[canflam]

Yes. They've done very well. Have you been keeping up with the Aaron Hernandez story? Very sad. This month he was indicted for a double homicide from 2012 after someone bumped into him & spilled a drink on him at a club.

[sunnykerr]

Honestly, since it first came out that he was involved in... however many murders it was at the time, I really haven't been paying attention.

American football, you know?

So Germany are good at soccer?

That's what I thought, but I wasn't sure.

Thanks for confirming.

[canflam]

Well they have Sports Centre in Canada. Here's a link to the latest news on it.

Hernandez pleads not guilty to Boston double-murder charge

I don't understand how people can be so cold. Daniel De Abreu didn't know that Hernandez was upset after he bumped into him. He's been indicted for 3 murders thus far.

[sunnykerr]

Yes, I believe we have sports stations here as well.

I just don't really watch any of them.

I'm in completely agreement with you, though.

I will never understand why it seems so easy for some people to take a life.

[sunnykerr]

Qatar World Cup 2022: Investigator nears probe conclusion Fifa investigator and New York lawyer Michael Garcia plans to complete his probe of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding process by 9 June. New allegations of corruption surrounding the 2022 tournament in Qatar surfaced on Sunday. Garcia met Qatari officials on Monday and said he had spent "months" interviewing and gathering materials. He said he planned to submit a report of his findings to Fifa's adjudicatory chamber towards the end of July. "The report will consider all evidence potentially related to the bidding process, including evidence collected from prior investigations," said Garcia in a statement. The Sunday Times reported a number of football officials took £3m in return for support of the Qatari bid. The head of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has expressed "grave concerns" over the allegations. Qatar's 2022 bid committee denies "all allegations of wrongdoing". The results of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids were announced at the same time, with Russia winning the vote to stage the 2018 event. In a statement, AFC president Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa expressed his concerns about the reports of corruption but said he was "convinced" the Qatar committee would do "their utmost to clear the doubts". Shaikh Salman is also leading Fifa's consultation over whether the Qatar finals need to be controversially moved to the winter, rather than its customary spot in June and July. Former attorney general Lord Goldsmith, a member of Fifa's independent committee on governance, said there should be a re-run of the 2022 vote if allegations of wrongdoing prove correct. "If it is proved that the decision to give Qatar the World Cup was procured by - frankly one can describe it no other way - bribery and improper influence, then that decision ought not to stand," he told BBC Radio 4. Fifa vice-president Jim Boyce also said he would support a re-vote if corruption allegations can be proven. Boyce told BBC Radio 5 live's Sportsweek programme: "If Garcia comes up with concrete evidence - and concrete evidence is given to the executive committee and to Fifa - then it has to be looked at very seriously." Mark Pieth, a law professor appointed by Fifa president Sepp Blatter to lead the independent committee on governance, called the latest revelations "exciting". In an interview with BBC World Service's Newsday programme, he also said he hoped the Sunday Times would share its information with Garcia. Football Association chairman Greg Dyke has said a new vote should take place if it was shown a "corrupt system" led to Qatar's win, while UK Sports Minister Helen Grant said it was "essential that major sporting events are awarded in an open, fair and transparent manner". Prime Minister David Cameron said that the inquiry into the bidding process must be allowed to run its course before passing judgement, while Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg tweeted that the vote must be re-run if the "shocking allegations" were proven. However, Mr Cameron added that his experience of Fifa's bidding procedure, when he helped lobby for England to host the 2018 finals, left him unhappy. "My memories of that bidding process are, as I've said earlier, not happy ones in terms of the way the whole thing was arranged and the role of Fifa and the rest of it," Mr Cameron said. Allegations of corruption centre on former Fifa official Mohamed bin Hammam. The Sunday Times claims to have obtained secret documents that implicate the former AFC president in corrupting members of football's governing body to win the right to stage the 2022 World Cup. The newspaper alleges the documents, seen by BBC sports editor David Bond, show that Qatari Bin Hammam, 65, was lobbying on his country's behalf at least a year before the decision to award the country hosting rights. They also allegedly show he had made payments into accounts controlled by the presidents of 30 African football associations and accounts controlled by Trinidadian Jack Warner, a former vice-president of Fifa. A statement from the Confederation of African Football (Caf) said the specific allegations against its president, Issa Hayatou, were "fanciful", "ridiculous" and formed part of a "smear campaign" against him. It added that Cameroonian Hayatou, a Fifa vice-president, categorically denied the allegations of corruption. "Mr Hayatou will not allow journalists once again to attack his integrity and reputation," it read. "Such allegations are meant to discredit not only him as a person but the whole continent." Qatar's bid committee and Bin Hammam have always strenuously denied any wrongdoing. The committee also rejected claims Bin Hammam actively lobbied on their behalf in the run-up to the vote in December 2010. It added it was co-operating with Garcia, insisting it will "take whatever steps are necessary to defend the integrity of Qatar's bid". Qatar defeated bids from South Korea, Japan, Australia and the United States to win the right to stage the 2022 World Cup. Football Federation Australia (FFA) said it may re-submit its bid to host the 2022 World Cup in the wake of the latest claims. "It's a serious development, they're serious allegations and we're looking to see what the response will be," said FFA chief executive David Gallop. He said the FFA had been involved in Fifa's investigation into corruption and the 2010 vote that awarded the World Cup to Qatar. "We've been heavily involved in this now for many months in terms of the investigation that Mr Garcia is carrying out," added Gallop. The executive director of Japan's defeated bid, Yuichiro Nakajima, said he would also back a move to re-submit tenders for 2022. "I can't speak on behalf of the Japan FA - I'm not representing them now - but if I were in the position to say so, yes I would," Nakajima told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "The Sunday Times report does point to a number of areas that could be tightened up and sorted out."

