The Diving Controversy--A Referees Take

Every sport, no matter what it may be, has its downsides, things that are against the rules, but get exploited improperly and sometimes don't get punished as much as it should. In football, the biggest offender is diving. In professional terms, the act is reported as "simulation," that is the simulating of a foul having been committed. For me there are two cardinal sins in football, dissent and diving. This post is not about dissent, but I have a good rant on that to be posted at some point.

But diving is worse that dissent because while dissent is usually only heard by the referee and a few players, diving combines both a disrespect for the referee and a disrespect for the game. Personally, as a referee I would love to be able to show up to a game with this shirt on, but that is not professional either.

Diving or simulation attempts to make a fool of the referee and tries to pull a fast one over on the referee. Occaisionally it works, and players can get an opponent cautioned or even sent off. See, this recent incident invovling Arsenel and Celtic in a UEFA Champion's League Qualifier. (Ignore the commentary, the video clearly shows no foul). This weekend, ironically, Celtics Aiden McGeady took a dive against Hibernian in the Scottish Premier League which earned him his second yellow card and a sending off.

There are some football fans and supporters who say that diving and showmanship is a part of the game, that if the player can get away with it, they will do so and that is fair. But here's the thing, when an oppoenent takes a dive against their team, they will always cry foul, thus proving themselves to be hypocrits.

From a referee's perspective, however, simulation (and its slightly less offensive cousin embellishment) is simply offensive. Truth be told, if I could hand out red cards for simulation, I would, but the Laws of the game don't allow me to do so. It is cheating. Full stop. If a player fouls you and you can gain an advantage by keeping going, you should be able to do so as that is punishment on the fouling team. But if the other players doesn't foul you, or worse, doesn't even touch you, and you go down like you have just been shot, you are cheating the other team and possibly costing the game. Eduardo, McGeady, and every other player who has taken a dive in a game are cheats. Maybe not cheats all the time, but at that time they were and that cheapens the game.

More importantly, you are cheating the game. The game is bigger than any one player, any one team and certainly any one referee. Diving creates the illusion of foul play by partaking in unsporting conduct.

So what should the governing bodies do. Reports are that UEFA is considering a two match ban of Eduardo which would mean he sits for the first two group stage matches for Arsenel. I haven't heard what, if anything the SPL will do to McGeady.

I don't have a problem with a retroactive fine for Eduardo, but I don't think he should be given a post match red card as if the Referee saw it. The referee didn't see and thus giving a ban for any game would be wrong. I also don't want to see govenring bodies reviewing and overturning match decisions by the referee because then the referees start to wonder "If I make this call, will it get overturned" and the one thing on the referee's side is that usually his/her decisions on the pitch are final. That cannot be allowed to happen, players, managers, team officials cannot, with the aid of technology after the fact, go back and scream about it and get some sort of ban.

But Eduardo was wrong and he should not get off without punishement either. That is why I favor a financial penalty and a financial penalty against Arsenel the team. Eduardo's game day salary, doubled should work. I don't know what his salary is, but assuming he is making fifty grand a week, divided by seven, you have 7,100 and doubled is 14,000 pounds or so--a fair penalty I think. Had the penalty turned out be to be the goal that got Arsenel through to the next round, the fine would have to be much higher.

Football has enough drama in and of itself. There is no need to embellish it with kabuki theatrics meant to deceive.

Divers really are wankers.

"It's good enough to wear to church, but you can't wear it to school,"

That is what one mother said to ABC News after her son was suspended by the Richmond (Indiana) School District. His offending article of clothing? A profane t-shirt? Nope. A shirt that revealed too much skin? Noooo. Pants worn too low, revealing the boy's underwear? Nay, I say. No, his offense, a plaid shirt. A plaid, button-up, collared shirt at that. John Stossel has more. But this is a problem with too much control at the school levels.

Look, I understand the necessity for a dress code. We don't need 13 year old girls walking around like tarts working the red light district. We don't need high school boys with their pants sagging so low that if they tried to run, they would trip. We certainly don't need vulgar or profane t-shirts. But this school district banned plaid? Plaid?

