Zizou and Georgie

Gobbergo wrote me about a documentary on Zidane to be presented during the Madison Film Festival mid-April. Wikipedia has a good article on it. You can view the trailer and clips on the film's own web site. This site gives a summary of the game during which the film was shot.

I've written a little about Zizou once or twice before. He's a type of the tragic sports hero; like Georgie Best, who was, maybe, a prototype for him, though we have to hope the one doesn't share the other's endgame. Both photogenic, prodigiously talented, volatile. Both grew up in public housing projects as members of an underclass and both achieved fame when still young. Both called the world's best player, the most gifted footballer of his generation. There are differences too, mainly in their personalities, Best's being ebullient and Zidane's reticent.

I try to imagine the way kids kicking the ball around on in urban neighborhoods in Algeria and Marseilles would try to be like Zizou.

{source - this is Lisbon}

Here are a pair of YouTube videos that give some idea of the talent of each of the two men. If you only view one item in this post, look at the first of these two.





This shot of the funeral cortege for Best shows his birthplace in the Cregagh Estate of Belfast, Northern Ireland. Wikipedia says Best played soccer on the open playing fields at the center of the estate.

{source: BBC}

This is a shot of the area where Zidane was born in a housing project in the northern suburbs of Marseille.

{source: flickr}