Wondo ties MLS record with 27th goal of the season

Here is Chris Wondolowski's MLS record tying 27th goal of the year. The record has stood for 16 years in MLS. Congratulations Chris, this was a well earned Golden Boot.

If you thought the Chelsea/Man U travesty couldn't get any worse....you would be wrong.

If you saw the travesty that was Chelsea vs. Man U then you know how pissed every Chelsea fan is today.  With two TERRIBLE calls both going against Chelsea, or more FOR Man U, I can't blame fans for being a little more than upset. First was Fernando Torres' second yellow card call for diving, link here, in which Torres is clearly clipped in the shin by Evans yet somehow gets a card for diving. To make matters worse Chelsea gave up an own goal late which should have been disallowed because Chicharito was a yard and a half offsides, link here. 

Well it's all gotten worse now as Chelsea have lodged a formal complaint against referee Mark Clattenburg for using "inappropriate language" directed at Mikel Obi and Juan Mata.



Via ESPN News-The Premier League referees' union pledged its "full support" Monday to Mark Clattenburg after Chelsea accused him of using "inappropriate language" toward Mikel John Obi and Juan Mata.

"Prospect is committed to helping to eradicate racism in football and in society generally," the trade union, of which the referees' union is a member, said in a statement. "We will be making no further comment at this stage."

Clattenburg is waiting to hear whether the England Football Association will launch an investigation into allegations he made racist comments during Manchester United's 3-2 win.

Chelsea last night made a formal complaint to the match delegate, whose report was expected to arrive at FA headquarters Monday.

Mikel's agent and Chelsea did not comment Monday, but the club did confirm that it had decided against holding a press conference Tuesday to preview Wednesday night's Capital One Cup clash against United.

Chelsea's complaint against Clattenburg, 37, could hinge on the evidence of the assistant referees who would have heard every exchange, according to ex-referee Graham Poll.

"A referee's microphone is on open. Everything he says is heard by two assistants," Poll, who refereed 1,544 matches during his career and officiated at two World Cups, told BBC Radio 5 live. "So if Mark said something, the assistants would have heard it."

Former Premier League referee Jeff Winter said Clattenburg won't officiate a match again if the charges are proven true.

"I'm not saying referees should do it, but there seems to be one law for one set of people and one law for another, but this inference that racial language has been used is very, very serious," Winter said.

Information from Press Association was used in this report.

Players hit with bomb thrown onto field

I don't even know what to say to this. just wow....

FIFA tells goal-line tech companies to make sure they have insurance

I guess this makes sense.......kind of......not really? It seems a little harsh to me that FIFA would allow the manufacturer to be held legally liable. I mean I understand the need for the equipment to work all the time but still. I guess this is a motivator to the companies involved to make sure their shit works.



Via Press Association-  FIFA on Tuesday ordered goal-line technology companies to take out insurance coverage in case clubs or leagues take legal action over any system failures.

Hawk-Eye and GoalRef Tuesday were cleared to install their systems worldwide after being granted licenses by FIFA.

But the companies have had to provide insurance so that if the systems fail -- either failing to spot the ball has crossed the line or registering wrongly that the ball was over the line -- they are covered if legal action is launched against them.

The insurance would also cover any claims if a player or official says they have been injured by the equipment.


The granting of the licenses means the systems can now be installed in stadiums, after which they will undergo a final inspection by an independent test institute before being allowed to function.

The first competitive tournament using the systems is expected to be FIFA's Club World Cup in Japan in December.

Meanwhile, German company Cairos is developing a third system and will seek approval by the International FA Board at a meeting in Scotland in March.

Get your weekend started with some *Cleavage Edition!!

So here's another awesome Cleavage Edition from the always lovely Jessica Kardashian to get your weekend started off right! Have no idea what she's talking about? Well I'm a nice guy and of course care deeply about my readers so here is the original video that she's talking about. You see! I do love you guys after all.

Stephen Hart resigns as head of Canada MNT

The Canadian Soccer Association announced yesterday that coach Stephen Hart would be stepping down after their embarrassing crash out of the WCQ with an 8-1 loss to Honduras. 

Stephen Hart had been doing a pretty nice job with Canada but if Jamaica can make the Hex with a bunch MLS guys then Canada should be able to make it with the talent that they have.  Canadian presence in international leagues has grown and grown over the last decade without the National team seeming to greatly improve.  And without being involved in the Rio 2014 it's going to be hard for Canada to get a top tier coach.


