France Page 13 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Vuvuzela Watch: World Cup Committee Considers Ban On Nuisance Demon Horns
France captain Patrice Evra says vuvuzelas were partly responsible for their goalless draw: "We can't sleep at night because of the vuvuzelas. People start playing them from 6 a.m. We can't hear one another out on the pitch because of them." [AFP]...

World Cup Open Thread: Uruguay-France
Uruguay and France meet on the pitch to finally settle which is the best way to dispose of dissidents in times of political upheaval: desaparecidos or le guillotine. Unrelated two cents: Desaparecidos was a badass band....

Diarra Diarrhea Costs France A Midfielder
Lassana Diarra will miss the World Cup with what's euphemistically being called "a stomach ailment" or "intestinal pains." It must have been contagious when the entire team nearly shit the bed against Ireland. [AP]...

Just In Time For The World Cup, French Star Visits An Underage Prostitute
In libertine France, it takes a lot to spark a sex scandal. Think an underage call girl will turn do the trick? Franck Ribery could face charges after seeing the girl, though he says he didn't know her age. [AFP]...

Last Night's Winner: France Haters
In sports, everyone is a winner—some people just win better than others. Like France, who finally regained their rightful place as Europe's most reviled country. We really missed dumping on those cheese eaters....

Old Logic: France Surrenders. New Logic: France Cheats
Ireland's World Cup dreams die, and France's live on, thanks to a goal that saw two strikers clearly offside, and a pair of blatant Thierry Henry handball assists to boot. The Irish, as you might expect, aren't taking this well....

The French Are Still Not Lance Armstrong Fans
Here's a shocker from the cycling world: Team Astana—which featured the first- and third-place finishers at the Tour de France—is now under a doping investigation! I'm starting to think cycling might have a problem with drugs. [AFP/AP]...

Nancy Boys Play Like ... Well, Nancy Boys
Look, when you play for a soccer team from a town named Nancy, headlines like this are inevitable. (What editor could resist?) Especially when you run away from swine flu like a team of little girls. [ESPN]...

The French Will Not Let This Lance Armstrong Thing Go
Lance Armstrong has never failed a drug test and that makes French people insane, but like anyone with a good enough lawyer, they may have found a loophole to punish him anyway....

Today In Euro 2008 Qualifiers...
The Premiership is taking the day off in favor of some hot qualifying action for Euro 2008. But don't worry, many of your favorite British football stars still found a way to embarrass themselves....

No Idea Where Zidane Might Have Gotten His Temper From
In a time of heated rhetoric, political grandstanding and continued confusion on the facts, we looked forward to an interview with Zinedine Zidane's ailing mother. Perhaps the woman would provide us with some much-need perspective, give everyone a chance to just cool down and realize that it's jus...

Marco Materazzi Is Apparently A Total Moron
As far as defenses against accusations of making racist remarks go, we have to say, Italian player Marco Materazzi has a particularly good one after being notoriously head-butted by Zinedine Zidane....

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 ...

Your Last Zidane Roundup
In case you haven't exhausted your Zinedine Zidane animated GIF quotient for the day, here's a compendium of some of our favorite ones; the Butterfinger one is still the best. And if you like your moving online stuff to be interactive, here's a game that allows you to collect Zidane red cards. Oh, a...

Hirshey: Madness, Glory And The Self-Correcting Aneurysm
Madness. Can there be any other word for both this World Cup and the way it ended? It would be like Tiger Woods, moments from donning another green jacket at the Masters, bringing his putter down on top of Vijay Singh's skull. Or Michael Jordan stepping up to the free throw line in the final ticks...

Zinedine Zidane, Slightly Perturbed
So, it has been about 16 hours, and we still haven't quite gotten over the amazement of Zinedine Zidane's brutal headbutt to end his soccer career. It was truly one of the most astounding sports moments we can remember; like many Americans, we struggled to come up with an American sports equivalen...

The Head Heard Round the World
Congratulations to Italy, World Cup Champions. However, I have to admit, that's probably one of the greatest retirements I've ever seen. Better than John Kruk leaving the game after he got his average back up to .300 for his career....

World Cup Final Live Blog: Italy Vs. France
Well, it took long enough, but it's finally time for the World Cup Final. It's your favorite divers from Italy against the surrender monkeys from France. It's non-stop fun; it's the World Cup....

Just One (Real) World Cup Match To Go
All right, well, this is it: Just one more World Cup game — one that counts, anyway — and this whole thing is over. On Sunday, it's France vs. Italy for the World Cup title and all the international respect for its citizens and its style of play that comes with it....

Another Reason To Leave The MLS
The joke about employees skipping out of work to watch the World Cup has become so prevalent that even ESPN is making the joke (and setting it, cleverly, to a U2 song). But what about when one of your employees is, well, a soccer player?...