lunedì, luglio 10, 2006

Wherein I pretend to be a jock

I woke up this morning with a creepy feeling about the World Cup. What did Materazzi say to Zidane to get head-butted? The last time Zidane freaked out in championship play was because of some Saudi cocksucker mocking his Kabyle origins. What on earth did that tattooed trog say? Was it fairly standard shit-talk Zidane just couldn't handle after that phenomenal peice of ass Buffon made an impossible save of his header a few minutes before? Was it the most effective, exceptional peice of shit-talk to have ever occurred in the history of sport? Was whatever it was exacerbated by the French team being disowned by a mainstream national politician?

I wanted Italy to win to make my daddy happy, and I was happy when they won on my own account, but today I've stopped. I'm not a hero-worshipping type when it comes to sports but I had a bit of a man-crush, a bit of he-would-raise-fine-babies-and-protect-me lurve for Zidane; what happened wasn't nice. Materazzi is from Lecce; if he said something all ethnically gross . . . I don't understand how people as shat-upon and marginalized as southern Italians get so ethnically nasty. If he was nasty it wasn't a pretty win. Except, of course, in terms of aesthetics. There are at least 46 places I'd like to sit on the Italian team.

Upwards and onwards. Tomorrow I'll go back to writing about food, the only realm where ethnic tension actually makes sense. I had some wasabi hummus last Friday. Revolting. Two beautiful things that do not go together.

17 commenti:

Lady ha detto...

that was a great head-butt. he must've said something nutso because it was Zidane's last soccer game EVER - he's retiring from the sport entirely... huh. if you find out in your many readings today, let us know!

Mistress La Spliffe ha detto...

The Italian team says it was nothing, the French team are reportedly saying it was an ethnic slur. Sigh.

Mistress La Spliffe ha detto...

Now the BBC is saying the French are saying Materazzi said something about Zidane's mother, but neither Materazzi nor Zidane are saying what.

This has descended into schoolyard idiocy and I wish to God I wasn't so fucking fascinated by it when Japan is considering strategic bombing of North Korean missile sites out loud, the situation in Iraq has sharply deteriorated and Israel has stepped up its flattening of Gaza.

Melbine ha detto...

I think it's so fascinating because it's much easier for us to wrap our head around head-butting someone because they insulted our mother. How do we begin to comprehend what is happening in North Korea, Iraq, or Gaza? I can't.

I like when you write about food, you write so beautifully about this topic!

Mistress La Spliffe ha detto...

Just because we can't understand doesn't mean we shouldn't try. Anyways, I've been eating some lovely food lately.

The French press is saying that the head-butting is from Materazzi calling Zidane a 'terrorist'. Also Materazzi twisted one of Zidane's nipples a few minutes before. HOT. No. Bad. Mistress. Not hot. Unprofessional. Erm . . .

You know, on my personal site I get all the Italian 'politica' news headlines . . . today, they were ALL about soccer. And it makes sense. Soccer is kinda political. And hot.

Sugarplum ha detto...

The head-butting was so deeply human. Even though I didn't see the game but only the replay there was something about that instant that was captivating. My first reaction was that that was so violent - in the same way as these more political stories are violent but in this case everything is stripped away and we are left with a moment memoiralized in time that is raw violence. The kind of violence we can all feel inside but repress because it is so frightening. This moment in soccer is something we can't understand because it is so primal but it is easier to understand than other acts of violence because it is only that small instant. It is something that we recognize in ourselves. Just like you, Mistress, I need to know what it was that made that man who has had so much experience with shit talk loose control like that.

Mistress La Spliffe ha detto...

Yes, that's really well-put. I do think that's where this consuming curiousity is coming from - the complete inappropriacy of letting that part of yourself out of the cage at that particular moment, and the humanity of doing so, a hugely visible microcosm of that medulla oblongata that gets us in such awful, awful shit.


God, Buffon is hot.

Anonimo ha detto...

I think that the head butting looked completely deserved. But of course I don't know what Zidane and Materazzi said to each other, and I think that we will never know.

Where did you read read that Japan is talking about bombing North Korean missile sites? Or was it all over the news? The only news I've watched in the last three or so days were in Japanese, and the only thing that I understood was that there were missiles fired, that there was seven of them, and that Kim Jeong-il had a Japanese personal cook whose new job is to be on TV in shady-looking shades and be an expert on North Korea. But anyway, I think it would be unconstitutional for Japan to bomb North Korea unless it attacks Japan first.

And I think that North Korea has every right to shoot missiles into the sea as long as they don't fly over anybody else's territory.

Mistress La Spliffe ha detto...

International Herald Tribune, http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/07/10/news/japan.php, so there's probably something in the New York Times.

I'll never claim that there aren't some people and some comments that deserve a nice clean head-butt, but there's a difference between 'deserved' and 'smart', especially when you know some jackass Puglian is going to say whatever he can to make you do something like that . . .

I'm starting to wonder if Zidane figured that since that Materazzi got away with the purple nurple before he could just get away with the head butt. That question suddenly makes the subject less interesting for me.

Melbine ha detto...

Absolutely we should try..but sugarplum expressed it so much better than I could.

Maybe this guy thought he should go out from the international arena on a bang! Ha.

Mistress La Spliffe ha detto...

Now some Brazilian lip readers claim Materazzi called Zidane's sister a whore a couple of times and a naughty word:

http://www.msn.fr/news/dos1/Default.asp?id=060710142302.9zhzfw61.asp&MSPSA=1

Gosh, this is getting arcane.

Anonimo ha detto...

That article about Japan is scary...

Mistress La Spliffe ha detto...

Haven't they been talking for awhile about changing the constitution so that they can be scarier?

Anonimo ha detto...

I've heard something like this before. But the public in Japan would overwhelmingly opposed to anything like that. The scary thing is that it's the people in power who are talking about the change (the prime-minister-to-be Abe, in particular), and the public opinion can change so easily and so quickly.

The Outer Church ha detto...

You make such a good jock, Mistress, it's scary.

The Outer Church ha detto...

Jesus, Wasabi hummus?

Mistress La Spliffe ha detto...

Erm, thanks, Mess. I figure it's because, unlike most jocks, I can admit how badly I want to do the players.

The wasabi hummus was gross, the consistencies were off. It ended up tasting like really shitty wasabi et basta. I thought it would be good because the Shanghai Cowgirl has a wasabi mayonnaise for the sweet potato fries that's too fucking delicious to be true, considering I hate mayonnaise. Mayonnaise is the lowest class way in the world to tart up a sandwich.