"This is undoubtedly the biggest match-fixing scandal that European football has ever seen. Now we must do everything to make sure those referees, players and officials are taken to justice."
Gridiron Experts is breaking out the big guns in week 11. At this point last year we were ahead of many experts including all of ESPN.com’s pros. While this year hasn’t been a disaster, the opportunity for a make or break season is now, in our eyes. In the next 7 weeks Gridiron Experts is going to take more risksGridiron Experts is breaking out the big guns in week 11. At this point last year we... more
Plenty of things can cause a diplomatic ruckus. Saying you're preparing for war against a neighboring country, for example (lookin' at you Hugo Chavez). It's fun for everybody: headlines, street protests, recalling ambassadors. And it seems North African nations Egypt and Algeria are well down that road this week.
"One of the Egyptian protesters, holding a sign calling for the expulsion of the Algerian ambassador, told Agence France-Presse: “We should treat Algeria like any country that has declared war on us.”'
Wait, so what happened? An errant Egyptian drone strike in a suburb of Algiers? Why no, Algeria beat Egypt in a World Cup qualifying match 1-0 and there were reports that Egyptian fans were assaulted by Algerians leaving the game. And, bam, the streets of Cairo have exploded with violence! 35 people injured!
And that was at least a clean game! Poor Ireland is protesting it's World Cup loss to France after a French player scored a game-winning goal - using his hands. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has apologized for the incident but has not agreed with the Irish PM's call for a replay. To see the very evident handball, check out this Irish-produced video from YouTube showing it over and over again and set to dance music. (It's entrancing.)
(Big thanks to The Lede Blog for finding that one.)
I know what you're thinking, American reading audience: "Who cares about soccer?" Well, first off they call it "football" and second, worry you not - I've got an American football/international relations story for you too: Even Iraqi prisoners hate Packers fans (FP Passport)
'Iraqi prisoners at a detainment camp run by the Wisconsin National Guard have learned some English, unfortunately for the soldiers, it is mainly about the former pride of Green Bay. "They know Favre by name," said First Lieutenant Tim Boehnen, who is from New Richmond, Wis. "One of the big words they know now is shenanigan. They'll constantly talk about 'Favre shenanigans,' 'He's so good for the Vikings,' and 'The Packers have got to really feel bad about that one.' "'
"As a University of Mississippi graduate excited about the progress of his alma mater in the past decade, a strong distaste for the likes of Richard Barrett is interwoven into my DNA.
For the many of you who have no idea who I'm talking about, Mr. Barrett—who for the remainder of this article we will refer to simply as "Dicky"—is an old, crotchety Learned, Miss.-based white supremacist...
...Our school is at risk of losing "From Dixie with Love" because a fringe group of students and alumni use the last five notes to scream "The South Will Rise Again," a phrase racist in most contexts and ignorant in all the rest..."
...The Associated Student Body Senate, with good reason, has publicly asked for the chants to stop. Chancellor Dan Jones, just four months into his new job, is backing up the students, and has threatened to cease playing the song if the chants don't stop. The testing ground was Saturday's North Arizona game. I couldn't hear anything when watching the game on television, but friends of mine who attended the game did hear some saying it.
Now, "From Dixie with Love" is only a song, and the sun will still rise over the hills of north Mississippi if it's never played at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium again. But it is a mistake to give this fringe group power by removing it. Instead of expending all this energy devising ways to shame the chanters into submission, we should instead consider why they use the language in the first place, and come up with reasonable ways to discourage the act.
We should launch an education initiative to treat the cause and not the symptoms.
It's true: Some of the chanters are just troublemakers and immune to all reason -- the Richard Barretts; the Elmer Fudds -- but most are rational people who simply don't know any better. My good friend Roun McNeal, former Associated Student Body President, used to join in years ago, and recently related to the Associated Press why he stopped.
"I said the chant one day, and there was a black family sitting in front of me, and they turned around and gave me this look like I hurt them," he said.
(Continued)
The suicide of German football player Robert Enke is raising questions about the immense pressure experienced by young professional athletes. We spend millions insuring their limbs, but what about protecting their minds and mental health? YPNation contributor Ewan Watt is demanding change. http://www.ypnation.net/blogs/beautiful-game-mourns
"When discussing the pressure football professionals face, most journalists discuss how many turn to alcohol or performance-enhancing drugs to raise their game. Yet very few broach the subject of mental health.
