Fast Break

Soccer

Truth comes out about head butt

ROME – Italy’s Marco Materazzi said he insulted Zinedine Zidane’s sister, revealing nearly two months after the World Cup final what provoked the French star to head-butt him in the chest.

In Tuesday’s interview with the Gazzetta dello Sport, Materazzi disclosed that after he held his opponent’s shirt, Zidane said: “If you want, I’ll give you the jersey later.”

“I responded that I preferred his sister, it’s true,” Materazzi said. “It wasn’t something nice, true. But luckily there have been dozens of players who have confirmed that a lot worse things are said on the field.”

Zidane was sent off after receiving a red card for the head-butt. Italy went on to win on penalty kicks.

Golf

Bjorn reflects, apologizes

Thomas Bjorn apologized to European Ryder Cup captain Ian Woosnam on Tuesday, a day after calling his friendship with him “completely dead.”

Bjorn reacted angrily Monday after Woosnam overlooked him and selected Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood as his captain’s picks.

Bjorn was fined by the European Tour for his comments.

“Having had a day to reflect on my comments, I would like to apologize for the hurtful and personal nature of my remarks to European captain Ian Woosnam,” Bjorn said.

College football

Record crowd ready for Eagles

The Eastern Washington football team will set a school record before it even steps onto the field Saturday against West Virginia.

The Mountaineers have already sold out Mountaineer Field, which holds 60,000. The previous largest crowd the Eagles played in front of was 39,581 at Arizona State in 2002, 510 more than at Oregon State last week.

Quotable

Eternal pessimist

Doug Flutie, ESPN analyst, reminiscing about the 22nd anniversary of his famous Hail Mary pass for Boston College against Miami:

“I hate seeing it (on replays) because one of these times he’s going to drop it.”

Trivia note: Jack Bicknell Jr., the current Louisiana Tech football coach, was the center on that play.