Posted on Tue Sep 05, 2006 at 02:47:31 PM EST in Other Sports
More on: World Cup, Zidane (all tags)

Marco Materazzi, the guy whose verbal jabs lead to Zidane melting down and headbutting him in the chest and leading to Zidane's ejection, confirmed today that he insulted Zidane's sister.

n Tuesday's interview with the Gazzetta dello Sport, Materazzi disclosed that after he held his opponent's shirt, Zidane said: "If you want, I'll give you the jersey later."

"I responded that I preferred his sister, it's true," Materazzi said. "It wasn't something nice, true. But luckily there have been dozens of players who have confirmed that a lot worse things are said on the field.

Now Materazzi is a dirty pig but really, we think Zidane overreacted a little bit here. When it was first reported that Materazzi called him a "son of a terrorist whore", we all sort of understood why Zidane flew off the handle. But an insult to his sister isn't quite the same thing. In the heirarchy of relatives you can't insult, it's 1) mother 2) grandmother, 3) wife and kids, 4) sister 5) father and finally 6) brother.

Materazzi also said that his door was open if Zidane wanted to make peace. Hey jackass, considering you're the one who insulted him and got him sent off and shamed on international television, perhaps you should be the one apologizing.

[AZ Central]: Materazzi insulted Zidane's sister

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Posted on Wed Aug 02, 2006 at 04:25:15 PM EST in Other Sports
More on: Odds and Ends, soccer, Zidane, amusing (all tags)

Apparently a song making fun of Zidane's headbutt called Coup De Boule is at the top of the French music charts. The song has sold 60,000 copies and 110,000 ring tones. Of course, it is also wildly popular in Japan, where weird pop phenomena go to die. And with this, we are done with Zidane coverage for eternity.

In other news...

[Sportsline]: NBA changes playoff seeding format

[Chicago Sports]: NCAA looks into more bans in S.C. for confederate flag

[Reuters]: Gatlin's masseur denies sabotage

[SI]: Embarassing moments in baseball history

[eBay]: Bidding for Barry Bonds #715 ball at $137,500

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Posted on Thu Jul 20, 2006 at 10:48:13 PM EST in MLB
More on: Odds and Ends, Reds, Steve Nash, Zidane (all tags)

A couple of weeks ago, we told you how Reds pitcher Brian Shackelford was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault in a hotel room. Today, Shackleford was completely exonerated and his attorney was told he would not be charged. No further details were available. The media likes to report on athletes getting arrested but tends not to follow up when it turns out they're innocent. We're just helping to clear his name.

In other news...

[SI]: Zidane suspended for three games even though he's retired.

[Yahoo]: Duke QB suspended for plagiarism

[Sportsline]: Kentucky in trouble for recruiting violation because fans were contacting recruits on their myspace page

[The Sports Dirt]: Redskins owner Daniel Snyder starts sports-talk chain

[Sports BBQ]: Steve Nash cuts off his hair -- coincidental that his wife's name is Delilah

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Posted on Thu Jul 13, 2006 at 02:25:39 PM EST in Other Sports
More on: Zidane, funny (all tags)

More here.

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Posted on Thu Jul 13, 2006 at 02:20:59 PM EST in Other Sports
More on: Zidane, World Cup, funny (all tags)

You know, a lot of press goes to the collaborative nature of the internet and Web 2.0 blah blah blah blah blah ... but as far as we're concerned, the real benefit is for threads like this on Something Awful. Internet geeks can be a clever clever bunch. Although some of them spend way too much time playing video games. In any case, here are the best of the Zidane animated gifs. The MC Hammer one is genius.

 
 

And one more big one here.

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Posted on Wed Jul 12, 2006 at 03:09:46 PM EST in Other Sports
More on: Zidane, World Cup (all tags)

Zidane won't say what Materazzi said exactly but he did confirm that Materazzi insulted his sister and mother.

He said words that were very difficult to accept which he repeated many times - they were more difficult to accept that just gestures.

It was difficult to turn away as they happened so quickly. They are very serious and personal. He mentioned my mother and my sister.

He mentioned them once and I feel bad but you hear them a third time... these words, I would rather have taken a punch in the jaw than have heard that. I reacted - it certainly wasn't a gesture to make.

It's true that two or three million people saw that ... and children, and I apologise to them. I do apologise but I don't regret my behaviour because regretting it would mean he was right to say what he said.

Meanwhile, Zidane could be stripped of his Golden Ball award because of the old 'conduct detrimental to the game' clause.

Finally, check out this Zidane flash game. (thanks There's Your Karma.) It's very amusing but nowhere near as fun or addicting as the Yeti swatting a penguin flash game.

Links:
[The Sun UK]: ZZ: Marco insulted family
[Fox Sports]: Report: Zidane could be stripped of award

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Posted on Tue Jul 11, 2006 at 03:58:15 PM EST in Other Sports
More on: World Cup, Zidane (all tags)

According to a lip-reader, Materazzi said to Zidane, "We all know you are the son of a terrorist whore". Zidane's mother is very ill and was admitted to a hospital on Sunday.

A French Football Federation source said: "If you insult Zidane's mother you are asking for trouble. Combine such words with a reference to terrorism, which French Algerians are very sensitive about, and a violent reaction might appear inevitable.

Prior to the terrorist whore comment, Materazzi had twisted Zidane's nipple and said that he twisted it hard because "I know that's how your mother likes it."

Holy crap. I think Joey Porter laid down the rules of trash talking during the Super Bowl. You never talk about someone's mother and you never talk about someone's grandmother. Outside of that, it's all fair game. Apparently, the rules only apply in the United States.

For some reason, Zidane's reaction doesn't seem so insane in light of those allegations. Materazzi has denied saying anything about being a terrorist and instead insulted Zidane's wife.

Links:
[Sun UK]: Sick taunt that riled ZZ
[ESPN Soccernet]: Materazzi admits he insulted Zidane before head butt

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