Dr. Z Is Mad As Hell (Again)

We'll get into an update of all the fun Zinedine Zidane theories a little later today, but we wanted to pause to take a look at Paul Zimmerman's column for SI.com yesterday. We have no shame about this: We love Paul Zimmerman. We know he's old, we know he's cranky, we know he probably spends most of his evenings drinking wine at his kitchen table while grumbling about the kids on the "Information Superhighway" and how the Whole Goddamned World Is Going To Hell. We know all this, and we don't care. He's a wonderfully natural writer, he knows more about football than just about anyone else we read and, mostly, he seems half-drunk most of the time. How do you not love him?

Anyway, we had a classic Dr. Z moment yesterday, when he was properly piqued enough to fired off a rant about Zinedine Zidane. His argument was that Zidane was justified in the head-butt, not because he was the victim of a racist taunt or inappropriate matron-oriented remarks ... but simply because he plays soccer.

The problem is he doesn't hit the canvas as the rest of those prima donnas do. So the ref must figure nothing is happening. ... Maybe Zidane was tired of all this, of this travesty, which rewards all the things that we were once taught were cowardly, but can be used to great advantage in this game.

See what we mean? Damn kids ... get off my lawn! Dr. Z is the best.

Enough Is Enough [SI.com]