Zidane

Tragically, France's greatest player embarassed himself in his final act as a professional soccer player in the Extra Time of the World Cup Final when there was about 20 minutes left with the score tied at one. Some people have said that it would be like the Canadian equivalent of Wayne Gretzky playing his final game of his career in game 7 of the Stanley Cup playoffs and cross checking a player like Tie Domi into the boards from behind and getting ejected for it.

Oops.

I don't want to add to the talk about why he did it or if he was provoked by Materazzi. I don't care. It was a stupid play. The dissection of the play can be left to people who phone in on sports radio shows for the next few days.

What I want to talk about is an image that will be forever in my mind. In 1999, I went on a school trip to France when I was 14. Les Bleus had just won the world cup the year before in 1998 to home crowd by beating Brazil by a whopping 3-0 margin. That game, Zinedine Zidane scored two goals and cemented himself as one of the greatest players of all time. When I was in France, the country was still in the euphoria of having won its first World Cup. McDonald's or McDo as its affectionately called there had the French goalkeeper Fabien Barthez endorsing Big Macs. Then there was Zidane. For a country where minorities have had a difficult time, Zidane was a great shining light. A son of Algerian immigrants, he was used as an example that minorities could succeed in the country.

For part of the trip I stayed with a family in a small town called Trets that was about an hour from Marseille. One day, we drove to Marseille where I ate a couple of Barthez's Big Macs, watched an Asterix and Obelix movie, went to one of the most beautiful churches and drove along some of the coolest roads there.

Then there was this one building. If my memory serves me correctly it was about 4-5 stories high and south facing. It was right near the ocean. It might have been a corner building but I think it was actually a triangular shaped building with the biggest wall facing the intersection. The building didn't fit in with the architecture of Marseille. In fact, the whole wall was a picture, it was a picture of Zidane's face.

My family that I stayed with drove by the picture and said something in French that loosely translating it (took French Immersion) and it being 7 years ago like "this is Zidane, a hero of the country and the city Marseille". I remember them all beaming with pride and honour. It was great to be able to share that with them. It's something that I won't forget. I felt their pride even if I was Canadian.

From that point on, I've always cheered for France.