Bundesliga - Day 24: Missed chances and trash talk

Bayer Leverkusen - 1.FC Nürnberg 4:1
Werder Bremen - VfL Wolfsburg 0:1
FC Hansa Rostock - Hertha BSC Berlin 0:0
Karlsruher SC - Eintracht Frankfurt 0:1
VfL Bochum - VfB Stuttgart 1:1
Hamburger SV - Borussia Dortmund 1:0
Hannover 96 - Arminia Bielefeld 2:2
FC Energie Cottbus - FC Bayern München 2:0
FC Schalke 04 - MSV Duisburg 2:1

So another missed chance for the pack trailing Bayern Munich at the top of the table. An unexpected loss to last place Cottbus and none of the persecutioners took advantage. Bremen seems to be completely out of it at the moment. Losing to Glasgow in the UEFA Cup and now being beaten by Wolfsburg, the epitomy of mediocrity. Hamburg and Leverkusen won their matches, but they seem to be too far back to really get into the title race at this point of the season.
The main theme for the past few weeks though seems to be the person of Karlsruhe defender Maik Franz. Labelled the "bad boy" of the Bundesliga he again had some fights with his opponents. Now, honestly, I really don't like him as a player. He plays rather unfair and dirty (they were showing a scene on television were he stepped on his opponent's foot on purpose) and I don't consider him to be a good football player. So every time I see some one speak out against him I really enjoy this. This weekend there were numerous players of Frankfurt who complained about his style of play. Only a few weeks ago there was an incident with Stuttgart striker Mario Gomez and if I remember it correctly last weekend someone else was complaining about Franz as well. Now, although I said I like it when people stand up against him I think at the same time he is getting way too much attention. He's just a mediocre player on a team who has a high right now. Next year he will be back to normal down in the depths of relegation struggles with Karlsruhe (which is wishful thinking on my part, but I really hope predictions come true). Interestingly enough there was an article regarding the existence of trash talk on the picthes in the Bundesliga (I am sorry I cannot find the link any more) which stated that the master of trash talking seemed to have been German national team captain Michael Ballack, a player who most of the commentators consider to be very calm and reserved.