How NOT to end an athletic career…

I just competed in my very last track meet a few weeks ago in Indiana. It’s not easy leaving an activity that you’ve done since middle school, and that has been a very big part of your life. But when you leave, you want to leave with pride.

I have no idea what was going on in the head of France’s Zidane when he head-butted Italy’s Materazzi. The cost was huge. Zidane gets tossed out of the game, and France loses. In follow-ups, it appears that Materazzi insulted Zidane, possibly calling him a “terrorist” (although Materazzi denies it). Prior to the game, Zidane had announced his retirement. What a way to end a career.

Trash talk is part of sports. Even the girls in track and field do it. Elbows fly in the distance races, and throwers have been known to bump each other in the shoulder when walking past each other. I learned that one the hard way when I competed with the “big girls” at USATF Senior Nationals my senior year in high school. Ouch! But Zidane is no beginner–the guy is what, 32? You would think that he would have some focus and self-control by that time.

Even more embarrassing for FIFA is the fact that journalists selected Zidane their player of the tournament before the head-butt thing occurred. Most of the voting happened before half-time.

Zidane fans insist that his reputation won’t be affected by the way his career ended. That’s probably wishful thinking. We usually remember the beginning and the end of things, but not much about the middle.

And how does the coach respond? By making excuses for his disgraced player. Oops. This not only draws attention to the player, but to the situation as well– which could draw even more coverage in the media. When all of the commentators are saying that the head-butt was horrible, it’s not a great idea to claim that Zidane’s actions were justified because he’s been picked on:

“When one has to put up with what Zidane had to and the referee doesn’t do anything, one understands. You can’t excuse it, but you can understand it.”

Even worse, it appears that Zidane has not apologized, nor has his coach apologized for him. That would seem to be a good first step. In this situation, it would have been better to be the first to do the proactive thing: be the first to say what happened was wrong, two wrongs don’t make a right, and take the high road from this situation.

Zidane will now be remembered as the soccer player that head-butted and nothing that he has done in the past. This situation is going to be the case study that shows how not to end a athletic career.