Down goes Materazzi! Down goes Materazzi!

First of all, congratulations to Italy. They earned one of the few truly World Championships in all of sport. That being said, there's a reason I use the word "earned" and not "deserved." I have to go back to Fabio Grosso's clear flop of a dive in the Round of 16 against Cup surprise Australia. The dive won Italy a penalty kick in second half stoppage time and Francesco Totti's goal broke a 0-0 tie and sent the Azzuri into the quarterfinals. While I'm not saying Italy couldn't have beaten the Australians in extra time, they were down to 10 men already, and the Socceroos were hanging right with the (then) three-time World Champions.

However, the story of the Final at the water cooler today is the vicious headbutt by French captain Zinedine Zidane on Italian defender Marco Materazzi. Watch the video to see Materazzi drop like a sack of potatoes and to listen to Dave O'Brien and Marcello Balboa's bland, nonchalant response to the attack.

While Zidane's act was shameful and sullied an otherwise compelling Final, I have to admit it was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. Also mitigating circumstances for Zidane are the remarks of Materazzi, According to various reports, shortly before the headbutt was unleashed, Materazzi told Zidane, who is of North African heritage to "play for his own country" and referred to Zidane as "a terrorist." Materazzi has a history of dirty play himself (Thanks to Deadspin for the link), and the Italian national team are well-known throughout international play as being notorious racists. So while Zidane's headbutt was inexcusable, one could see why he reacted the way he did, especially with his notoriously fiery temper.