Zidane knew what he was doing.

Why can't we all be happy with the amount of...chutzpah, to keep it clean...that he has to get deliberately thrown out of overtime of the most important match of his career?

We should stock all the Emergency Rooms in the country with a couple of those magic water bottles soccer trainers keep with them.

So like when Ben Rothelsberger gets rolled in on a stretcher following a gruesome motorcycle wreck, instead of sending him to the operating room, they could just dose him with some of that magic stuff and then seconds later he'd jump up off the guerny and run out the door.

But seriously, Zidane, it must suck to be you. Maybe you should have just said something back to your provoker instead of you know, head-butting him. Here's a suggestion for next time you're in that situation. He insults you, and you reply, "Oh yeah, the jerk store called and they're all out of you!"

Or you can just tell him that you slept with his wife. That one works every time.

Barbaric Americans. At least there aren't organized racial chants at NFL games.

I'll give Zidane the benefit of the doubt, and say that Italian prick had it coming. Zidane might have chosen the worst possible time to carry out his retaliation, but when you have grown men together competing for something very valuable, occasionally someone is going to get a busted lip (or busted chest).

Next stop for Zidane: playing defense for the Red Wings. Dan Hinote and Tyson Nash and Matt Barnaby would think twice before opening their yaps at him.

King, I agree with your assertion that "it's right to punish the reaction rather than the provocation, or at least to punish it more harshly." Your reasoning is spot-on, and Zidane--were he continuing as a soccer player--should be dealt with much more severely by FIFA.

As for Materazzi? I can only speculate, but given Zidane's reaction, I'm inclined to believe that Materazzi used "offensive or insulting or abusive language and/or gestures" toward Zidane--the sixth numbered reason for dealing with red cards under FIFA's Law 12 (Fouls and Misconduct): "A player, substitute or substituted player is sent off and shown the red card if he commits any of the following seven offences..."

Materazzi does deserve to be punished. Zidane needs to admit he was wrong, and offer a real apology to Materazzi for not playing under a banner of sportsmanship--FIFA's pet policy for many years now.

Sticks, stones, and headbutts may break my bones,

but words can never hurt me.

Your mother's a whore.

(Punishing violence, not words, is what distinguishes liberal civilization from primitive.)

It seems to me that this whole article could be reduced to a single sentence: "I have nothing to add to this topic". After all the meandering quasi-logical weighing of the relative guilt of the provoker/reactor, King opines: "If FIFA can find some real evidence that Materazzi said something racist or anti-Muslim and wants to sanction him somehow, fine." If that is so, then you have said nothing and have nothing to say.

Modus operandi Materazzi

I don't disagree with King's column today; I believe that reacting violently to verbal provocation is always an error and should be punished. However, it’s worth taking note of Materazzi’s conduct in other games. Two similar compilations linked to from the NYTimes World Cup Blog:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=7HblsV-urHg&search=Materazzi%20

http://youtube.com/watch?v=rKGcUr0S-FU&search=Materazzi%20entradas

So much for Zidane's apology/excuse. Soccer fans know he's like an unexploded bomb. When he led France to victory in '98 his temporary insanity was confined to the group stage and he served a two game ban for stamping on someone.

This is off topic but Zidane's straight red put me in mind of a spectacular meltdown former US captain Claudio Reyna had when he played in Scotland for Rangers. At the end of a heated Scottish Cup tie with bitter rivals Celtic, Reyna received a second yellow plus a red card for a heavy challenge on Neil Lennon. A scrum ensued and Reyna received a second red for lunging at Lennon. Maybe it was something he said, but Lennon was also red carded for the melee. In the tunnel after the game Reyna got a third red for jostling with the ref. 3 reds and two yellows in one game must be a record.

I have to agree with smileyy. There's just something heroic in the oldest-skool Greek sense about our warrior throwing caution, the Greater Good, utilitarianism, and plain old commonsense to the wind -- and exacting justice right there and then. And honestly, what a head-butt! Have we ever seen anything like that? There's a still-shot available all over the web that shows about third of ZZ's head burried in the rib cage of his victim. And the look of utter horror on the unworthy opponent's face the split-second after the impact when it occured to him that not only could he not insult the warrior with impunity, but he might actually be paying for it with his life. (Compare that to the incident in a previous World Cup where Beckham, lying face down after being fouled, got a red card for giving a little pussy kick when his Argentine foe passed by. It's like, if you're going to get red-carded for retaliation, for God's sakes, man...!)

There was more drama there in three seconds that we were going to get from the PK finale. Besides, it's not like anyone had any illusions that Barthez was going to beat Buffon in a shoot-out.

European gentlemen in ZZ's situation used to challenge their rivals to a duel to settle such scores. And sure, the whole civilization and rule-of-law thing is in general a big improvement over a world of private justice. But still, didn't we lose something kinda cool when we did away with dueling -- Biggie and Tupac not withstanding?

You know, it's not like the Z-man threw punches.

He could have.

And he didn't head-butt Materazzi in the kisser.

He should have.

But a bald head to the chest? Not that big of deal compared to a fast ball to the face or an elbow to the face, which is what McBride was greeted with. McBride walked off with a REAl injury. And I didn't see him cry.

Which brings me back to the Italian team again. Yes, they're weasely champs. Their "feign injuries/dish insults" tactics were taken to a new level, ruining the momentum of the game. Yes, their defense was good only because after they regrouped during a feigned injury. And they succeeded in getting the Z-man a red-card, which I believe is an illegal call by the ref. He used the big screen when he shouldn't have.

Whatever Materazzi said, it was nasty and calculated. The futbol world is nasty --Mexican fans chanting "Osama" and Europeans chanting racial slurs and God knows what else that fell under the radar.

And who knows what players say to each other?

Zidane's reaction could have been worse, probably on par with a titty twister and an Indian burn. Materazzi's insult and overdramatization was the real foul.