I didn’t get to watch the whole game, but I saw Zidane’s head-butt action in video clips later in the day. I think this is similar to Mike Tyson’s ear-biting incident with Evander Holyfield. I really don’t think there’s much going back in terms of cleaning up his reputation.

Granted, Tyson had problems before and perhaps Zinedine Zidane didn’t (I seriously don’t know). I have lost much respect for him from the flagrancy of this incident, although I understand that he is a talented athlete.

Something must have set him off, but was a physical altercation warranted? Lots of great athletes are brought down for things either within the sport or outside. We can at least say that his judgement was rash and that the heat of battle played some role.

This, in contrast to many famous athletes such as John Daly who have histories of spousal abuse. At least Zidane is not one of these.

I do agree with your analysis of the French team. I strongly feel that they were the most fair in terms of fouling and faking. They seemed to always be after the ball and not the player. They didn’t take dives, but jumped up quickly if they had fallen to go after the ball and attempt to continue/progress the play. Germany was also a great team in this regard and I enjoyed watching every minute of the World Cup that I had the opportunity to see.