Seriously, we have gone too far. Sure some plaids may violate fashion sense, but that doesn't make a button up shirt improper.

If the school district wants to impose a school uniform they should do so openly and up front, instead of trying to back door it by imposing some monstrosity of a dress code.

Some Surprised By 'Clunker' Tax

Huh.but looking at it from a lawyer's perspective, I shouldn't be surprised.

See, a dealer rebate is essentially a discount given by the person selling the car. However, if the rebate comes from a third party, in this case the government, there is a benefit that is conferred upon the buyer. Generally, that kind of third party benefit is taxed as income. Shocking huh?

I certainly don't remember that featuer being talked about in the run-up to the cash for clunkers program. I wonder how many people would have bought a new car if they realized that they would have to pay about 25% of their rebate back in taxes. For the non-math majors, that is in excess of $1,000 in taxes.

Ouch.

Well, Obama Really Believes in Big Brother

So this doesn't surprise me that bill that would give president emergency control of Internet is being drafted and considered.

Of course the whole concept is shocking because it is a massive intrusion into private industry.

A Senate source familiar with the bill compared the president's power to take control of portions of the Internet to what President Bush did when grounding all aircraft on Sept. 11, 2001. The source said that one primary concern was the electrical grid, and what would happen if it were attacked from a broadband connection.

I think the analogy is somewhat suspect.

Meany Greenies--The Democrats and the lessons of the Cash For Clunkers program

They are not my lessons, but Irwin Stelzer lays them out in the Washington Examiner. I like point out two:

Second, the government's talents, whatever they might be, do not include efficient administration of its programs. The 135 pages of rules setting out what dealers had to do to recapture the refund money they laid out, were constantly changed, the web site they were to use to apply to get their money back frequently crashed, and some had to drop out of the program because they had run out of cash.

The Department of Transportation assigned 2,000 workers to process dealer paperwork, but they seemed unable to get the money to dealers who, having laid it out in response to promises of prompt repayment, desperately needed the cash. So if you think the President's plan to "reform" health care will make it easier to cope with the paperwork surrounding hospital and doctor's bills, think again.

That such a matter needed to be pointed out should go without saying. I have heard a lot about health care and the government's poor administration of health care for Medicare and/or the Veteran's Administration. If you need another example, how about this one in which between 600 and 1200 (depending on who you believe) veterans were mistakenly informed that they had ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) because of a computer coding error. That the DOT is not any better than the bureaucrats at the VA shouldn't come as any surprise.

But this lesson from Stelzer is priceless:

Seventh, programs such as Cash-for-Clunkers have no regard for lower-income consumers. By mandating the destruction of trade-ins, Congress removed 700,000 cars from the used-car market, inevitably driving up prices of the cars that lower-income consumers tend to buy.

And by ordering that a trade-in's engine be destroyed by replacing its engine oil with a sodium silicate solution (which turns out to be in short supply!), Congress sharply reduced the salvageable used parts that are bought mostly by poorer consumers to keep their cars running.

That's right, the party that is supposedly the champion of the poor and downtrodden has just dramatically increased the price for poor people to get used cars or to keep the ones they have running. Nice, real, nice.

So the Democrats need to start calling themselves the Meany Greenies since they have been hijacked by the environmental movement rather than moving to help the poor and downtrodden.

U.S. Squad for September World Cup Qualifiers

U.S. MNT Coach Bob Bradley has named a 24 man roster to be brought into camp for the next round of qualifers, against El Salvador in Salt Lake City on September 5 and away to Trinidad and Tobago on September 9. Here is the group:

GOALKEEPERS- Tim Howard (Everton), Brad Guzan (Aston Villa)

DEFENDERS- Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes), Oguchi Onyewu (AC Milan), Jay DeMerit (Watford), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Clarence Goodson (IK Start).

