read my lips

from the Wall Street Journal:

PARIS -- The World Cup is over and Italy won. But the most gripping global sporting drama of the moment rumbled on in Paris last night:

A Frenchman known to his fans as "God" [ed.: this makes BHL sound slightly less demented] went on television to explain why he rammed his shaved head into the chest of an Italian nicknamed "the animal." "

Watched by spellbound fans across France and then flashed around the world, the television appearance of Zinédine Zidane was the latest episode in a fiercely fought international competition: trying to figure out why France's star soccer player blew his top during Sunday's World Cup final.

The contest has featured lip readers, sociologists, philosophers and novelists ....

Mr. Zidane, appearing on France's Canal Plus pay-TV, said his quarrel with Italian defender Marco Materazzi began when the Italian tugged his shirt 10 minutes from the end of the 30-minute overtime. Mr. Materazzi, according to Mr. Zidane, then insulted his mother and sister.

"These were words that touched the deepest part of me," said the 34-year-old Frenchman, seeking to explain why he had head-butted the Italian and got himself thrown out of the game, the last of his long and brilliant career. "I would rather have taken a punch in the jaw than have heard that."

[snip]

"I reacted badly, and I would like to apologize for it," added Mr. Zidane, who has occasionally erupted in the past. But he said he didn't regret the head butt. "The guilty one is the one who provokes," he said.

Mr. Zidane's explanation is unlikely to quiet a frenzy of speculation that France's l'Equipe newspaper yesterday called "L'Enquête Planétaire," or "The Planetary Inquest." Parisian café goers watching the interview on TV last night groaned at Mr. Zidane's lack of specifics. He later also spoke to French channel TF1.

What exactly happened on the field of Berlin's Olympic Stadium Sunday has become a global obsession. Outside Italy, where fans have savored their triumph, Mr. Zidane's now world-famous head butt has attracted more media attention than Italy's success. Even Italian papers have put it on the front page.

Lip Readers Get the Call

Eager to work out what prompted Mr. Zidane's fury, media from Britain to Brazil have turned to lip readers to scrutinize video footage of the game and decipher what was said by Mr. Materazzi, a notoriously aggressive defender. The lip readers all agreed that insults were traded but have given very different versions of what was said.

The Times of London's lip reader said the Italian called Mr. Zidane, whose parents came to France from North Africa, a "son of a terrorist whore." According to the BBC's expert, Mr. Materazzi said, "I hope your family all die ugly deaths." Experts enlisted by a Brazilian TV show said the Italian called Mr. Zidane's sister a prostitute. The men are believed to have spoken in Italian, which Mr. Zidane speaks because he played in Italy for many years.

Mr. Materazzi, in various media interviews, has denied calling the Frenchman a "terrorist" or insulting his mother, saying "the mother is sacred."

"I didn't say anything to him about racism, religion or politics," Mr. Materazzi told Italian sports newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport in an interview, excerpts of which were released last night shortly before Mr. Zidane's TV appearance. "I didn't talk about his mother, either. I lost my mother when I was 15 and even now I still get emotional talking about her."

Though widely condemned for unsportsmanlike conduct after Sunday's head butt, Mr. Zidane has, if anything, become an even bigger star than before. Instead of slipping into retirement, the intensely private player has remained in the spotlight.

[snip]

An announcement yesterday by Canal Plus that Mr. Zidane would be speaking in the evening was treated as a major piece of breaking news. His comments were the top item on France's evening news broadcasts.

To try to capitalize on this, a French record label has released a reggae-style song titled "Coup de Boule," French slang for head butt. Its chorus: "Zidane has hit [him]." The song plays on the words of a pre-World Cup song with the chorus "Zidane has scored."

While most French fans say Mr. Zidane's action probably lost France the game, nearly two-thirds say they've forgiven him, according to an opinion poll in Le Parisien newspaper. President Jacques Chirac, at a meeting with the team Monday at the Elysée Palace, embraced Mr. Zidane and told him: "You are a virtuoso....You are also a man of heart, commitment and conviction. That's why France admires and loves you."

Court Action

A member of parliament for France's ruling party has demanded that Mr. Zidane be given a Legion d'honneur, France's highest decoration. A French lawyer announced yesterday that he will go to court to try to get the World Cup final invalidated on the grounds that Mr. Zidane's expulsion was illegal. He wants the match with Italy replayed.

