Saturday,
July 15, 2006
No "Yo Mama" Jokes for Zidane!-Touchy
star No Chance in Trash-Talking U.S.-Boston Globe
The
ANNOTICO Report
This
Boston Globe Sports writer Ron Burges ridicules Zidanes's "Justification" for his Infamous and
Vicious Head Butt.
Borges writes: "As
for the claim that Materazzi insulted Zidane's mother, well, on most professional fields of play
in the
The first
hysterical claims of "terrorist" or "racist" insults are
now largely discounted, and even references to Zidane's
Mother and Sister are questioned. The latest claim is something about Zidane's Spanish wife's fidelity. :) :)
Oh
well, does that mean that
Could we
first settle this in Court, with Charges of Defamation??? Would Materazzi claim TRUTH as a Defense, and
have a Presumption of Innocence (In the US,50% of
Wives, and 75% of husbands, admit to cheating,and
To keep
matters in perspective, is the fact that, prior to the World Cup,the coach for
NO
"YO MAMA"JOKES FOR ZIDANE!
Touchy
star never would have made it in trash-talking
Commentary
By Ron
Borges
MSNBC
contributor
July
14, 2006
Zinedine
Zidane is lucky he doesn't play real football, NFL
style.
Or
basketball, NBA style. Or baseball on a major league pitch (I mean field).
If the reasons behind the
World Cup temper tantrum that got him chucked out of one of the biggest games
of his life are true, then international soccer fields
are tempermentally the right place for him.
If it takes for Zidane to go off like a North Korean rocket ' which is
to say like a dud ' is for someone to insult his mother he'd have enough
red cards in those other leagues to open a Red Roof Inn without having to buy
roof tiles.
"Yes, it is true,''
the hot-tempered star said. "He has called mi
Mamma a foul name. He has insult-TED mi mamma, mi sistah. Sacre re blu!''
Or surely Zidane's reaction was something similar after foul-mouthed
Italian Marco Materazzi admitted that, "It is
true! I did insult him. But I categorically did not call him a terrorist.''
Thanks goodness for that.
A Paris-based anti-racism
group 'that had absolutely no way of knowing what was said' had claimed Materazzi called Zidane a
"dirty terrorist,'' an insult apparently to his Algerian heritage.
Turns
out the insult was
more personal than that. Now, as insults go "Yo
Mama'' hardly ranks with what Terrell Owens might say to the valet parking guy
at a Dallas restaurant, let alone to an opposing cornerback. But this is soccer
after all, a more genteel sporting endeavor (never mind
As for the claim that Materazzi insulted Zidane's
mother, well, on most professional fields of play in the
"Dirty terrorist''
is an insult of a different nature, of course.
Call Shaq
a dirty terrorist and he might slam dunk over you. Have Kobe Bryant insult Shaq's' mother and he might laugh with some heartiness. And
then dunk over you.
In major league baseball
you can get punched in the head for running too hard into an opposing catcher.
In World Cup soccer you can be head-butted for saying 'Your Mama wears boots de
combat.''
Oh, but wait a minute.
There's also the matter of shirt tugging.
There's an offense worthy
of being expelled from the biggest game of your life. What's a guy to do? Let
just anyone grab his laundry?
"I held his shirt
for a few seconds only,'' Materazzi confessed Tuesday. "Then he turned round and spoke to me, sneering.''
(Oh, good Lord no!).
"He looked me up and
down, arrogantly (can you IMAGINE?) and said, 'If you
really want my shirt, I'll give it to you afterwards,''' Materazzi
continued.
Then the Italian admitted
he responded verbally with, "One of those insults you're told tens of
times and that always fly around the pitch.''
Something
like suggesting "Yo Momma engages in acts
prohibited by law in most states?'' What's a man to do after such an insult? Play on?
How does one come to
grips with the actions of the great Zidane then,
whose response to this verbal cannonade was to commit the soccer version of
Mike Tyson biting off Evander Holyfield's
ear?
How do we explain how a
sport whose advocates love to call it "the beautiful game'' turned into
ultimate fighting only hours after the new York Times had called Zidane "a master of unparalled
grace?''
Easy. Forget trying to put it in the
context of T.O. losing his mind and dogging Donovan McNabb. Stop trying to look
at it in comparison to Kermit
As insults go, don't try
to compare it to any of Ozzie Guillen's top 100
tirades, because "I do not like your Mama'' pales in comparison to a Gullien insult on his least profane day...
But commit a sporting
crime with a stadium full of witnesses who could finger him standing right there?
No way, Francois.
Ron
Borges is a contributor to MSNBC.com and covers the NFL and boxing for the
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