Like millions of watching fans around the globe, what I'd hoped to see was a legend walk off the field to tears, cheers, and thunderous applause for giving us some of our best sporting moments in soccer history. Instead, what we got was an errant school boy being marched off the field to an ignominous exit - it's not how Zizou's fans want to remember him, yet that one silly, uncalled for gesture is being played and replayed across TV screens a day after Italy shot their way into football history as World Champions 2006.
A usually unflappable Zidane turned on Materazzi charging him like a mad bull, knocking the stunned Italian down (I'm sure the shock kept the guy down on the pitch more than anything else) and earning himself the refree's rightful ire. And that's how Zinedine Zidane bade farewell to millions of his agahst fans. By descending from the sublime to the ridiculous.
Oh well...it was a human moment, an ugly one, but nevertheless human.
Zizou, we still love you...