[snip]

Writers and philosophers have read great moral drama into Mr. Zidane's tantrum. "The God of football has become a literary hero," declared Zoé Valdes, an exiled Cuban writer in an article published in Spain. Bernard Henri-Lévy, a French philosopher writing in this newspaper, termed it the suicide of a "planetary icon."

Others see simpler lessons. "What a fabulous head butt," said Al Breach, head of research at UBS in Moscow and devoted fan of the French national team. "The Italian deserved something -- a bad dude -- and so, a good oak loses his cool and socks him one. Wonderful!"

source:
World Cup Mystery: What Did 'Animal' Say to Anger 'God'? ($)
By ANDREW HIGGINS and MARIE VALLA
July 13, 2006 5:38 a.m.; Page A1

         


a Canadian moment
World Cup win
World Cup win part 2
BHL weighs in
coupdeboule
read my lips

html authoring in French

-- CatherineJohnson - 14 Jul 2006

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Comments

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In some jurisdictions, the term for what Zidane did is "Assault with Intent to Commit Grievous Bodily Harm". Zidane clearly wanted to injure the Italian; it is mere good fortune that he didn't. His action is in no way other than the result different from what Todd Bertuzzi did to Steve Moore a couple of years ago, and there is no excuse for it.

Ever.

Finally, I have to say that I'm (sadly) not surprised at the French reaction. I don't intend this as a slight against the French in particular; had the teams been different, we could have seen similar reactions from Brazil, or England, or Russia, or Argentina, or Italy, or nearly anywhere else. There is a breed of fan that checks its rationality with the ticket taker.

-- DougSundseth - 14 Jul 2006

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Todd Bertuzzi story

-- CatherineJohnson - 14 Jul 2006

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I don't know.....could a head butt do that much damage?

One question I have: does "coup de boule" mean head-butt for balls only, or does it include head-butting for people?

(That is, I'm wondering whether head butts are an informal part of the game...)

-- CatherineJohnson - 14 Jul 2006

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"...could a head butt do that much damage?"

Yes. When properly executed, it's tremendously dangerous. And Zidane's technique was impeccable; he's clearly had experience.

-- DougSundseth - 14 Jul 2006

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It can stop your heart if timed right, I believe. Or have I been watching too much CSI.

-- SusanS - 14 Jul 2006

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One of my friends has a best friend who's a forensic something-or-other.

She sneers as CSI.

-- CatherineJohnson - 24 Jul 2006

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I'm pretty sure you're right about stopping the heart. I've heard of it happening to high-school kids who are hit with a baseball pitch in the chest (in just the right way, of course). And although a healthy kid probably has the best chance of a shock re-starting their heart, sometimes it just doesn't work. Google says 10-20 people die each year from this sort of accident!.

-- StephanieO - 25 Jul 2006

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good grief

-- CatherineJohnson - 27 Jul 2006

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Few people have seriously questioned the ability of the lipreader employed by the London Times. She claimed that Materazzi called Zidane "a dirty terrorist". However all the pointers are that Materazzi said something about Zidane's sister. The Italian word for sister, "sorella", can look like the Italian word for terrorist - "terrorista" - if the lipreader only catches the last 2 syllables.

As a lipreader who has actually stood in Court in the UK to give evidence against the same lipreader employed by the London Times (I now live a few doors away from Carolyn, so I am safe, hopefully!) I can say without a doubt that it is impossible for any lipreader with English as a first language to claim to lipread Italian phonetically with any degree of accuracy. In fact it is difficult enough, as it is, to lipread English with any degree of accuracy unless one is totally aware of the context.

~Bosco

-- BoscoKeown - 30 Jul 2006

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Wow, Bosco, you have certainly led an interesting life! I'll have to get the story behind Bosco vs. the London Times lipreader.

Thanks for giving 'evidence'! But it raises a question: is the London Times lipreader a native Italian speaker? And if not, can we get an Italian lipreader to weigh in?

-- CarolynJohnston - 30 Jul 2006

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Title:	read my lips
TopicType:	WebLog
SubjectArea:	FromTheKitchenTable
LogDate:	200607141057