What in the world was Zenedine Zidane thinking?

In the words of Conan O'Brien "cool down my babies."

So what if Materazzi steals a line from a movie made by the creators of South Park and says "terrorize this you terrorist!"

If you are Zidane you are the best player in the world.  The captain of a national team in the final minutes of the championship game, in overtime, in the greatest tournament in the entire planet.

Are you kidding me?

You are going to lose it now?  I have played plenty of sports and have heard loads and loads of trash talk.  Sure some things get under your skin more than others, but I usually keep my cool and rely on what I was taught at a young age that the best payback was to beat them on the field.

Now I can only imagine the immense difference in emotions and pressure that one faces playing at the highest level and hearing trash talk compared to the levels I have played at.  But htat is why you are the captain.  The leader.  The three time World player of the year and two-time Golden ball winner.  Because you know how to respond by beating them on the field not with a Street Fighter 2 Turbo Edition head butt.

I am still in shock from this game.  Maybe I should not be so surprised.  Zidane has head butted before and once a crazy head butt maniac always a crazy head butt maniac.  Now he is supposedely retiring from soccer.  What is he going to do know?  Tour the world promoting peace and good will alongside Mike Tyson?

I can hear it now.  You bite the Prime Minister and I will head butt the President.  On Three!

Lets get back to Materazzi for a second.  This man is no saint either.  And apparently not very smart.  He is not cultured enough to know what a terrorist is according to ... himself.  What? That is not called being cultured or not cultured.  That is down right stupid and clueless.  You are telling me you are a grown man playing in a World Cup with some of the greatest numbers of security ever to protect you and your teammates from hooligans, riots, and terrorist!!! and you do not know what a terrorist is.  Not buying it! Next question please.

In the end the Italians are World Cup champions.  Lets face it the best team won.  In tournaments like these you have to overcome controversy, be a little lucky, play well and fight for the prize.  The Italians did that and even overcame their dreaded penalty kick demons.  They overcame the pressure from overwhelming scandals at homeso and are once again World Champions.

And Zidanes legacy?  Well I don't know.  What do you think?

It is prediction time again.  A month of crazed competitive play preceded by four years of preparation and trials will come to a close this Sunday.  Two of the greatest Futbol countries history has to offer face off in a match that culminates in pride, glory, and some other spectacular word.  I can not really do justice to all it has taken these two teams and countries to get to this point so I will end here.  Lets get to the predictions.

The appetizer: Germany vs. Portugal A third and fourth place match that has two terrific teams trying to end their tournament on a positive note.  Portugal's stingy defense and intense goalkeeper has been nearly impossible to score on in this tournament.  Giving up only goals off PK's in the last three matches.  Germany's defense has also has been tough to break coming off a 118 minute stuffing of Italy before finally faltering.  That makes this a match that looks to be a very defensive one.  it will be a battle featuring sparks from both offenses and spectacular saves from both keepers, but in the end the home crowd will will its team to victory.  Germany wins a 1-0 game off a goal from Miroslav Klose.  Giving Klose the golden boot and leaving the generous host with one last moment to celebrate.

Italy Gianluigi Buffon and Fabion Grosso have been the heroes for this Italian squad.  Buffon has cemented his place as the best goalie in the world and Grosso has lead with his defense and his offense.  Setting up or scoring game winners in two elimination matches.  Francesco Totti has been the x-factor coming off a long injury he is still not at full fitness but has lead his team with several assists.  Italy has not had the prettiest victories causing distress for diving amongst even the Italian fans, but it looks like that is all behind them after a hard fought and even pretty victory for the Italians against the home team Germany.  The Italians are looking for their fourth World Cup victory and arch-rival France is all that is standing in the way.

France Zenedine Zidane is supposed to be aging and slower.  Fans were hoping to see glimpses of his former self in this tournament, but instead are being treated to the full length feature.  Zizou is back and dominating in a tournament that was supposed to further glorify the greatness of youngsters Ronaldinho and Torress.  The three-time World player of the year came out of International retirement to help his team qualify for this World Cup and will retire at the end of this World Cup.  Now the legend is one game away from not only making the greatest comeback of all time but growing his legend and placing his name near the greatest players of all time.  Zidane is not all on his own though the defense shutdown Brazil, Spain, and Portugal.  Makelele and Gallas continue to fight.  Young Ribery has provided youth and speed to the attack, and Thierry Henry is finally on the same page as his captain.  France is on a roll.

This is what it is all about. This may be the hardest match of the tournament to confidently predict, and I guess that is what makes it such an appealing final.  The best goalie in the world versus the best player in the world.  The best striker in the EPL against the best striker in the Italian league.  Midfield geniuses Zidane and Totti face off.  Slightly insane Gattusso against slightly insane Ribery.  The luxury of having Del Piero or Trezeguet, Saha or Gilardino coming off the bench.  I think this game will end in a 0-0 tie.  I don't think it will see PK's.  I have to look at history to find the winner.  Something about Zidane just creats champions.  The 1998 World Cup champion and the 2000 Euro Cup champion (that beat Italy in the final) will do it one last time.  Zenedine Zidane ends his career in glory scoring in overtime to beat Italy to become the 2006 World Cup champion and seal his title as player of the tournament and one of the best players in history.

