Soccer, Sports and Politics - Part Deux

Finances are bad? Sure.

Disagreed.

Madrid are/were a franquista club, and their stadium is named after one of Franco's buddies. Their politics don't align with mine.

And what Barca and other non-franquista clubs did under Franco have little to do with what they're about today.

Sure, we're all aware of this. That reporter is a Madrista/worked for Marca, BTW.

But has that investigation risen to the next level, of proving wrongdoing, or is this akin to the Mayorcas (snicker) impeachment?

A year on from the breaking of that story, still no bona fide proof of a quid pro quo has been established. If it does come out, then the club should be sanctioned. But if not, well we're waiting now a year into this, without any deets on that.

That aside, there has been reporting more recently that the bribery charge had been dropped:

https://www.football-espana.net/202...celona-request-to-have-bribery-charge-removed

Under the Bartomeu administration, who was rightly voted out. But that aside, which players were you thinking of?

And these are legal and appropriate business activities; they're not like Jerry Reinsdorf, trying to freeload a 2nd free stadium from the state of Illinois.

And yes, taking on loans is not ideal, but they're a legal financing device for all manner of businesses.

That was an appropriate sanction, and (I believe) was back in 2021, if you and I are thinking of the same issue.

Meanwhile, 115 separate instances of cheating by Coteh, yet the English media are fixated on Barca, it seems.

And this is not to state that I'm against sanction, if the club I support can be proven to have done wrong. But what proof is there?

I'm not familiar with Barcagate. Are you thinking of the Negreira case?

Yup, and he was rightly voted out, and yes, the GOAT/Messi is now in Miami, instead of Catalunya, because of Bartomeu.

Wait, I thought you were a spur?

I'm a supporter of a club, but I'm also adult enough that if that club did wrong, then there should be sanctions. If there was criminal activity, then there should be legal consequences for that.

But, there's enough to like this, or any other club, just as there is enough to hate about this or other clubs. (Shrugs)

 

I can agree, but its often underreported that nothing untoward has been found hereto fore.

Its more often emphasized the accusations, but not the end result.

And their identity is in opposition to right wing extremism/Nazism. It has been suggested that alongside Franco being a buddy of Hitler, that Santiago Bernabeu was as well.

AFAIK, they're still against Franco/right wing extremism. Even a mope like Laporta took the easy tap-in to boot skinhead groups from the Camp Nou years ago.

And none of the bolded you referred to here have anything to do with the current administration. All of these were down to Bartomeu, who has been voted out, and he has had no involvement in the club since then.

To suggest otherwise is casting aspersions where one shouldn't, akin to blaming Biden today, for W having invaded Iraq and Afghanistan decades ago.

Well, that's no fun. Dunking on spurs is a great way to hassle spurs fans.

The overriding issue (to me) is the way the English language media covers the game. And again, most of the issues you raised were from years ago, under a different administration.

 

Unless you go in and play a game of russian roulette with the manager's head.

 

1) Hence the meme that that the check bounced.

2) Both sides have long rumored to have done this.

3) https://theathletic.com/3468740/2022/08/03/barcelona-money-finances-crisis/

4) And Harlan Crowe and Clarence Thomas have a true friendship

5) Spain is the Scottish league with better weather. Some clubs are more equal than others. And just like how in Argentina, they moved heaven and earth to avoid relegating River, These clubs financial trouble are of national importance and stability.

6)https://www.euronews.com/2021/03/04...nish-fooball-clubs-received-illegal-state-aid

7) Of course but they can be a bit like Citeh fans down playing their 115 violations. I prefer the yes we cheated and we are happy we did what was necessary to win.

 

Thats 2 years old, and I dont have an athletic sub any more. In any case, things have changed since then.

Can you give a summary?

Well, 3 league champs in 3 seasons in Spain; I cant even think of the last time a non-glasgow club won anything in Scotland. Also, 6 different Copa Del Rey winners in 6 seasons. I cant think of another league in the Big 5 with similar competitive balance.

