Meltdowns

Tuesday, July 11, 2006 | 7:28 a.m.

As captain of his team and one of the greatest soccer players of all time, Zinedine Zidane was famous for using his head. And not only in the literal sense.

But after using it as a weapon with the minutes ticking away in Sunday's World Cup final, the retiring French soccer star will most likely be remembered for losing his head - and then using it to smash Italy's Marco Materrazi in the chest after the two players exchanged words in the middle of the field.

Zidane was given a red card for the head butt and ejected from a 1-1 game that France would lose on penalty kicks.

Remember when Mike Tyson bit off part of Evander Holyfield's ear in the 1997 heavyweight title fight? When Roger Clemens was ejected in Game 4 of the 1990 American League Championship series for profanely arguing balls and strikes? When Woody Hayes cold-cocked Clemson University's Charlie Baumann for having the audacity to intercept a Buckeyes' pass in the 1978 Gator Bowl?

This was different. This wasn't just national TV. This was on the world feed with 1.3 billion of its inhabitants tuned in. That's billion. With a "B." As in the number of hamburgers served at McDonald's.

What Zidane did was roughly equivalent to taking a ton of Hershey's Kisses and dumping them into the outfield at Cashman Field on a hot summer day.

It was, quite frankly, the mother of all meltdowns.

"It was absolutely astonishing for that to happen in that context and jeopardize not only his team, but his entire country," said John Murray, dubbed "the Roger Federer of sports psychologists" by Tennis magazine.

Today, Zidane is being called the Ilie Nastase of international soccer. Only his obscene gesture was made with a bald head instead of a middle finger.

So what drives a person to his breaking point? And why do athletes always seem to be riding shotgun?

"It's a merging of thoughts, feelings and actions into one single blur where one reacts on instinct and impulse rather than thought-out behavior," said Murray from his Florida office upon returning from watching many of his clients pound the tennis ball around Wimbledon during the past fortnight.

Chris Kearney, a professor of psychology at UNLV, cited a parallel between road rage and losing control on the playing field. Sometimes all it takes is a poorly executed left-hand turn to set one off. Or a questionable reference to one's mother, sister or homeland.

"Absolutely, when you have high adrenaline and a highly competitive person coupled with an insult, you snap," Kearney said. Zidane's head butt "was much more closer to a road rage incident."

Kearney said an aggressive temperament and competitive spirit makes many athletes prone to flashing ang er. Then when you add in stimuli such as the physical nature of the games and trash-talking, the potential for violent behavior increases.

"These guys are basically walking a very tight tightrope," Kearney said. "Then in the soccer world, there's a lot of machismo. There's a lot of trash-talking back and forth that seems designed to produce a red card."

Herculez Gomez, the former Las Vegas High star who has gone on to a successful Major League Soccer career with the Los Angeles Galaxy, said he has heard things that would make a sailor blush.

"Race, ridiculous stuff about your mother and family, age, whatever," Gomez said before hitting the practice field Monday.

But Gomez said that doesn't absolve Zidane of trying to bore a hole in Materrazi's breastbone.

Zidane "still should have stayed calm," he said. "I definitely didn't expect that, a barrel through the chest. Wow. One of the weirdest and saddest things I've seen in a while."

Kearney said that whereas the average person learns to avoid confrontation, many athletes believe they must retaliate when challenged or risk being considered "soft." Plus, athletes are used to preferential treatment and believe they can get away with behavior for which others are likely to be punished.

At times, it can be like a substitute teacher trying to keep the class clowns in line.

In Zidane's case, the pressure of competing in such a big event on such a grand stage also may have lowered his snapping point to Bobby Knight level.

"You've got to remember that these guys have been playing elimination games for many weeks," Kearney said. "Any little thing can cause you to snap."

Still, Murray said every case is unique. When told that Zidane had a history of aggressive behavior - he once stomped on a Saudi Arabia player as if he were a stale croissant - he wasn't surprised.

"I keep going back to the impulse of anger, thought and action merging into one," Murray said.

But then he offered a less clinical explanation.

"Sometimes," he said, "people just lose it."