Tainted Victory

I was rooting for the Italians during the World Cup final, but I think the revealation that Materazzi goaded Zidane into that unfortunate headbutt with vile racial slurs spoilt my satisfaction in their victory pretty completely (I should say here that I'm totally one of those lightweights who never tune into soccer except for the World Cup.)

There is a lot of talk over Zidane's action, and how much sympathy he ought or ought not be accorded etc. To me, that's a bit moot. Zidane already got his punishment for losing it -- a red card, the shame of letting his team down in the most important match in soccer, the maddening knowledge that he handed the victory to his abuser...he knows he might have well have taken a poop out there on the field. Why begrudge the fact that the French are giving him a warm welcome home anyhow? After all, this is the end of his career. I think it would be unreasonable to ask them to shun one of their own, especially one which had done so much for the French team over the years, because of one unplanned mistake.

This brings me to my other point. To me, culperability has a lot to do with pre-meditation. Sure, Zidane should have been less of a hothead. That was his bad. But to me, what Materazzi did was far worse. There's two interpretations for why he said what he said, neither of them flattering. Either he is a genuine bigot, or he knew exactly what he was doing. I don't know which is worse -- actual racism, or the cynical exploitation of power of racist slurs to hurt.

Oh, by the way, if JPod had any decency, he ought to be curled up in a foetal position rocking back and forth in shame at how exactly his tragically lame attempt at "comedy" got it wrong.