Ok join in with your predictions.  This is going to be a wild final.

HE IS BACK!!!  Not only back to playing baseball in the Independent leagues but back taking down the MLB.  Mafia Legion of Baseball.  That is right.  Jose Canseco is playing baseball and investigating the MLB.  Opening our eyes to the evil that Bud Selig is up to.  Canseco actually called the MLB "the mafia."

Crying about being blackballed and all the protection of big names and blackballing of Cubans that is still active in the Majors. 

All I know is that after I read Juiced, everyone Canseco accused either got busted, mysteriously lost tons of weight, retired, got injured, or just plain dissapeared.  The man speaks the truth.

Save our National pastime Canseco.  You are our only hope.

I disliked Cristiano Ronaldo long before you did.  But now we all hate him.  Unless we are Portuguese and then we love him.  I first disliked him for being named Ronaldo.   There is only one Ronaldo and he has three Fifa World player of the year trophies, a World Cup trophy, is the World Cup's all-time leading goal scorer, and has some golden boot's laying around.  I still did not hate CR though, I was just not a fan.  Then he joined Manchester United which heightened my dislike, since I am not a Man U fan.  They are the Yankees of soccer although Chelsea and Real Madrid are fighting to "buy" that title. 

I have always joked that I don't like athletes that gel their hair.  A big reason I never liked pretty boy Beckham.  CR wears earrings, colors his hair, fohawks his hair, wears makeup, and uses a full bottle of aquanet and hair gel before every match.  Look up mandingo in the dictionary and you will likely see this picture -

None of these annoying things are worth hating though.  I will not be a fan of a man for the above reasons, but I will not hate them.  The more I watched CR the less I liked his style of play.  Sure he was fast and had spectacularly quick feet, but the majority of the time his stepovers did not do the damage they could.  I also quickly recognized his quickness to dive.  He did draw plenty of fouls by juking the snot out of defenders, but he fell on his own a good amount too.  I hate diving.  I realize every team has a token diver or two but it should not be the star and it should not happen too often.  Worse than diving though is faking injury.  In the 2004 Olympics Portugal did phenomenal and were lead by CR.  Unfortunately he also lead the team in dives.  The man could have won a medal on the olympic diving team just as easily as he did for playing soccer.  As a young leader and star for your country I would expect better.  Carlitos Tevez lead Argentina with hard physical play and flashy goals and they rightfully won gold.  Still CR was only 18 and we could only expect that he would mature.  Instead he has continued his diving for Man United and for his country in this World Cup.

Still at this point in time Manchester United fans and Portugal fans and alot of unbiased soccer fans loved CR.  He is young, flashy, and exciting.  There is alot to like about his ability and his cockiness.  Plenty of cocky players are still loved.  I respect that he has made two PK's in a World Cup where the PK has not been a gimme.  I do not respect the way he head butted Rooney, egged on the referee, and then winked after Rooney was red carded.  CR made the world hate him after that incident.  All caught on tape, all in one match, and all to someone he considers a friend. 

His biggest mistake.  Is that he did it to the English.  They already feel cursed and they never forget.  CR will probably never play another match for Manchester United and probably will not be in the EPL.  He will porbably never endorse another product in England as well.

Does the whole world hate Ronaldo now? There is now a site dedicated to hating him. www.ihateronaldo.com.  The whole thing is kind of funny. 

Here is one of my favorite video's reacting to the incident - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc53gTIpa8A&search=cristiano%20ronaldo%20%2B%20england

Will he ever mature?

Will he lead Portugal to a championship with his futbol skill?

Will they lose to France?

Will he make his team better or worse?

Do you hate him?

Do you hate me for this blog? LOL

Will he lead his team with his acting and diving?

These are just some questions about the man that is quickly becoming the most hated athlete in the world.

Will it continue?

Germany vs. Italy This will be an all out battle on the futbol pitch.  The always physical Germans against the sneaky and feisty Italians.  I expect Germany to continue their uncanny ability to score early with a goal in the first 20 minutes.  The Italians will try desperately to counter befor the half but instead it will be the Germans who take a 2-0 lead.  One of the two goals will be a Klose goal.  Italy will get one back in the second half and make the final 15 minutes extremely interesting, but will be unable to find the net and lose a close one 2-1.

France vs. Portugal After a scoreless first half Thierry Henry finds the net early in the second half.  After the Portuguese try all their dirty dives and other cheater moves in desperation for a good 20 minutes Zidane will break down the defense with wonderful dribbles and a pass that leads to a tap in goal for Ribery.  France wins 2-0.

There you have it feel free to guess away!!!