and it ended with a headbutt

Had there been an element of altruism at play - say Zidane had committed a professional foul to deny Italy a last-minute winner - it would have been an understandable reason for the maestro to sabotage his own swansong. Yet there was nothing to be gained from lowering his head and charging into Marco Materazzi's chest, and such a great deal to be lost.

The crowd of hundreds stationed of Falckensteinstrasse (the Brandenburg Gate proved a bit too no-thank-you) registered visible shock when Zidane emerged from madness with the attack depicted above, spiritually ending the game. Sure, there was some game left, but Zidane blew France's chance to score their way out of a shootout. Penalty shootouts are rough, as exciting as they are random -- the shot they inevitably cut to is the back of the net, and you're supposed to wait in agony while the football gods cast their lots.

So Italy takes it, for the first time since 1982. Don't mind that this morning, we're right back to the infamous Juventus match-fixing scandal -- it's sour grapes. Their victory was hard-fought.

I've heard it said that we had a crap World Cup, that it gets worse every year. Perhaps the game is dying along with our primordial souls, but I dunno. Perhaps we want too much, and of something we barely understand. And as for me, I don't know any better, so I loved dwelling in the epicenter of the Cup. But now that it's over, should we start talking about serious things again?