Word: foul
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...what really happened through slow-motion replays. FIFA's refusal to introduce modern technology for referees to consult on difficult calls is a great loss for the fans and athletes. The human eye is not always able to determine correctly whether a player is offside or has committed a foul. Today, any decision has a great impact on everyone involved, both financially and emotionally. Kees van der Pligt Amsterdam It was heartbreaking to see Italy's triumphant World Cup team on the cover instead of Zinédine Zidane and the French squad he led. Zidane was punished for head...
...traffic. The tableau of roadkill they are enjoying looks like a multi-species suicide pact. There's the standard eviscerated kangaroo, but also an emu less than a meter away, head tucked under its wing as if sheltering from the wind that fluffs its feathers. Beside it is a foul-smelling black-and-white smear that might have been a penguin, for all the amateur pathologist can make...
...recommended giving football the same number of officials that tennis and rugby matches use. But just one additional assistant referee with a TV set would be enough. Referee errors get more annoying as TV coverage matures to perfection: instant slow-motion replays from different angles show exactly whether a foul was real or faked, a hand blocked a shot from scoring or a player stood offside. Everyone can see what really happened, except the referee who has to make the call. The referee reviewing the video replay could communicate with his colleague on the field over his earphones...
...instead of dealing with these problems, as other sports have, FIFA, soccer's governing body, is a world leader in bloviation over action. The NBA outlawed trash talk and instituted a flagrant-foul rule to deal with dirty players. The National Hockey League, hardly a sport for wimps, also cracked down on thugs. The NHL decided to enforce the rules on hooking, holding and interfering when it became apparent that the chippy play was ruining the game by preventing players from using their talents--you can't skate with a stick up your behind. The result: when the refs cracked...
...Given the ugly spate of racist incidents that have marred professional play in Spain, Italy, France and elsewhere in Europe over the past year, it isn't surprising the first explanations of what prompted Zidane's violent reaction painted Materazzi as a foul-mouthed bigot. The English daily The Guardian led things off with a translation of an audio feed picked up by a TV camera, and depicted an escalating exchange in Italian ending with Materazzi calling Zidane a "(expletive) Muslim, dirty terrorist". Other media analyses relied on lip-readers scrutinizing video images, and came away with interpretations ranging from...