Soccer fans still insane

It was good to see French sports fans taking a break from the Floyd Landis witch-hunt to find time to attack one of their own this past weekend. Former France goalkeeper Fabien Barthez is quitting his French club team Nantes, saying he fears for his safety from angry fans. Nantes is in last place in the French league mired in a season where Barthez, a World Cup and European Championship winner with France, has made costly errors in recent matches. Several fans surrounded Barthez's car as he left the Stade de la Beaujoire, kicked the vehicle and tried to pull him out. Barthez then got out and started trading punches with one of the fans. Security staff moved in to separate them. "I'm not going to play again with Nantes," Barthez said on France-Info radio Monday. "A gang of five or six guys came to block me from leaving the stadium. They were there to rub me out, as they said." To whistle me throughout the match, I accept that, that's part of the atmosphere," he said. "With Nantes, I would have gone to the end, but that (the incident) goes beyond the realm of sports."

With Barthez's sudden retirement, he will be missed by all of his followers worldwide and especially some of his teammates. With out him around to take most of the abuse, it will be time again for the fans to breakout the produce and the flares.