Messi and Me

Vader

I have a photo of Darth Vader that I was planning to put a speech bubble on and get him to say something amusing but have never got round to doing it. This will fill in the blank and is from the blog de jour Apropos Comics

More Apropos Comics

Click on the picture for an enlarged image to see it better

Numbers oddity

My iTunes is showing that I have 818 artists and 919 albums in my library.

Does me noticing this and finding it interesting make me a little bit autistic?

Apropos Comics

There's a new link in my Link bar, linking you to Apropos Comics a funny page featuring comics, with the words changed. Check it out. I found it funny, but then I am a comics geek and find these types of things funny, kind of like the G. I. Joe cartoons with the words changed

Its a short distance from happiness to despair

I love the fact that in this photo, showing David Healy after his third (and winning) goal against the Spanish, Healy himself cuts the picture in two.

On one side we have the happy Norn Irishers, celebrating with abandon, and on the other, the Spaniards, heads in hands.

Two happy greens with arms in the air, two unhappy reds with heads in hands, a replay of the goal on the big screen behind, and the realisation of what has just happened sinking in to the players minds.

New Club, same colours, same problems...

Spot the familiar tale in this story about Juve starting their Serie B campaign, from the BBC:

Juventus started their campaign in Italy's Serie B by being held to a 1-1 draw at 10-man Rimini.

Defender Matteo Paro gave them the lead on the hour mark and Rimini midfielder Domenico Cristiano was then sent off for a challenge on Pavel Nedved.

But a misunderstanding between Robert Kovac and Jean-Alain Boumsong allowed Adrian Ricchiuti in for the equaliser.

It was Juve's first-ever match outside Serie A following their relegation after the match-fixing scandal.

Their punishment also included a 17-point deduction.

Coach Didier Deschamps said: "We already knew we faced an uphill battle this season. All the matches will be like this.

"It will take time for us to adapt. Unfortunately we don't have much of it."

Healy's Third Goal

From Marca, via Google Translate:

"To its back, Healey reached the leather and it placed with a petroleum jelly over Squares, completing therefore the defeat and the Spanish disaster in Belfast"

Branded

There was an interesting bit of news on the BBC Football website this morning:

Sevilla striker Fredi Kanoute has been allowed to wear a shirt without the club's sponsors 888.com on it, as the company promotes online gambling which is against Kanoute's Muslim faith

This is the frist time I have heard of a footballer refusing to wear a sponsor's name on their shirt due to moral/religious reasons and it brings up an interesting area. I think that we have just got used to seeing sponsors' names splashed across the front (and back and sides and sleeves in some cases) of football shirts that we don't really see them there anymore. They are as much part of the shirt as the badge.

But they are there and they are seen by millions across the world. Whenever Man Utd play, people will see 11 adverts for "AIG", when it is Inter Milan "Pirelli" is plastered across the front in nicely contrasting white letters. In some cases where clubs have longstanding associations with sponsors, the logo becomes an integral part of the kit (imagine Ajax's red and white striped shirt without "ABN Amro" running vertically down the side of it). Fans who buy the shirt are not only showing their support for their team but also carrying around a mini-promotion on their chest. The only time I have heard of clubs having to play sans sponsor is when Liverpool played in Europe, and some countries ban advertising of alcohol on television. Therefore, the 'Pool had to remove "Carlsberg" and play with a simple red shirt. This highlights the fact that what they are doing week by week is just that, advertising alcohol on television.

The Kanoute case is interesting because the world of online gambling has pushed its way into a prominent position over the last couple of years in the area of shirt sponsorship. Middlesborough, Blackburn, Aston Villa in England have all had sponsorship from online gambling, meaning that kids in the north east, the north west and the midlands are, no doubt running around with little adverts for gambling on their fronts and watching their heroes endorsing it by default. Good on Kanoute for standing up and highlighting the morals of the situation.

The solution to this? Maybe everyone should look to Barcelona, who still deign their red and blue stripes to be too precious to sully with a sponsor's logo. They have continued to stick to their guns, despite effectively plugging that route of income.

New Italy Kit: Large Dolphin Costume?

The apparent appointment of Wayne Coyne, lead singer of the Flaming Lips, as the new Italian national team manager opens up a whole new world of possibilities for the World Champions.

Previous coach, Marcello Lippi, had been quoted as saying he wanted to alter the way the Italian team played and was pushing inovation. Mr Coyne has been pushing the boundaries of popular music for the last decade or so and should fit well into this new world.

Apparently his first orders were to introduce a new home kit, a large dolphin costume in traditional azzuri blue and orders to players to douse their faces with fake blood 3/4 of the way through games, in order to get the crowd going.

The azzuri are to embark on a 32 date world tour later on in the year to promote their new album "At War With Les Bleus"