Football is a multi-trillion dollar industry. The World Cup has not only surpassed the Olympics as the most popular sporting event on the planet but it now attracts (pdf) a cumulative 26.29 billion viewers, making it the most watched television event in the world. When the commentator states a player has the eyes of the world on him, he's not exaggerating. The numbers add up to a lot of pressure."The suicide of German football player Robert Enke is raising questions about the... more
On the street interview, Emeryville Ca, Oct. 2009. Educate before you vaccinate! The intro is an old 1976 swine flu PSA.On the street interview, Emeryville Ca, Oct. 2009. Educate before you vaccinate! The... more
Sudanese security forces have thrown a tight cordon around the capital Khartoum for Wednesday's Egypt-Algeria World Cup play-off.
Gates to Al-Merreikh stadium opened five hours before the 1730 GMT kick-off, with fans carefully segregated inside and outside the ground.
The winner of the game gets the last African place at the World Cup finals.
Sudan has deployed 15,000 police after a series of violent incidents involving fans of the two countries.
The play-off was arranged by Fifa at a neutral venue after Algeria controversially lost 2-0 in Cairo on Saturday, hours after their team bus was attacked by Egyptian fans.
Egypt's win left the top of Group C deadlocked, with both sides having identical records, but Algeria's coach blamed the defeat on injuries suffered by three of his players in the bus attack.
more at site:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8366739.stmLockdown for Algeria-Egypt clash
Sudanese security forces have thrown a tight... more
POSSIBLY THE FUNNIEST LETTER/RANT EVER When Grimsby Town football supporter Poojah could no longer contain his anger at the team's poor performance he decided to write his feelings in an open letter and post it online. Here is the full text:
Dear Players of Grimsby Town FC,
I am writing with regard to my absolute astonishment and disbelief as to the sheer magnitude of your complete lack of talent and failure to carry out the job for which you are paid to do. I am not aware of any swear word or other derogatory phrase in my current vocabulary which comes close to a description of your ‘performance’ (and I use that term loosely) this afternoon, but let me just say that you have collectively reached a level of inadequacy and ineptitude that neither I nor modern science had previously considered possible.In fact I recall a time, in my youth, when I decided to call in sick at work and instead spent the entire day in my one bedroom flat wearing nothing but my underpants, eating toast and wanking furiously over second-rate Scandinavian porn. Yet somehow, I still managed to contribute more to my employer in that one Andrex-filled day than you complete bunch of toss-baskets have contributed to this club in your entire time here.
I would genuinely like to know how you pathetic little pishflaps sleep at night, knowing full well that you have taken my money and that of several thousand others and delivered precisely fuck all in return. I run a business myself, and I believe I could take any 4,000 of my customers at random; burn down their houses, impregnate their wives and then dismember their children before systematically sending them back in the post, limb-by-limb, and still ensure a level of customer satisfaction which exceeds that which I have experienced at Blundell Park at any time so far this season.
You are a total disgrace, not only to your profession, not only to the human race, but to nature itself. This may sound like an exaggeration, but believe me when I say that I have passed kidney stones which have brought me a greater level of pleasure and entertainment than watching each of you worthless excuses for professional footballers attempt to play a game you are clearly incapable of playing, week-in, week-out.
I considered, for a second, that I was perhaps being a little too harsh. But then I recalled that I have blindly given you all the benefit of the doubt for too long now. Yes, for too long you have failed to earn the air you’ve been breathing by offering any kind of tangible quality either as footballers or as people in general. As such, I feel it’s only fair that your supply runs out forthwith.
I trust, at this precise moment in time, that Mr Fenty is in his office tapping away on the easyJet web site booking you all one-way flights to Zurich, complete with an overnight stay with our cheese eating friends at Dignitas. Don’t bother packing your toothbrush – you won’t need it.
In the event that our beloved chairman can’t afford the expense (understandable given that he’s soon going to have to assemble a new squad from scratch), then I am prepared to sell my family (including my unborn child) to a dubious consortium of Middle Eastern businessmen in order to pay for the flights. Christ, I’ll drive you there myself, one-by one, without sleep, if I have to.
Failing that, understanding that most dubious Middle Eastern businessmen are tied-up purchasing Premier League football clubs, I ask you to please take matters into your hands. Use your imagination, guys – strangle yourselves or cover yourself in tinfoil and take a fork to a nearby plug socket, or something. Just put yourselves and us fans out of our collective misery.
So, in summary, you pack of repugnant, sputum-filled, invertebrate bastards; leave this club now and don’t you fucking dare look back. You’ve consistently demonstrated less passion and desire than can commonly be found within the contents of a sloth’s scrotum, so frankly you can just all fuck off – don’t pass go, don’t collect your wages, don’t ever come back to this town again.
I look forward to you serving me at my local McDonald’s drive-through in the near future.
