Posted on 07/10/2006 3:39:28 AM PDT by SkyPilot
PARIS (AFP) - First there was hope and expectation, then there was undiluted joy, a reality check, exasperation, despair and finally deflation - that was the Champs Elysees during the World Cup final.
What was supposed to be a great swansong for a player rightly lauded as the greatest of his generation, ended in disgrace for French star Zinedine Zidane.
And his hoards of loyal fans looked on in disbelief as they watched their talisman head-butt his way - the victim being Marco Materazzi - into an inglorious but dramatic retirement - more Eric Cantona than Zizou.
The wild party expected to go on late into the night never took off, the millions expected to emerge never did.
The only happy people, barring pockets of celebrating Italians, seemed to be those for whom the result bore little consequence to their reason for hitting the Champs - trouble.
Some dejected football fans wearing the blue shirts of 'Les Bleus' sat on the kerbside, many in tears, smoking cigarettes for the most part and looking fairly lonely and isolated.
People who had watched the final at home and trundled off to the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs in search of the party found little to encourage them to stay and wandered like lost souls.
"The match was horrible and tense," lamented 24-year-old student Antoine Leclerc. "We were very expectant. There was a lot of noise throughout the match, people were singing the Marseillaise on their balconies.
"But at the end, no-one was speaking."
"Now there is just consternation," added another student, Alexandra Flick, 19. "I just want to know what was said to Zizou."
"We came here to see what it was like but there's nothing much happening," added Charlotte Leclerc, also 19.
They wandered a little way down the Champs towards Place de la Concorde, turned around and were soon making their way back home.
But while the true football fans found little to keep them from trudging back home, many on foot to distant Metro stations as that of the Champs-Elysees was closed, others were determined to make a night of it.
Crowds of blue shirted people headed one way while gangs of rowdy young men headed the other.
Youths waving flags - not French or Italian but Algerian and Turkish - ran around shouting and cheering.
A couple of groups of people drummed away making music, mostly it seemed to get their faces on television. Crews of cameramen and journalists quickly sparked high spirits and encouraged cheering happy faces.
But there was also a sinister side lurking in the shadows.
Other than around the Arc itself, the crowds were hardly heaving but young men loitered in darkened pockets of the Champs, just yards away from riot police.
Up by the Arc itself was the biggest police presence and it did not take long for the first baton charge to be launched.
Hundreds of young men, clearly angling for trouble, squeezed in and around the Arc. A flare was thrown into the crowd of people, the police braced themselves and the fleeing began, swiftly followed by a charge.
It was just the first of the night and only shortly before midnight. The only crumb of comfort for the police was the lack of numbers.
This was not 1998 revisited, nor even the earlier quarter-finals or semi-finals all over again. The numbers simply were not the same.
For all the disappointed football fans, there were just as many people who had found an excuse to come and do what they were really interested in: making noise and in some cases making trouble.
It was a feast of modern youth culture, crammed into one street in the heart of a bustling city.
Very neat. LOL!
Are you sure that is what is happening -- I thought the photograph was taken when De Gaulle finally made it back to Paris, after the US and the Brits had kicked the Krauts out.
Funny you say that; I was wondering why I wasn't hearing nonstop cheering throughout the afternoon, only cheers twice, while I was kept awake by those driving down the street honking their car horns.
"No way is the greatest sport ever invented "boring"...Baseball is a chessmatch, only with more strategy (whereas football is more like checkers)."
If I hear the old "baseball is a chessmatch" BS once more I will barf. First, it's not that complicated, and second, have you ever watched a chessmatch? It makes soccer look exciting.
LOL Yeah, you're one of many who've told me the same thing. I don't know a thing about the game, but whenever Italy gets brought up among non-Italians, the soccer fans I know roll their eyes and groan.
Italians on the average DO get into histrionics.
LOL!
And sheesh, baiting the opposition is standard in every sport. Zidane should have shot back with something equally clever, like, "zhut up! zhu zpaghetti eating zwine!"
Really? Ever try to hit a sphere with a 5" circumference going 100 mph? How about throwing it so it breaks in an arc of 30 degrees? Every pitch in baseball is exciting because a spectator does not know what will happen. Will it bounce through the hole between 5 and 6 for a single? Will it ring off the wall for a double? A triple? Will it clear the fence? If runners are on first and third with one out and the pitcher is up, what is the proper strategy? Squeeze play? Sacrifice or take you chances with a double-play?
How do you pitch to a Hank Aaron with some one on second? Walk him? Challenge him inside with hard sliders? Make him hit the breaking pitch that sometimes hangs?
Baseball, as CONSERVATIVE George Will points out, is truly the king of sports!
I gather the French football team lost.
"Every pitch in baseball is exciting because a spectator does not know what will happen."
No is arguing that baseball doesn't reqire skill. As far as every pitch being exciting I'd say you are in a distinct minority on that one. Strategy-wise you can make the same arguments about football. Many decisions, options and unknowns for all situations. There is just more happening at once without the long pauses. Furthermore in baseball, when your team is on defense you can't score no matter what you do. In football either team can score at any time.
Yeah, and if you ever catch the video, she's clearly applauding.
nah, they just need to enforce the rules. No TRAVELING. Call fouls on the "stars".
Pro-basketball is wrestling with a ball....and I mean the fake wrestling. There's too much gaming the system with 7 game playoffs...
If I was the commish and ruler of the world. I'd make it a 1 Billion dollar single elimination tournament. The teams would play their in cities that had the best winning percentage from top to bottom and if there is a tie then go to heads up or opponents played.
For a cut of 1 Billion dollars, I guarantee that Shaq would crash the boards and make some free throws.
The season would be used to determine the order of "ranking" with the best team playing at home.
For the baseball guys that I offended, sorry it's just my opinion. I think it's boring, slow and if you've got the time to sit around, drink beer with your friends, and drop a couple of hundred bucks if you take some kids.... more power to ya.
I like football, tennis, UFC fighting and boxing...I've got the attention spam of a gnat.
It looks terminally gay.
Or as "The Hardline" on DFW's The Ticket say, "Baseball is a talking sport."
Listening to the Jim Rome sports radio show earlier and one of the e-mailers likened the shoot out to finishing the final game in the World Series of Poker and then playing a quick game of war to decide who wins...
I got a chuckle out of that one.
I think he's trying to get to his undershorts so he can make a white flag.
And what's with all the whining that there's not enough scoring? Is there some sort of American rule that states scoring should be frequent and easy? I suppose the advertisers like it that way, but c'mon.
That being said, the Italians are a bunch of drama queens.
You can still smoke cigarettes in Paris?
Deodorant is still optional too, I've heard.
I hate to admit it too - but France was the better team.
The entire second half seemed like it was played on Italy's side of the field.
FIFA should scrap the penalty-kick OT and just go to a sudden death OT.
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