Zidane is as low as they come in sports

I remembered his cowardly and completely unacceptable head butt to the chest of Marco Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup, I remembered his cowardly and completely unacceptable justification of the move on French national television following the Cup, and I remembered in general why he represents everything that is wrong with sports.

I spend most of my space in this column talking about positive things and the virtues of sport – especially when played by children in our community’s great associations from hockey to gymnastics and everything in between.

But when an embarrassment like Zidane shows his face, my blood begins to boil and there’s nothing I can do but to feel terrible about the poor example he sets for children and athletes all over the world.

I’ll take you back to my remarks following the ’06 World Cup:



"Zidane not only head butted a man in the chest because he was taunted, similar to what a six-year-old would do for having his Tonka truck taken away, but he then went on French national television and tried to justify himself in the most cowardly of fashions.

He apologized to the children of the world like a big hero, but went on to justify his actions, explaining why he did it, as if that matters.

The example he set was that if you’re pissed off enough, you can do whatever you want. The example FIFA set by also suspending Materazzi was that if you piss someone off and they assault you with a potentially heart-stopping head butt to the chest, you’re equally as guilty as your attacker.

I’ve had worse things said to me than ‘yo momma’s a #@$%’ in my recreational hockey league, but I’m man enough not to head butt my opponents in the chest.

Zidane pulled a weak-minded, low-class move on the biggest sports stage in the world outside of the Olympics and has essentially gotten away with it.

If this guy is the biggest soccer star on the planet, well, we can all do with a little less soccer."



The part that guiled me at the time was not that he made a mistake on the field – yes, I think the move was low, but very few things are unforgivable.

Had he gotten on television and simply apologized and left it at that, I’d have no qualms with the man today. Look at Todd Bertuzzi – he’s no hero, but he did nothing but apologize for nearly crippling Steve Moore a few years back.

The move itself may have been classless, but Bertuzzi didn’t pretend it was OK because Moore had insulted his sister or something like that.

So all these years later, here’s Zidane not only prancing around the planet like the world’s gift to sports and society, but he actually has the gall to make a presentation to a group of youths in Montreal North – one of the toughest neighbourhoods in the city.

Over the past few years there have been riots and killings, followed by riots and killings in that part of town, and they get the ultimate example of what not to do to give a speech to the area’s children?

This isn’t a recovering addict giving a speech on the potential dangers of drug use – no, this is like Roger Clemens giving a speech on philandering or Dan Quayle judging a spelling bee.

Not that I think Zinedine Zidane is every going to read this column, but just in case… Mr. Zidane, I’m glad you know how to kick a ball real good – but all things considered, I’d prefer you stay the hell out of my city until you grow up and take responsibility for your actions.

We all make mistakes, but if you don’t learn from them and admit when you’re wrong, then what kind of an example can you ever hope to be?



You can always reach me at noahsidel@gmail.com.