Yours sincerely
A very disillusioned MarinerPOSSIBLY THE FUNNIEST LETTER/RANT EVER... more
As Minnesota Vikings fans in the home state were finishing lunch and readying for the game against the Detroit Lions, Soldiers of the 34th Infantry Division here were finishing their dinner and set to watch the game with them.As Minnesota Vikings fans in the home state were finishing lunch and readying for the... more
Tennessee Titans owner Bud Adams had some whiskey and then enjoyed his team's win over the Buffalo Bills by giving them the one-finger salute over and over in machine gun fashion on Sunday. It was simply fantastic.
Mexican footballer (soccer) player Antonio de Nigris was found dead in Greece on Sunday from an apparent heart attack. Foul play has not been ruled out. More details: http://bumpshack.com/2009/11/16/footballer-antonio-de-nigris-dead-at-31/Mexican footballer (soccer) player Antonio de Nigris was found dead in Greece on... more
* Maradona banned for two months over outburst
* Argentine coach fined over $24,000
* Apologies and sincere remorse taken into account (Adds background)
By Brian Homewood
ZURICH, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Argentina coach Diego Maradona was banned for two months and fined more than $24,000 on Sunday after a foul-mouthed outburst at the end of last month's decisive World Cup qualifier in Uruguay.
Maradona, 49, who faced a potential ban from some of his team's matches at next year's World Cup, apologised for his behaviour and showed remorse, soccer's governing body FIFA said.
He was sanctioned after an expletive-filled rant when interviewed on the touchline and produced another outburst in the post-match media conference, which was broadcast live on several television networks. Maradona told the media to "suck it and keep on sucking."
Named as Argentina coach 13 months ago after fighting off drug addiction, alcohol problems and obesity, Maradona appeared in person before the disciplinary tribunal behind closed doors at FIFA headquarters.
"The FIFA disciplinary committee...decided today to impose a two-month ban on taking part in any football related activity and a 25,000 CHF ($24,630) fine on the head coach of Argentina Diego Maradona," a FIFA statement said.
"The committee took into consideration the apologies and the sincere remorse shown by Maradona in its decision, which was communicated to him at the end of the meeting.
"The committee stressed that any breach of this decision or any repetition of a similar incident would mean that stronger sanctions would have to be imposed in the future."
FIFA said the sanction would start immediately and run until Jan. 15. It means Maradona will not have to miss any competitive internationals, although Argentina are due to face the Czech Republic in a friendly at a venue to be decided next month.
The ban is the latest episode in the turbulent career of Maradona, who was thrown out of the 1994 World Cup for a doping offence, one of three such bans he received as a player.
Maradona flew in from Madrid, where his team lost 2-1 to Spain in a friendly on Saturday night. Wearing dark glasses and a track suit, he swept past reporters at Zurich airport refusing to comment.
Around 20 onlookers with Argentina flags and a similar number of journalists http://myprops.org/activity/alimanartan gathered outside the gates of FIFA headquarters in a quiet Zurich suburb on a grey, damp autumn day. Maradona was inside the building for just over 2-1/2 hours.
Maradona rounded on his critics after Argentina beat arch-rivals Uruguay 1-0 to secure their berth in the South Africa in the last game of an 18-match qualifying campaign.
ANOTHER OUTBURST
The 1986 World Cup winner had been heavily criticised for defeats against Bolivia, Ecuador, Brazil and Paraguay that left twice world champions Argentina on the brink of failing to reach the World Cup for the first time since 1970.
Appointed in October last year, Maradona's coaching credential have been repeatedly questioned.
He has called up more than 70 players for 14 matches (eight qualifiers and six friendlies) and been criticised for his team selections.
Maradona's tenure has been marked by clashes with players, coaches, journalists and directors, most notably playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme who quit the team saying he and Maradona did not live "by the same codes".* Maradona banned for two months over outburst
* Argentine coach fined over $24,000... more
This football season, the debate about head injuries has reached a critical mass. Startling research has been unveiled. Maudlin headlines have been written. Congress called a hearing on the subject last month.
As obvious as the problem may seem (wait, you mean football is dangerous?), continuing revelations about the troubling mental declines of some retired players—and the ongoing parade of concussions during games—have created a sense of inevitability. Pretty soon, something will have to be done.
But before the debate goes any further, there's a fundamental question that needs to be investigated. Why do football players wear helmets in the first place? And more important, could the helmets be part of the problem?
"Some people have advocated for years to take the helmet off, take the face mask off. That'll change the game dramatically," says Fred Mueller, a University of North Carolina professor who studies head injuries. "Maybe that's better than brain damage."
