Lest you forget, I am not cultured. I am a complete moron lacking any intelligence whatsoever. Got it? Thank you.

July 11th, 2006 | Posted by PostmanE

The dust has yet to settle on the whole Zidane headbutt situation - oh, you hadn’t forgotten already, had you? - but the reason why Zizou flipped his shit seems to be gradually surfacing, and it’s not looking good for everyone’s favorite trash-talker, Marco Materazzi.

First, yesterday, it was rumored that Materazzi called Zidane a “dirty terrorist.” Materazzi denied saying anything of the sort, claiming he was “ignorant” and didn’t know what the word terrorist meant. Dubious.

Today is a bit more of the same, as the Guardian rustled up some Italian lip readers - seriously - who seem to think Zidane heard “I wish an ugly death to you and all your family…go fuck yourself.”

Eesh. Though that seems like the most cumbersome bit of smack-talk in recorded history, it probably wouldn’t be the most effective. Certainly not worthy of a vicious chest-high headbutt, for sure.

Marco certainly isn’t doing himself any more favors today, admitting an insult but claiming it as innocent. His latest quote? A gem:

Materazzi, 32, told Gazetta dello Sport: ‘I held his shirt for a few seconds only, then he turned to me and talked to me, jeering.’He looked at me with a huge arrogance and said, ‘If you really want my shirt I’ll give it to you afterwards’. I replied with an insult, that’s true.’Materazzi has not elaborated on what he did say, but one report suggested he responded with: ‘I’d rather take the shirt off your wife’.

He has denied, however, some of the more vile insults referring to his wife or sister or calling him a terrorist.

‘It was one of those insults you’re told dozens of times and that you tend to let fall on the pitch.
‘I did not call him a terrorist. I am not a cultured person and I don’t even know what as Islamist terrorist is.’

He added: ‘For me the mother is sacred, you know that.’

I am not a cultured person. I don’t know what an Islamist terrorist is, nor do I understand the geopolitical issues inherent in Zidane’s existence in France as the child of Algerian parents. Also, I don’t understand the difference between fantatical religious extremists and common Muslim religious pedogogy and the complexity of viewpoints that occupy the middle-ground between the two. I have never read ‘No God but god,’ or anything by Henry Kissinger. Also, I am relatively clueless about the murky nature of Italian foreign policy and the difficulty in seperating Italian identity with Italian race. All of these issues mean nothing to me; I never discussed them in my education. I am not cultured. Thank you.

Also, you know, for me - the mother is a’sacred! Mama Mia!

OK, Marco. Whatever you say. (Or don’t say.)