Via AP-TORONTO -- Stephen Hart has resigned as Canada soccer coach, two days after the team was eliminated from World Cup qualifying with an 8-1 loss at Honduras.

Canadian Soccer Association president Victor Montagliani announced Thursday that Hart had quit.

Canada needed a tie or win to advance to next year's six-nation finals in North and Central America and the Caribbean. The seven-goal loss was its largest margin since an 8-0 defeat at Mexico in 1993.

Hart was hired in December 2009. Including an interim stint in 2006-07, he managed Canada to a 20-15-10 record.

Greek team gets best sponsor ever.....a brothel!

Via AP-LARISSA, Greece -- The world's oldest profession is giving a whole new meaning to love of the game.

Players on a cash-strapped Greek soccer team now wear pink practice jerseys with the logos "Villa Erotica" and "Soula's House of History," two bordellos it recruited as sponsors after drastic government spending cuts left the country's sports clubs facing ruin.

Other teams have also turned to unconventional financing. One has a deal with a local funeral home and others have wooed kebab shops, a jam factory and producers of Greece's trademark feta cheese.

But the amateur Voukefalas club -- whose players include pizza delivery guys, students, waiters and a bartender -- has raised eyebrows with its flamboyant sponsorship choice.

"Unfortunately, amateur football has been abandoned by almost everyone," said Yiannis Batziolas, the club's youthful chairman, who runs a travel agency and is the team's backup goalkeeper. "It's a question of survival."

Prostitution is legal in Greece, where brothels operate under strict guidelines. Though garish neon signs advertising their services are tolerated, the soccer sponsorship has ruffled some feathers in the sports-mad city of Larissa. League organizers have banned the pink jerseys during games, saying the deal violates "the sporting ideal" and is inappropriate for underage fans.

Batziolas acknowledges the sponsorship took his team by surprise. "They didn't believe it in the beginning," he said. "But when they saw the shirts printed, they thought it was funny."

Near-bankrupt Greece is struggling to meet creditors' relentless demands to slash spending and keep the euro as its currency. As Greece heads toward a sixth year of recession, drastic budget cuts have hammered many ordinary people: Retirees have been left to cover their own medical expenses, children have lost school bus services, and sports teams have scrambled to find sponsors as businesses close under the burden of emergency taxes.

Brothel owner Soula Alevridou, the team's new benefactor, has already paid more than 1,000 euros ($1,312) for players to wear her jerseys. The team is appealing the game ban, but that doesn't worry the 67-year-old Alevridou, who says she's only in it because she loves soccer.

"It's not the kind of business that needs promotion," she said, dressed all in white and flanked by two young women in dark leggings at a recent game. "It's a word-of-mouth kind of thing."

Her businesses, plushly decorated pastel-colored bungalows where 14 women are employed, have weathered the country's financial disaster far better than most, and she readily acknowledges her success.

"If we don't help our scientists and athletes, where will we be?" she asked. "Greece has educated people, cultured people and good athletes. It's better to help them than take our money to Switzerland."

Alevridou watched in disappointment as her team lost its fourth straight game, 1-0, despite her promise to players of "a special time" at her businesses if they won.

"There's a lot still missing. We have no midfield," said Alevridou, a slightly built woman with a husky voice.

"Many of our boys have jobs that keep them working at night. And if we have a game the following morning, they can't have a real presence on the pitch. ... They need more help."

They aren't the only team suffering. Greece's Amateur Athletics Federation suspended all its activities for several weeks earlier this year to protest funding cuts. And even the major soccer clubs sent most of their star players abroad this summer in the face of financial trouble and poor attendance, with fans no longer able to afford tickets.

Government cuts have hurt most of the teams in the amateur league in Larissa -- the majestically named Olympus, Hercules, Fearless and Sagittarius clubs, as well as Voukefalas, named after Alexander the Great's horse.

The impact of the crisis on sports is a major local concern. The town of 200,000 fielded the only professional club to ever break big-city domination of the league, winning the national championship in 1988.

In 2007, Larissa FC also rebounded from bankruptcy for victory in the prestigious Greek Cup.

Voukefalas says it needs about 10,000 euros ($13,120) a year to meet expenses, and Alevridou has promised more cash.

"Here is where it all begins, with amateur sport. It's where the talent is bred," she noted. "I am a Greek woman, and I love my country."

She watched quietly, holding a cigarette and wearing a straw fedora with a leopard print band, as her team struggled.

"The team will get better," she said. "I'm certain of it."