The first hard-shell helmets, which became popular in the 1940s, weren't designed to prevent concussions but to prevent players in that rough-and-tumble era from suffering catastrophic injuries like fractured skulls.
But while these helmets reduced the chances of death on the field, they also created a sense of invulnerability that encouraged players to collide more forcefully and more often. "Almost every single play, you're going to get hit in the head," says Miami Dolphins offensive tackle Jake Long.
What nobody knew at the time is that these small collisions may be just as damaging. The growing body of research on former football players suggests that brain damage isn't necessarily the result of any one trauma, but the accumulation of thousands of seemingly innocuous blows to the head.
The problem is that there's nothing any helmet could do to stop the brain from taking lots of small hits. To become certified for sale, a football helmet has to earn a "severity index" score of 1200, according to testing done by the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment, or Nocsae. Dr. Robert Cantu, a Nocsae board member and chief of neurosurgery at Emerson Hospital in Concord, Mass., says that to prevent concussions, helmets would have to have a severity index of 300—about four times better than the standard. "The only way to make that happen, Dr. Cantu says, "is to make the helmet much bigger and the padding much bigger."
The problem with that approach, he says—other than making players look like Marvin the Martian—is that heavier helmets would be more likely to cause neck injuries.
One of the strongest arguments for banning helmets comes from the Australian Football League. While it's a similarly rough game, the AFL never added any of the body armor Americans wear. When comparing AFL research studies and official NFL injury reports, AFL players appear to get hurt more often on the whole with things like shoulder injuries and tweaked knees. But when it comes to head injuries, the helmeted NFL players are about 25% more likely to sustain one.
Andrew McIntosh, a researcher at Australia's University of New South Wales who analyzed videotape, says there may be a greater prevalence of head injuries in the American game because the players hit each other with forces up to 100% greater. "If they didn't have helmets on, they wouldn't do that," he says. "They know they'd injure themselves."
Nonetheless, the strongest argument for the helmet may turn out to be an economic one. The NFL is shaped around the notion that players can run into each other at high speeds without consequence. It's the same sort of idea that has made Nascar the nation's most popular form of motorsport.
More at link.This football season, the debate about head injuries has reached a critical mass.... more
A proposal by Bolton chairman Phil Gartside to include the Old Firm clubs was rejected as neither "desirable or viable".
Other suggestions put forward by Gartside including having a two-tier Premier League will be fed into the league's ongoing strategic review.
The Premier League said in a statement: "Bolton Wanderers submitted a discussion paper detailing ideas concerning the restructuring of the Premier League into two tiers with the inclusion of Celtic and Rangers.
"The clubs welcomed the additional input into an ongoing process, however, they were of the opinion that bringing Celtic and Rangers into any form of Premier League set-up was not desirable or viable.
"The other relevant ideas contained within Bolton's paper will now be taken forward as part of the wider strategic review being undertaken by the Premier League since November 2008 with the aim of providing recommendations before December 2010."
If you have an iPhone, you can extend your enjoyment of college football season even further with applications that let you keep up with news, check stats, make wagers, support your team and much more.
FRANKFURT (AP) — Germany goalkeeper Robert Enke has died after being hit by a train in what police suspect is a suicide. He was 32.
Enke played for the German club Hannover. Team president Martin Kind confirmed his death, and German police later released a statement saying a man had been fatally injured after being hit by a train Tuesday night.
The statement says the victim is "apparently national team goalkeeper Robert Enke" and "first police indications are that it was a suicide."
He played eight matches for Germany
Tuesday's edition of my three times a week talk show.Watch the show here on CURRENT TV on Tues, Thurs & Sats.
In today's show :
Nephews - not niece's !
Lines on movement in the video show.Why ?
No tiny portions please.
Dad always wore a shirt & tie.
Pizzahut.
Hi to Cass from Texas.
No mixed veg.
Alan ponders about my sofa.
Jimmy's eating drives me mad.
He was with me before he found that young thing.
The bill falls in my lap.
Slop bucket.
The virus has been expelled.
How can you throw away food ?
Did your cough come from me ?
Nibbling at a chip.
My letter to the accountant.
Does it travel down wires ?
Eating with just a fork.
I reject evilness.
Gwen is a "Fab old gal".
"The Silver Birch".
Ron was being camp.
Another football.
I can see through the curtain.
James Dean goes off with other friends.
A medium for the same price.
TEXT the show : UK - 07815 907 896 Int - +44 7815 907 896 chris@unitedkingdomtalk.co.uk
WWW.UNITEDKINGDOMTALK.CO.UKTuesday's edition of my three times a week talk show.Watch the show here on CURRENT TV... more
