UPDATE -  Looks like both Werder Bremen and Schalke have both decided to let Diego and Rafinha stay in China.

WTF is going on?

As our DP brother Ives already hipped you to, the Court of Arbitration of Sport ruled that clubs (ie. Barcelona, Shalke04 and Werder Bremen are the main clubs in the mess as they’re about to start Champions League Qualifiers) may hold out and / or recall players under contract back from China and the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

This ruling goes against everything FIFA supposedly wanted, with Sepp Blatter citing the regard for the Olympic spirit being the most important thing for clubs, coaches and management to remember.

According to CAS Secretary General Matthieu Reebut the ruling was made because the Olympics are not set on FIFA’s Match Calendar as the main reason the 3 person panel ruled in favor of clubs.

Looking back at the original statements from the clubs and from FIFA, ones got to wonder if FIFA knew this was the way the chips were going to fall all along as it sure seemed like the clubs were confidant of the final ruling all along and Blatter was reduced to using the word “Spirit”. And in the bigger scheme of things, will FIFA ever make a change to it’s calendar considering you know the starting dates of the Olympics will never change.

(more…)

Peruvian Football Federation officials have announced that Jefferson Farfan, defender Santiago Acasiete and forward Claudio Pizzaro’s 18 month ban has been reduced to just 3 months based on new “television and hotel security information.”

Farfan, Acasiete and Pizzaro (along with forward Andres Mendoza who will have to serve his full 18 month ban) were originally suspended from the Peruvian National Team and fined $10,000 each following an alleged partying incident in Lima after a World Cup Qualifier against Brazil last November.

New information huh?  I’ll go with the fact that Peru got blasted 6-nil by Uruguay and 4-nil by Mexico as the main reasons for the FPF’s turn around.

Make sure that tail is tucked securely underneath when you start walking away.

With Farfan now at Schalke 04 in Germany after so much success with PSV and Pizzaro looking to build on a somewhat disappointing 2007/08 Chelsea campaign, you’d think the Peruvian’s might have something to prove after sitting bottom of their group with only 3 points out of 6 Qualification matches.

image via Xptecnologica

 UPDATE - Looks like Sepp’s been shot down once again after the European Union flatly rejected Blatter’s plan for Foreign Player quotas.  The final voting numbers were 518 Against and 49 for.

[Via Soccernet] 

“UEFA says Blatter’s proposal is unworkable in the EU because it contravenes the bloc’s laws on the free movement of workers and could lead to costly legal challenges - a view echoed by the EU assembly.

‘Unfortunately the 6+5 rule is not compatible with the free movement of persons in the EU. The European Treaty is very clear on this point: discrimination on the basis of nationality is not allowed and this also counts for football,’ Belgian MEP Ivo Belet, author of the parliament’s report on the future of professional football, told the assembly. ”

Whether it’s been his decision to investigate on his own or his desire to see Women Internationals in Volleyball shorts, Sepp Blatter has never been one to mix words. But one of his latest plans has drawn some heavy criticism once again.

With a plan to reduce the number of Foreigners in the Barclay’s Premiership, Blatter failed to realize that by trying to force Premiership sides to play at the very least 5 English nationals, he was going against one of the biggest ruling in the history of the game, The Bosman Ruling.

To quote the EU Sports Commission;

“The EU’s employment law holds the principle of freedom of movement of workers, which allows EU soccer players to have equal status regardless of which member nation they played in.”

Back to the drawing board my son, back to the drawing board.

image via AdGoog

I’m not sure where to even start when looking at this picture of Columbus Crew Stadium. Where to begin, where to begin?

I get it, I truly do. It’s a business first and foremost, and when you’re not selling out game after game and the Germaine Amphitheater no longer exists, you’ve got to think about the money you could make off three-day concerts, parking, concessions and most importantly, beer.

BUT, here’s my take on it.

See I remember what it was like playing for the gold jersey when it meant something to people. Standing in that tunnel, seeing Crew Cat pumping the 21,000 fans up, getting the ok to do the half-field high fives with the youth teams lined up from our hard work in the community every week with 5th Major Sport. Your heart pounding so hard that you felt like your jersey was way too tight, then starting the jog and hitting the “Rock” as you ran by for good luck.

The music blaring, looking to my left at The North End and seeing the Crew jersey draping the hard cores over their heads. It dropping to the bottom of the stand, fully extended and at that moment knowing we, as a team were playing for them, the fans, the city, the jersey.

When I see this now, I get it, but I don’t have to like it.

image via Crewture

image via SI

Just for a second I have to ask the question.  This was the best they could come up with in the Cheerleader department?  Really?  I’m not trying to hate or anything (why yes I am), this USED to be a sacred issue that was reserved for some of the most ridiculously bangin women.  Yes, these girls are good looking, but for F’s sake it’s THE SPORTS ILLUSTRATED SWIMSUIT ISSUE!!!  I’m happy that I can just surf the net now, rather than be the donkey actually playing for this so-called magical issue.

image via DupontRegistry

The guys over at BallerHouse tossed this 2008 Lamborghini Reventon up today after Dupont Registry had it listed for the low, low price of $750k with only 10 miles on it.  I’m a huge fan of gun metal grey (or Grigio as the fine wine people like to refer to it as), especially sinec Rob Dyrdek from Rob & Big threw his SUV down in the same color, but this takes it to an all new level.  I was telling Ben last week that I couldn’t imagine spending that kind of dough and his response was if you could, you would.  I’m starting to believe him now.

image via HitMen

So I just got this E-mail from one of my boys, Hercules Gomez (he’s gonna be doing some stories with us very soon) and I had to put this out there because this has been such a huge song, especially for a 17 year old.  He even had Natalie Portman doing his dance on TRL the day after his this song was featured on Entourage.

“Subject: The real meaning of Souljah Boy (Superman) ?

(I knew there was a reason I didn’t like that song…)

Just passing along a little F.Y.I.

  I wanted to pass this information on, I didn’t know if anyone else was as behind on things as I was. Thanks to Tom Joyner’s show recently with Kirk Franklin I was enlightened.

 Kirk Franklin said he did not let his children listen to the song Souljah Boy because of the words and the meaning of Superman.

  With that information I needed to find out exactly what superman meant other than the super hero. I google searched Urban Dictionary and put the word in and this is what I discovered:

         Superman is when a guy cums or ejaculates on a girl’s back and puts a sheet on her back.

        When she wakes in the morning and stands up, the sheet is stuck to her back (like a cape),

         you have officially supermanned that hoe. 

             As in the lyrics:“Watch Me crank dat Souljah Boy now superman dat hoe”. 

image via BallerHouse

I remember it being after a game in Columbus one night, over at Dante Washington’s house.  Warm night, legs were heavy, beers were cold, music was playing and a few honies just to top it off.  That night I decided I wanted one of these tubs for myself, but I never had room for one.  After seeing this La-Z-Boy hot tub with massaging/reclining seats, floating remote, LED lighting and flat screens, I am gonna find a way to make room.

image via Absolut

Vin & Spirit, owners of Absolut Vodka are expecting a major buyout bid that could be in the region of $7 BILLION.  Being a state owned company, Swedish Finance Minister Mats O’Dell is currently in charge of the 2nd largest Vodka brand in the world and looking to cash in.