MIDFIELDERS- Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Michael Bradley (Borussia Moengengladbach), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo), Benny Feilhaber (AGF Aarhus), Jose Francisco Torres (Pachuca), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew).

FORWARDS-Charlie Davies (Socheaux), Jozy Altidore (Hull City), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Conor Casey (Colorado Rapids), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake).

I am not surprised to see Marshall, Holden and Beckerman on this list. They all played well in the Gold Cup and earned a look in this camp. I could certainly see Marshall and Holden dressing and even see Holden starting against El Salvador. Beckerman is a bit more of a long shot to dress, but it is not out of the realm of possibility.

Robbie Findley has to be the biggest surprise for me. He has been tearing it up a little in recent weeks for Real Salt Lake (including a brace on Wednesday against Chivas USA), but hasn't gotten a look in camp before now. The second year man for Real Salt Lake might be something of a home pick, but his form certainly helps get him the nod.

Against El Salvador, I would expect to see:

---------Davies-------Ching----------

Donovan----Bradley----Feilhaber-----Dempsey

Bornstein---Bocanegra---DeMerit---Spector

--------------Howard------------------

The only probable changes would be Altidore for Davies, Holden for Feilhaber and/or Cherundolo for Spector. Gooch is out serving a yellow card suspension for the El Salvador match so I would expect Marshall to dress as a back up. Right now you could say that Altidore and Davies are somewhat interchangeable, both are on solid form for their clubs and getting good playing time. Altidore might not be 90 minutes fit yet so that is why I see Davies getting the starting nod.

The bench (based on the starting lineup above) would prbably be:

Guzan
Marshall
Cherundolo
Holden
Torres
Rodgers
Altidore

The benefit of Rodgers is that he can play up top if necessary. Holden can play wide and he can play centrally.

What Bob Bradley will need is a lot of energy and early goals. Michael Bradley and Feilhaber will have to shut down the central midfield and actually play the ball around well. Possession will be important, to force the Salvadorans to fight to get the ball back. Finally, Donovan and Dempsey cannot go missing in this game.

Europa League draw

ESPN Soccernet has the full draw results, but Fulham have been drawn into a group that includes Roma (Italy), FC Basel (Switzerland) and CSKA Sofia (Bulgaria). Obviously, there is no guarantee that any team will certainly advance, but I think that Roma is a favorite to advance and I would say that Fulham and CSKA Sofia would be in the battle to advance.

The teams will play each other home and away and the top two teams advance to the next round.

Cool

A British 17-year-old has become the youngest person to sail around the world. It was an "assisted" trip, but impressive nonetheless.

Cindy Sheehan Back in the News

I don't agree with her position, but I have to give her points for consistency. A lot of "anti-war protestors" are actually anti-Bush protesters and lack consistency on a position they say matters, i.e. pacificism. If you are against war and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan--fine. But don't be wishy-washy depending on which party is in the White House. If it is a principle that you espouse, stick to the principle.

I may not agree with you, but I will respect you and your position. I used to have little respect for Cindy Sheehan, whom I though took her grief too far. But I have new found respect for her now because she is anti-war no matter who occupies the White House.

Fulham Advance in Inaugural Europa League

The Cottagers European adventure will continue despite losing 1-0 to Amkar Perm today in their second leg of the Europa Leauge tie. Fulham advance on a 3-2 aggregate over the Russian side.

Fulham managed the close loss despite missing five of their regular starters, including regular starting strikers Andy Johnson and Bobby Zamora, midfielders Clint Dempsey and captain Danny Murphy as well as regular starting left back Paul Konchesky. Still running out a 4-5-1 kept Fulham on top in the tie.

Fulham are now in the group stages and the group stage draw will take place tomorrow.

Sight at Carling Cup Match

Doncaster Rovers fans were treated to a beautiful sight before getting demolished by by Tottenham Hotspur in a Carling Cup match (Tottenham won 5-1). Check out this photo.

Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha.....

To call this ironic is an insult to irony.

