Oh, now we understand. An Italian lip reader seems to think that French World Cup captain Zinedine Zidane delivered that head butt because his Italian opponent had insulted the whole Zidane family, AND Zidane’s mother had recently received some bad medical news about which Zidane was still upset. The whole story is here. And there’s highly engaging video here.

One CM reader resented the implication that Zidane’s poor impulse control made him look like an animal.

…animals do not lose it. When they are aggressive it is with intention, necessary for the predatory or defensive behaviors in the animal kingdom. The higher mind of the human being can control these instinctual and territorial behaviors. Too often we fail to do so, but the “like an animal” metaphor is misplaced, I think.

Point well taken, I think.