Has the AP moved a photo of Zidane's headbutt?

You're seeing those quotes from the French now. Quotes like: "There is more to life than football" about the slur. So we'll see ...

 

The host was claiming that if Ron Artest or Terrell Owens did something similar in the NBA Finals or Super Bowl, they would not have gotten off as easy as Zidane did because Zidane was white. "As far as I'm concerned, he's white," said the host.

 

This has probably already made the world cup thread, but I don't want to wade into 180 pages, so I'll ask here.
The Wash Post story says, "Argentine referee Horacio Elizondo, after consulting sideline officials who saw a video replay, showed the French captain a red card."
But I thought that video replay was a no-no. Had to be actually seen by one of the officials. So if that is true, why did Zidane get ejected?

 

Racial because he's Muslim? He's not black, is he?

 

Perhaps buckdub meant "ethnic slur."

 

If in fact some kind of slur was used (and I am not saying one was), then my opinion of Italy will go even deeper into the tank.

 

So Materazzi is kind of like the character in the movie Fast Break whose job was to bait opposing players into getting technical fouls?

 

Haha, you could compare him to that. I doubt Materazzi was intentionally trying to get Zidane sent off by what he said, more a case of gamesmanship (and acting like a scum of humanity, if he used a slur), trying to get into his head, provoke him a bit ... which obviously he did.

And yes, I did mean racial/ethnic slur. Whatever: A case of the "dirty dozens," if you will. [/inlivingcolor]

 

The ESPN report now is that Zidane was upset about a nipple twist moments before that.

It sounds like a lot of people here are hoping it was a racial slur to bag on Italy some more, to declare Italy "unworthy" in a World Cup where it allowed only one goal -- and that only came after a flop to draw a PK, no less.

 

Oz, my Black & Gold brother, I think the reason so many people around the world suspected Materzazzi is because he's got a rep as one of the dirtiest players in Serie A. I didn't know that until I hit a few soccer BLOGS! this morning, but in Europe he's infamous for his cheap shots.