The Met Office has caused a storm of controversy after it was revealed their £30million supercomputer designed to predict climate change is one of Britain's worst polluters.
The massive machine - the UK's most powerful computer with a whopping 15 million megabytes of memory - was installed in the Met Office's headquarters in Exeter, Devon.

It is capable of 1,000 billion calculations every second to feed data to 400 scientists and uses 1.2 megawatts of energy to run - enough to power more than 1,000 homes

The machine was hailed as the 'future of weather prediction' with the ability to produce more accurate forecasts and produce climate change modelling.
However the Met Office's HQ has now been named as one of the worst buildings in Britain for pollution - responsible for more than 12,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.

It says 75 per cent of its carbon footprint is produced by the super computer meaning the machine is officially one of the country's least green machines.

Seriously, could the Met Office's spokesman keep a straight face with that statement.

Are Some Congressmen Really that Stupid?

This one, Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA), apparently has not learned the lesson from this August recess--that being your townhall meetings will be videotaped and shared on You Tube. Here, Moran is asking that a man provide identification before Moran will answer his question. Seriously, did Moran not think this was going to make into the public realm?



There have been other reports that Congressmen are conducting an ID check before people are admitted to a townhall meeting, presumably to ensure that attendees are actually residents of the district. While that in and of itself is rediculous, there is at least a feeble attempt at a justification. But to do this before answering a question is ludicrous.

As if you needed further proof that Obamacare is nothing more than a liberal takeover

Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) and uberliberal called the more conservative Blue Dog Democrats "brain dead." Seriously, he is quoted as saying that, not suspected or repeated by someone else.

The problem with such a strategy is that these conservative to moderate Democrats have the ability to kill the legislation in the House. Ticking them off doesn't seem like a strategy that is designed to win. Particularly when the Blue Dogs are probably much more representative of most American's viewpoints on teh matter than Pete Stark is.

Democratic Health Care Bill Divulges IRS Tax Data -

CBS News, of all sources, notes that there are a few provisions in the Obamacare (is it officially KennedyCare yet?) bill that will require (not allow on request but require) the IRS to provide the Health Care Commissioner with your tax data.

Section 431(a) of the bill says that the IRS must divulge taxpayer identity information, including the filing status, the modified adjusted gross income, the number of dependents, and "other information as is prescribed by" regulation. That information will be provided to the new Health Choices Commissioner and state health programs and used to determine who qualifies for "affordability credits."

Section 245(b)(2)(A) says the IRS must divulge tax return details -- there's no specified limit on what's available or unavailable -- to the Health Choices Commissioner. The purpose, again, is to verify "affordability credits."

Section 1801(a) says that the Social Security Administration can obtain tax return data on anyone who may be eligible for a "low-income prescription drug subsidy" but has not applied for it.

While all three provisions are very, very disturbing, that last one has very much of an Orwellian feel. The SSA can obtain your tax records to see if anyone is eligible for a low income drug subsidy but hasn't applied for it. There are many reasons, some practical and some philosophic as to why a person might not apply for a low income drug subsisidy. they could

1. Not need the subsidy because they don't need any prescription drugs (i.e. they are healthy).
2. Not consider themselves as "low-income" and thus don't need a government hand-out.
3. Be philosophically and/or regligiously opposed to using drugs (i.e. a Christ Scientist for example).
4. Be politically opposed to government health care and have determined they don't want to have the government make their decisions for them.

But the truly sinister aspect is the government may take this information and either (at the lowest level of intrusion) send you advertising about a low-income prescription drug subsidy or (at worst), without your knowledge sign you up for such a subsidy.

How many people are going to have a fit about this little bit of intrusion.

Kathleen Parker - Legal Showdowns of the Wild Worldwide Web - washingtonpost.com

Kathleen Parker notes that recent legal action may lead to less and less freedom of speech on the internet--specifically freedom of anonymous speech.

Interestingly, there is another side situation of a person with resources looking to out someone without in order to do something--in this case raise their profile of the person with resources.