And just as Citeh can have 115 infractions and go unscathed, while Everton can have a handful and lose points, every league has an uneven hand in meting justice.

All that stated, the idea that "its only Real and Barca" isn't at all true. Meanwhile, the EPL has become a wholly-owned property of Citeh. The Bundesliga is virtually owned by Bayern, this season aside, as is Ligue Un/P$G.

So a 3 year old link, with a €5MM fine. I'd blame that on the Spanish tax authorities, moreso than the clubs, TBH.

And I'm adult enough to accept that Barça, like most big clubs, are likely corrupt. And this is true at pretty much every level in this game.

And when I say "corrupt," its likely more like a New Jersey Senator, an Illinois governor, or a garden variety Chicago ward committeeman. Not so much like a Russian Oligarch or a 1970s Baathist party thug, as the breathless twittersphere and English click bait media would have you believe.

 

lol

You can tell Lenny Wilkens is thinking “I can’t believe we drafted this second grade haircut having motherfucker.” pic.twitter.com/wLlNabglN1

— Super 70s Sports (@Super70sSports) April 18, 2024

That's Jack Sikma who had a solid career

 

Yeah, he was supposed to have looked different than that in 1977 unless he came here from some rural part of a Scandinavian nation. Olaf and Sven can have hair like that in 1977. An American adult is supposed to know better. If he'd brought that cut to my HS somebody would have nicknamed him "Chrisevert" pr "Julie, your cruise director" Maybe if he was Amish.

Saw this in elementary school in Maryland, a bunch of unisex haircuts. It didn't really affect Black folks at that time -a 'fro is a 'fro- but it wasn't until the late 70s.early 80s that you could see hair get back to standard one sex or the other lengths/styles. I went from a big-ish 'fro in 1977 to a short-ish 'fro in 1979 to a buzz cut in 1981.

 

Saw him play on TV when he was in high school. He was a gawky 6-10 when he took his team (St. Anne) to state. He had started as a guard but hit like an 8 inch growth spurt between his junior and senior year.

Hence, he played his college ball at that basketball powerhouse, Illinois Wesleyan University. But he obviously learned how to move in a bigger body over this four years there: hence his NBA career.

And IWU is in Normal, IL, which accounts for the haircut, I guess.

 

Edit: It's in Bloomingon, IL. Illinois State (college of future Olympic and NBA player and coach Doug Collins) is in Normal.

 

Okay, before anyone starts calling me Prairie Monitor, I'm done.

 

This is random, but about sports. Fifth Third Bank has a radio commercial about being 167% (5/3rds) better and they put it in sports terms. Baseball - Home Run, basketball - slam dunk, football - touchdown. Then they say cricket and the answer is golden duck which makes it clear no one at the Ad Agency or the marketing department at the bank knows about cricket. A golden duck is when a batsmen is dismissed by the first ball they face. Makes me laugh every time I hear the commerical.

 

Damn right it is in Bloomington, IL

it's where I went to school!

 

No, we love these Illinoise facts, PM

 

They've made a musical you might be interested in, an adaption of Sufjan Stevens' superlative 2005 album "Illinoise".



Fun fact: Stevens played most every instrument on the original album, including full symphonic sections.

 

Sikma ended up at IWU for a few reasons. His sister went there, he was able to play as a freshman (NAIA allowed that, NCAA did not), and he had a close relationship with the Coach, Dennie Bridges (was head coach for 36 seasons, retired as the winningest D3 coach, 667-319 career record).

 

Ain't that Out for Duck?!

 

Better than this one!

 

Out for duck is being yielding the wicket without scoring a single run. A batsman might actually face a few balls, deflect them, but not actually run. The Golden Duck is being out on the first ball bowled.

We played a lot of cricket on the prairie. Perfect landscape. You can put an oval pretty much anywhere.

 

Apparently FedEx has committed 25 million in NIL money to the University of Memphis athletics. It is a new benchmark in NIL commitment. Memphis might get a natty in basketball and not have it stripped this time.