Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Conflict Resolution

So the other day my wife and I were debating what to have for dinner--I wanted pork chops, she was dead set on burgers. The conversation got heated. All of a sudden, she unleashed a vicious headbutt to my chest, sending me sprawling.

Because, you know, that's what you do when you're angry.

It looks like someone needs to start living la dolce vita.

8 comments:

g_rob said...

I'm just happy someone was actually physically touched by another player before they went sprawling to the ground, twisting and writhing in excruciating pain. If the rest of the world wants to know why Americans supposedly don't care for soccer, it's that reason. I had to turn off the championship game because in the first 5 minutes they actually played soccer for about 2 and a half minutes and spent the rest of the time acting injured and talking about it.

If Zidane was called a filthy terrorist the only thing being investigated should be why no one else called him that during his career because it obviously took him out of his game and made him a non-factor. It may be dirty and low-dwon, but that's competetive sports; he should have learned that along time ago. I was called worse in high school athletics.

J.D. said...

Tom, I've told you a hundred times--don't call your wife a terrorist.

Tom said...

Why else would she not want to eat pork chops?

g_rob said...

"I did insult him, it's true," Materazzi said in Tuesday's Gazzetta dello Sport. "But I categorically did not call him a terrorist. I'm not cultured and I don't even know what an Islamic terrorist is." http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=373723&cc=5901

dcat said...

Here are the rumors in the British press: That the insult was an especially nasty one aimed at Zidane's mother who that very morning was admitted to the hospital with a fairly serious health issue. There are other rumors that he called Zizou's sister a whore and of course the racial aspect. If the one about his mother has any truth to it, I think it would be the most mitigating of the three. It does not justify it, though in the end Zidane is perhaps the greatest player of his era and it seems that most of the French are recognizing as much and are giving him at least some space. But as you might guess, the sports pages are in 100% Zizou mode right now.

dcat

Tom said...

Zidane was obviously a great player, but I'd take Ronaldo over him any day. I know everyone was all choked up about the idea that Zizou would ride off into the sunset as a champion and all that, and he had played well in the elimination part of the tournament, but he simply did not do very much in the game against Italy. The penalty kick was a gimme, he had some very nice corner kicks, and the header was close, but more often than not he lost the ball in the midfield and did not create any scoring opportunities. Canavara was the best player in the tournament, even before the Zidane headbutt.

Speaking of... Who the hell headbutts a guy in the chest? Honestly, aren't we taking the whole no hands thing a bit far? If you are going to get tossed anyway, why not just punch the guy? Oooh, better yet, do one of those flying kicks like Chan Ho Park in that fight with Tim Belcher. That would have been awesome.

g_rob said...

Hopefully with more success than Chan Ho Park. Better yet, keep playing, win the match, hoist the trophy and then hunt down Materazzi in the tunnel and beat him silly like Doug Christie and Robert Horry a few years back. Bottom line, whatever he said to him, Zidane was no longer in the game and that's exactly what Italy wanted.

dcat said...

I disagree about the quality of Zidane's play in the tournament and in the final game. He dominated the midfield and controlled the ball any time it got within a yard of him. Cannavara had a great tournament as well, to be sure, and it is peculiar that the voting only goes to the half of the final game, especially since they only announce it the next day.
Zidane has been world player of the year twice and belongs in any discussion with Ronoldo, except the difference being that Zidane did not bloat out like Kirstie Allie on the eve of the most important global sporting event in the world.
Yeah, the decision to headbutt is a bit weird, but then again, he knew he'd connect on a head butt. Most pro basketball players punch like sissies -- I have little faith that soccer players would do much better. Head butting was his best chance. But kicking him in the cubes probably would have done the most damage.
In any case, if the comment was about his mother and the context is correct, it does not justify the act, but imagine if a guy in a game called your mother a whore on the day she went into the hospital with a pretty major illness -- you'd drop him in a second.
In any case, now can we get back to worryting about baseball?

dcat