I think it depends on the situation Klabbath. I know that some of the worst instances of violence in sport that I have witnessed have stemed from an opponent siezing on a particular unfortunate aspect of someone's life in order to get under their skin.

For instance, I was playing floor hockey with a friend who's girlfriend had quite publicly humiliated him by cheating on him (with a member of his family if I remember correctly). This guy on the other team, in order to get him off his game, said something about his mom (in relation to the whole thing) and my buddy turned around and kicked the living shit out of him. Lucky for him there were no refs, nor was it a league game. Unlucky for him he had to face assault charges.

Anyway, considering that unless the players are mic'd (which they censor the best parts of anyway), or you're dishing out big bucks for the rink side seats, it's safe to say we'll most likely never know what goes on most of the time.

Very, very, VERY true. About the only thing I can say that modifies that is that we hold "professional" athletes to a higher standard... or at least we SHOULD. Unfortunately, there's a wide streak of bad boy behaviour spreading through ALL sports. Steroids scar the face of baseball, brawls bruise the figure of basketball... soccer and football are no exception.

About your buddy... ouch. I hope he was able to beat those assault charges with a "reasonable man" defense. There is a point at which even the most reasonable of men is going to throw a punch, and that asshat didn't cross that line, he leapt across it.

~D.
"Nigel"

Klabbath, you're contradicting yourself. If you allow someone to be 'so pissed off' that it's 'reasonable' to attack another person physically, but don't allow the professional athletes the same kind of 'humanity', you're forgetting that those, too, are human, and each of those humans have their own 'breaking point', so to speak.

What I'm trying to say is that we're making it awfully easy for ourselves demanding from those pro players that they never ever step over the line, while affording us 'normal' people exactly those luxuries.

Tosh;

In what way is it contradicting myself? Gav's friend is not a professional athlete. He isn't paid millions to play a game, and he's not, by virtue of long training and experience, taught to focus himself and ignore jibes from opponents.

professional athletes also have a breaking point. They are also much more highly trained to avoid reaching it.

~D.
"Nigel"

Of course. But they still have that breaking point. And since we do not know exactly what went down during the entire game (remember, it took 120 minutes of game-time only, not counting breaks, to finish it), it might be a bit harsh judging him.

Everybody judges, Tosh. Everyone has an internal measuring stick that they hold other people up to. Perhaps I have less of a right to judge than the soccer fanatic, because I don't care for the sport at all so my knowledge is lessened, but everyone judges.

~D.

I personally think it was a tactical maneuver, to ensure that the strike was landed. Had Zidane simply turned and swung, given the fact that they're not only on their feet, but wearing cleats, the Italian would have simply evaded his attack, and quite possibly counterattacked.

This way, Zidane could be sure of not only drawing first blood, but of also most likely putting the man down from the initial shot, considering that he head butted him in the solarplex.

Tactical advantage: Zidane!

Could be right, but it still came out like a cheap shot. Hitting someone from behind is a tactical advantage, too, but still a little less than honorable in my book.

~D.
"Nigel"

Hitting someone from behind is definately a cheap shot.

But! When faced with the proposition that your mother and your sister are dirty rotten terrorists, and whilst facing said accusant face to face...

...regardless, Zidane has suffered naught from his choice of tactic. His people probably love him more for it than if he'd scored the winning goal in a shootout :)

Edit: And the Leafs are poised for, in my opinion, one of their stringest showings in a long while.

Meh, soccer is fun to play ( I like playing when it's a ffa...you pick which side you goal on, and its all ages. It's fun playing vs someone who is 19 and you're 13, it's also really satisfying to finally get a goal, solo, past four people) and so is football. But I dont really like watching sports. It's like watching someone duel in VO all day. Boring. I'd rather be challenged...

Thus, it's more fun when you play, then when you stay.

Stay where?

On the couch watching the game.

Erik ++