Well, I guess that is one way to go out. Not the way I might choose, but its a way.

So on the heels of the Zinedine Zidane red card, Italy held off France to win the 2006 World Cup in penalty kicks. I did not watch much of the game, but I did see most of the overtime before the red card and it did not look like an issue of if France would win, but more of when.

And I’m not quite sure what Marco Materazzi could have said to him, but it was probably not within the realm of normal trash talking, and I don’t think he was asking what Zidane would be doing post-match. But what else do you expect from the second dirtiest team in the tournament (Italy… not France). Win at all costs, right?

The facts: the current World Cup champ is also the country where its soccer league is being invetigated for match fixing, and both the top two dirtiest teams of the tournament wound up finishing 1st and 4th. The result: rugby is now the gentleman’s game of Europe.