I just know that the Croatian players will provoke Cassano and Balotelli all match long and keep calling them fags or ask them if they enjoyed Cecchi Paone's $#@!

With the number of brain cells those two have, it might actually work and they'll end up sent off.
as most of the time, great athletes are surely not atheletes solely because they were the smartest guy in class. it is bound to happen that when you concentrate on only one thing you will not advance in other aspects of live like education.
zidane was another one of these great footballers but probably pretty simple minded guys. of course he had the disadvantage being from balkan descent which could worsen the "family honour"-crap taught in those circles when growing up.
cassano and balotelli are just as stupid and the list goes on and on. just think about the brazilian ghetto kids coming from a poor enviroment and when getting stardom and money they overcompensate with partying, eating and so on, just because that was something totally out of reach for people of their circumstances. best examples being ronaldo, ronaldinho, adriano and so on. you don't see kaka freaking out like those others. the big difference is, that he actually enjoyed a half decent education back there and did not have to overcompensate for things he did not have in his youth.
you would really need to search for a long time to find a star-player which has something like class and education (alex being the obvious exception to the rule).