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My open letter to Joey Barton about his views on "stupid" Americans and their donations to help the Livestrong Foundation

Dear Mr. Barton,


     Earlier today you felt the need to critique Lance Armstrong and his alleged drug use in competition and Nike as well for deciding to stand beside him in a series of Tweets posted to your verified account @joey7barton. It is most certainly your right sir to express your opinions about corporations sticking behind an embattled, to say the least, athlete especially when it comes to accusations of performance enhancing drug use. 

   Regardless of my personal opinions on the matter whether I agree with you or not is of no concern to either of us.  I, as an American, believe that everyone has a right to say what ever they want regardless of intelligence level.  Lance Armstrong is a public figure who's actions have been called into question in a major way and who has opened himself up to the scrutiny of the world at large. However Mr. Barton I do have a bone to pick with you. 

     After your tweets critiquing Nike, Armstrong, and how Americans view Armstrong and his legacy, you sent out one last barb that really really hacked me off.

 Via @Joey7Barton:

     "Also, on a side note, since the allegations donations to livestrong have increased more than 50%. That is one stupid nation."

And now Mr. Barton you and I have a problem.

   I'm not sure if you understand what the Livestrong Foundation does for those who have, who treat, or are affected by cancer. I'm going to assume you were to busy having a drunken street brawl, or beating up a team mate, or just generally being a thug to do any research. Let me just toss a few facts your way about the work done by the Livestrong Foundation.

1. The Livestrong Foundation provides help not only to those have cancer, but they also give support to the doctors, nurses, and hospitals that treat cancer. They also offer support to family members and loved ones of those with cancer.

2. Last year alone LF spent almost $29 million on cancer education, prevention programs, cancer screenings, advocacy, and grants. That's 82 cents of every dollar that they brought in. 

3. Last year LF helped save their clients $3 million dollars in personal costs alone. You see Mr. Barton we don't have a free health care system like you Brits do and cancer costs can destroy families.  Although you seem to be an expert on the American experience so I'm sure you already knew that.

4. LF helps partner cancer patients with health care providers who help them with things like fertility treatments and options for survivors, peer to peer connections for survivors AND caregivers, and even helps connect patients with clinical trials going on all around the United States.

5. In my home state of Texas, and the home state of LF for the record, LF helped spearhead a statewide initiative which resulted in $3 billion over the next ten years to be focused on research to eradicate cancer.

6. Over the previous 3 years LF has spent close to $90 million dollars in programs to help cancer patients, their families, and to help fund cancer research.

   I could go on and on Mr. Barton about the amazing things that the Livestrong Foundation has done to help this "stupid nation" and all cancer patients everywhere but I'm hoping you're intelligent enough to get the point.

   It amazes me that a man such as yourself, who works with several great charities, would have the gall to mock a country for donating to cancer research just because you don't agree with the actions of what one man may have done to win a cycling race.  

  Would you be pleased if a professional athlete attacked those who gave to your favorite charities such as the Tamsin Gulvin Fund or possibly the 'Get Hooked on Fishing' campaign just because you decided to go psycho on a team mate or a get in a drunken fight with a civilian outside of a merseyside bar?

  My point Mr. Barton is that attacking Lance Armstrong and Nike are one thing, but taking a cheap shot at people for donating to a charity that helps hundreds of thousands of people dealing with the affects of cancer? I would have thought this was below even you, but you sir have proven me very very wrong. 

Sincerly,

   Jay N

 P.S. For the record I have never worked with, for, or had anything given to me by the Livestrong Foundation.

Here's an all new *Cleavage Edition to keep you all happy.

I know I haven't been posting a damn thing today but I'm still hung over from both an out of town bachelor party this last weekend and the unfortunate tie that all of us FC Dallas fans had to deal with last night. I was going to try to get a review of the FCD game up today but it just didn't happen. Tomorrow I promise.....maybe. Until then here you go folks! Again I would like to thank the ever so lovely Jessica Kardashian for posting another awesome vid for me.  Please watch and please feel free to follow her on YouTube.....it's worth it I promise.......just make sure you turn your speakers up.

SNB EXCLUSIVE: Celtic FC twitter account hacked, un-hacked, then re-hacked

OK so this isn't really an exclusive because anyone who has the interweb and follows @GlasgowCelticFC could have seen the hacks but it makes me feel more important when I can make wild journalistic claims in all bold letters..  The original hacks I didn't see as I was asleep like most most normal Americans were.  The second hack however occurred about 2 hours ago, and ended and hour later, as seen in the screen captures below.  I don't know if tweeting out the handles of some girls you're crushing on is a really smart move. Is this news?? of course not but it made me laugh.