that said their opponents were a "team of
> n-words."
>
> It's wrong to taint Materazzi for the actions of Lazio's fans, but
> there is
> more. Earlier this season in a match that pitted Messina against Inter in
> Sicily, Messina's star African player Marc Zoro famously picked up the
> ball
> and walked off the pitch in protest of the monkey chants rained upon
> him by
> Inter supporters. In a stirring act of solidarity, many of the Inter
> players
> immediately showed support for Zoro's actions. But one opponent yelled,
> "Stop that, Zoro, you're just trying to make a name for yourself." That
> opponent's name was Marco Materazzi.
>
> At the start of this tournament I wrote a soccer column with my colleague
> John Cox, called "Racism Stalks the Cup." We expressed our concern
> that the
> monkey chants, banana peels, and peanuts raining down on African players
> this year would continue on the sport's grandest stage. This largely
> did not
> occur. But then in the final act, at the moment of most exquisite
> tension,
> it seems racism may have actually emerged from the shadows. I, for
> one, am
> damn glad that when it did, it ran smack into Zissou's beautiful head.
>
> We don't know with iron certainty what Materazzi said, but if it turns
> out
> to be more of the anti-Black, anti-Muslim, garbage that has infected
> soccer
> like a virus, the Italian team should forfeit the cup. They should
> voluntarily give the greatest trophy of them all back to FIFA as a
> statement
> that some things in this world are more important than sports. Racism
> will
> be the death of soccer if things don't change. Italy can set the sport
> back
> on course, with one simple, stunning gesture. Give the damn thing back.
>
> Dave Zirin is the author of "What's My Name Fool? Sports and
> Resistance in
> the United States." Read more of his work at Edgeofsports.com.
>
>
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