ZIDANE OR MATERAZZI? Which one is lying? The answer should be obvious.

Image@www.ggzidane.com

Admittedly, I am not that great of a soccer fan, nor am I an avid fan of any sport, per se. I definitely enjoy a good boxing match. But seldom, do I sit in front of the televison viewing an entire sporting event of any type. Usually, I watch only the last minutes of sporting events.However, since I was in Europe during the World Soccer games, I indulged in a few moments of watching some parts of the playoffs and, of course the final competition between France and Italy. Mind you, I went back and forth. But I was watching the last fifteen minutes or so and saw Zinedine Zidane give Marco Materazzi the perfect head butt, just like a two ton stallion bull. It was beautiful. No, it was magnificent! Not passing judgement or taking sides, I will acknowledge, I was impressed with Zidane’s toughness and relentlessness on the field. But more so watching how he turned around and perfectly planting his feet and body and head into a carefully calculated positioning of his feet to make the powerful blow with the head to Materazzi’s chest, which caused his prey to fall backwards on his asno.

Both men are to appear before the FIFA, Federation Internationale de Football Association, sometime this month in Switzerland, and each is required to submit in writing a statement explaining exactly what took place to cause Zidane to react in the violent manner in which he did. I know it will be tough to determine who is or is not telling the truth, shading the truth or-simply-outright lying. Listening to news reports of the explanations given by both men, I will stick my neck out based on years of reading body languages, questioning people during investigations, coupled with that reliable gut feeling, I would say it is relatively easy for the association to reach a conclusion with a minimum of 99% accuracy. How? Well here is how. It gets down to believability and plausibility .

Zidane says with just ten minutes left in the game, Materazzi made derogatory comments that were insulting to his mother and sister. And the insults were made on three occasions during the game. Zidane refused to elaborate on precisely what was said. As such, he lashed out on the third insult with bullish force. During his carefully orchestrated interview a few days later on television, he asked forgiveness of the children watching, but refused to express sorrow for his actions. To do so would be forgiving Materazzi for what he had said.

Now, Materazzi admits he threw insults at Zidane, but denies making disparaging comments about Zidane’s mother and sister, or any racial slurs, or calling Zidane a terrorist-which had been reported as one of the possible infractions based on expert lip readers(?).

Please read carefully, because here is where Materazzi trips up. This is where the believability principle really kicks in and shoots holes through his unbelievable illogical explanations. He was quoted as stating: "I never called Zidane a terrorist, and besides I don’t even know what a terrorist is.” Where has he been, on Mars or Pluto? Second, Materazzi added that “ Zidane is my hero.” Oh, really? First, anyone who is as famous as Materazzi and doesn’t know what a terrorist is today, and being potentially subject to kidnaping and terrorist acts due to his position in Italian society and the world, is simply being disingenuous and straight out lying.

Second, the Commission should pose on him a few pertinent and relevant and poignant questions: "Mr Materazzi, you have stated publicly that Mr Zidane is your hero. Correct? Materazzi will have to answer with an emphatic "yes," quite naturaly, because they will be quoting his exact words. "Well then, if what you say is true, is it only a natural and reasonable and logical conclusion to say that no one would deliberately insult someone whom he or she considers being their hero as you have admitted to doing?" "Do you want this association to believe Mr Zidane is actually your hero? At that point, I would speculate that Materazzi will either be completely mum, or start giving a more unbelievable explanations to get himself out of the hole, he dug for himself. And so, I will say my speculation is both plausible and feasible.

Although both men will more-likely-than-not be penalized, the question is, what will the degree of culpability, proportionally speaking, assigned to each footballer, respectively? I say Matserazzi should bear the greater burden. What do you say?