As though the Qatar World Cup wasn't already problematic on all fronts.

What kind of plan has contingencies for the human casualties in the building of stadiums, I ask you?

But now we come to find out that it was a scam all along?

I hope they get to the bottom of this.

[sunnykerr]

Canadian Grand Prix to stay at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve for 10 more years MONTREAL - The Canadian Grand Prix will keep its engines running at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve for another 10 years. Montreal mayor Denis Coderre announced that an agreement was reached with Formula One to keep the race going through 2024. The municipality as well as the federal and provincial governments will contribute a total of $187 million over 10 years to keep the race. The city has also agreed to spend between 25 milion and 45 million to improve the paddocks, the control tower and other amenities at the track. The announcement was made as the Canadan Grand Prix was being run for the 35th time in Montreal and 45th time overall. The race is considered the city's most important tourism draw and contributes an estimated $90 million per year to its economy.

I think keeping thr F1 in Montreal is a good thing for both the city and the F1.

Yes, it's hugely beneficial for the city, but that's only true so long as the costs don't keep escalating to the point of negating the profits for the city.

So a deal like this is crucial.

And, let's face it, the F1 needs a North American port of call.

It just does.

And Montreal seems ideally suited for that purpose. Everything is close at hand, it's close for North American fans and it's fairly well situated for European fans as well.



Now hopefully Ecclestone will leave us alone.

[canflam]

I need to watch it. Are you watching the Belmont Stakes today? California Chrome has a chance to win the Triple Crown in it. It was funny on ''Pardon The Interruption'' when Tony Kornheiser said that they should hold the race indoors without air conditioning. Of course the Heat/Spurs finals game on Thursday didn't have an A.C. & the temperature got to above 32 degrees Celsius in the arena.

[sunnykerr]

What would be the benefit of having horses race in an enclosed place with no air conditioning?

Wouldn't that actually be quite harmful to the animals?

[canflam]

It was meant as a joke. Of course heat can endanger animals like horses, as well as racing fields & spectators. Horses though can usually handle high temperatures in places such as Kentucky up to about 40 degrees Celsius, which is 105 degrees Fahrenheit.

[sunnykerr]

I guess you had to be there.

Or I'm a bit stupid.

I mean, I get that horses are tough animals.

I just don't understand the joke.

But, seriously, it's all good.

Obviously, the problem's on my end.

[canflam]

I think it was funny to me, because of how preposterous it would be for the race horses to have raced indoors with no A/C with conditions such as the Spurs/Heat faced last week, because they horsed could get so exhausted. Great win by the Spurs yesterday.

[sunnykerr]

So, even though I don't necessarily get it, it sounds like he was mostly making a good point.

That's never a bad thing.

[sunnykerr]

World Cup 2014: Brazil set to kick-off tournament The 2014 Fifa World Cup begins on Thursday as hosts Brazil open the tournament against Croatia. The month-long tournament sees 32 nations compete for a place in the final in Rio on Sunday, 13 July. The opening match will be preceded by a ceremony in Sao Paulo that pays tribute to nature, people and football. "Let me tell you the time has arrived. We are going together. This is our World Cup," said Brazil coach Luis Felipe Scolari on Wednesday. Last year more than a million people took to the streets of major Brazilian cities to protest against what they see as excessive spending on the World Cup. The host country's government is keen to prevent a repeat of some of the violence seen at those protests, and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has said she will not allow violent demonstrations to mar the World Cup. Thousands of extra police and soldiers will be deployed to ensure the matches get under way smoothly. England open their World Cup campaign against Italy on Saturday, 14 June - a game you can see live on the BBC. Roy Hodgson's team will also play Uruguay and Costa Rica in their Group D fixtures. Hosts Brazil start as favourites to win the World Cup for a sixth time, while holders Spain are aiming to win a fourth major tournament in a row after winning the European Championships two years ago. The other seeded teams are Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Argentina, Germany and Belgium. A capacity 65,000 crowd is expected for the match, with their journey to the stadium eased after workers suspended a strike over pay to allow for negotiations. A five-day stoppage had caused traffic chaos in one of the world's most congested cities but talks resumed on Tuesday. As one problem eased another began, however, with airport workers in Brazil's second largest city Rio de Janeiro announcing a 24-hour strike starting at midnight on Wednesday, meaning industrial action will continue through the opening day of the World Cup. Governing body Fifa said it had sold more than 2.9 million tickets, but they were still available for several matches on Wednesday, including some involving Germany, Italy and France.

And, as of this morning, none of the venues were fully completed.

Meaning none of the venues have been properly tested.

This could be a disaster of epic proportions, considering another worker died a little while ago.

[_vega_]

Hopefully no catastrophe will happen. The stadium today looked good in spite of not being finnished.

I'm pulling for Uruguay and Germany. I had Brazil among my favorites too but today's game was too awful.

Mexico is playing tommorrow against Cameroon. I'm fearing the worst but hoping for the best. The team right now is a mess though.
ETA: And it figures that they would actually play well today and the referees were horrible. That should have been a 3-0 win, two legitimate goals disallowed, ugh.

[canflam]

Did you see the Netherlands vs. Spain today? Incredible win by the Dutch. 5 goals was the most Spain has given up since 1950. I don't have a favorite in this Cup. Most of the teams are from Europe.

The U.S. Open has been going on & surprisingly it hasn't been very competitive. Martin Kaymer from Germany shot a record setting 130 thru 2 rounds this tournament. He's currently at -10 & has a 6 shot lead over the next closest golfer. Good for him, but not the ones that were hoping to see 'drama'' this weekend during the tournament.

Also the Spurs dominated those Miami Heat players yesterday. It was rather disappointing even though I'm not cheering for the Heat to win this series. It would be nice if the games were more competitive. There final chance to win a game this series is on Sunday.