Senator Edward Kennedy dies at age 77

Although his health problems are well documented, it is still sad that Sen. Edward Kennedy has passed away. I have never been a big fan of Kennedy's politics, but you cannot deny his influence upon the Senate and upon the Country.

If you measure a legislative body by the activity of its members, you cannot say that the Senate was not a quality place with Kennedy in it. The last of a Kennedy generation that put its mark upon our country, Edward Kennedy was in many ways the least spectacular, but the most successful of John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Edward Kennedy triumvariate.

In the coming days people will wonder what was Kennedy's greatest accomplishment in the Senate.

Beckham and Learning Lessons abut Soccer

Soccerlens has a great piece about Beckham and the lessons he is teaching America about soccer.

One of the most interesting impacts Beckham could make is on the relationship between the MLS and the players.

"Family Friendly" Law Firms

Yale Law Women has named its top 10 family friendly law firms.While these lists are more or less simply a press opportunity for the sponsor, I have always wondered why "family friendly" is really as much as "woman friendly" as anything else. Such a term seems to assume that men don't give a toss about their families or don't consider "family-friendly" as something that men care about.

I for one love the atmosphere at my current firm. So long as my work gets done, taking time to spend with my family is not a problem. Do I need to pick up my daughters from school? No problem. Want to volunteer with my daughter's school? OK.

To be honest, I think more and more firms are realizing that a happy family life means a happy lawyer. A happy family life cannot occur if a lawyer is never at home. A fat paycheck only goes so far.

U.S. World Cup Bid Committee Announces 27 Stadiums In Contention

From the U.S. Soccer site, here is the list:

Atlanta--Georgia Dome (71,250 capacity)
Baltimore--M & T Bank Stadium (71,008)
Boston--Gillette Stadium (71,693)
Charlotte--Bank of America Stadium (73,778)
Chicago--Soldier Field (61,000)
Cleveland--Cleveland Browns Stadium (72,000)
Dallas-- Cotton Bowl (89,000)
Dallas-- Cowboys Stadium (100,000)
Denver--INVESCO Field (76,125)
Detroit--Ford Field (67,188)
Detroit--Michigan Stadium (108,000)
Houston--Reliant Stadium (71,500)
Indianapolis--Lucas Oil Stadium (64,200)
Jacksonville, Fla.--Jacksonville Municipal Stadium (82,000)
Kansas City--Arrowhead Stadium (77,000)
Los Angeles--Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (93,607)
Los Angeles--Rose Bowl (92,000+)
Miami--Land Shark Stadium (75,540)
Nashville--LP Field (69,143)
New York/N.J.--New Meadowlands Stadium (82,000)
Oakland--Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum (63,026)
Orlando--Florida Citrus Bowl (65,616)
Philadelphia--Lincoln Financial Field (67,594)
Phoenix/Glendale--University of Phoenix Stadium (71,000)
San Diego--Qualcomm Stadium (70,500)
San Francisco--Stanford Stadium (50,500)
Seattle--Qwest Field (67,000)
Seattle--Husky Stadium (72,500)
St. Louis--Edward Jones Dome (67,268)
Tampa--Raymond James Stadium (65,856)
Washington, D.C.--RFK Stadium (45,600)
Washington, D.C.--FedExField (91,704)

There are a few sites on here that I think are pretty much guaranteed locks--Fed Ex Field, Qwest Field, Rose Bowl and the Meadowlands. Other sites that I think are very likely are St. Louis (too much history to ignore), Lincoln Financial Field, LP Field (Nashville), Charlotte, Oakland/San Francisco if they can expand those facilities and either Jacksonville or Tampa.

I think it would be neat to turn a famed American football stadium at University of Michigan into a soccer field and it seats over 100,000. University of Michigan could make a killing on that idea. Keep in mind that one of the bigger concerns will be hotel/lodging spaces, transportation matters, security and training facilities. The more colleges and/or soccer specific stadium/facilities that are nearby, the more likely a site is to be selected. Aside form maybe Cowboys stadium, which just opened, each of these sites will see a signficant upgrade in facilities.