More
than just football
Lesson by Kaj
Jordison
See
“The
perfect ending?” Real.Time, page 5
There has
been a lot about football during this last
month, and maybe especially during the last week. We have all seen the
pictures
of Zinedine Zidane walking of the football field after he attacked the
Italian
footballer Marco Materazzi. However, the story that I’ve
picked today is not
really about football at all. It’s about something much more
important, namely
the human heart.
The writer,
Mr. Kong Rithdee, is using the very
emotional event of the final game to introduce a discussion about race,
identity and politics, and he is doing it by comparing the fateful ending of Zidane to those of
movies. He mentions fairy-tale endings
and the ones of existentialist movies,
saying that the
ending of Zidane is most existentialist.
What does
that mean? What it means is that the ending
of Zidane’s football career says something about our human
nature and life in
general. Somehow, it is true of who we are. The ending is neither the
ending of
a bad sports movie from
The writer
also extends this theme of man to
introduce a brief discussion about politics and
race, referring to
Vocabulary
fairy-tale ending – an ending that is unlikely to happen because it’s too good to be true
existentialist movies – movies about human nature and what defines human nature, for example free will
theme of man – a storyline that is about the way people are
post-colonial – the time after the European countries withdrew from occupied countries in mainly
illustrate – to show something clearly
on cue – to say or do something when you are supposed to, like in the movies following a director’s orders
captured – recorded something that happened accurately
erupted – burst out suddenly or violently
defines – identifies somebody or something by a distinctive characteristic quality or feature
delicate – mild and gentle
fury – anger
inscrutable enigma – a mystery that is not easily explained
resembled – looked like something else
pretentious – made to look really good and impressive but without any real substance or content
anti-hero films – films with heroes that really don’t have the usual characteristics of ordinary movie heroes, but the characteristics of normal people, or maybe even bad people
glimpses – quick or incomplete looks or sightings of somebody or something
divine – having godlike nature
ideally – perfectly; in a perfect manner
dominates – the most important aspect or element of something, in this case the most important aspect of the discussions about race after the Zidane incident
hints – suggests an idea or information in a roundabout way
legacy – something from the past that is handed down to future generations
occupation – the invasion and control of a country by enemy forces
subsequent – later in time or order than something else
propelled – moved or pushed something forward
crushed – destroyed; violently stopped or removed something
anticipation – the feeling of looking forward to something that is going to happen
a ghost of his prime – when you don’t live up to your full potential, to what you actually once was able to do or perform
lavished – gave or spent something generously or to excess, in this case praise
rife – widespread and very frequent occurrence of something
provoked – made someone feel angry
Answer the
following questions to get a better
understanding of the text.
- Why does the
writer think that what happened in the final game was a perfect ending?
- A good movie
or a good football match should, according to the writer, do what?
- What is the
movie Cache about?
- How did some
politicians in
- What does the
writer mean when he says that Marco Materazzi is not “the
only one who knows how to play it” (last paragraph of the
story)?