Classic clip here of Eire's brave boys thumping the jackbooted thugs of Nazi Germany 3-0 at Dalymount Park in 1936. That is, Ireland score three times in the clip, while Germany don't score. I can't find any record of the result, so we'll have to assume that was the final score. Huzzah!
Adultery abetment site AshleyMadison has apparently offered $5m a year for the naming rights of the New York Jets new stadium. That is Ashley Madison of slogan "Life is short. Have an affair" fame. The link is to TMZ though so one suspects that this is not a serious offer.
Down forward and proud gingerman Benny Coulter would like to see the GAA move to 13 a side football. It seems the negativity and blanket defenses of the Ulster Championship are bringing him down. As he says, “Definitely it’s not as enjoyable as it was before. When I was 18 or 19 playing for the club it was fantastic and I loved every minute of it. It was the same playing for the county at the start. It was brilliant. But as the years went on it hasn’t been as good as it used to be.” To be fair Benny, a lot of things don't seem as much fun as they did when I was 19.
Sven Goran Eriksson says that iron man Didier Drogba may start against Portugal despite his broken arm. Will the injury stop Droba from throwing himself to the ground at the slightest hint of contact? We can but hope.
The NCAA has finally dropped the hammer on USC over the Reggie Bush payments scandal. Short version: Reggie was a very good amateur player for USC. Reggie was given lots of money to sign with an agent when he turned pro. Reggie signed with a different agent. Spurned agent went public. USC was shocked, shocked that one of their players could have received illegal payments. NCAA finds out they knew all along. USC gets punished, big style. Reggie keeps the money.
Paddy Barnes and Eric Donovan won their fights to join Ken Egan, Darren O' Neill and Tyrone McCullagh in the semi finals of the European Boxing Championships in Moscow. Apologies for the lack of video, but the EUBC haven't updated their site since last Sunday, and the RTE player doesn't seem to be working.
Kilkenny's U-21s laid the smack down on Offaly in Nowlan Park last night. 1-19 to no score in the second half. Offaly finished with 14 men, after Thomas Spain got himself sent off, presumably just to get off the field.
The Chicago Blackhawks won their first Stanley Cup since 1961 with a winning goal in OT. What stands out for me, though, is how long it took the players to stop hitting each other and realise that the ball was nestled in the net. I guess the fights really are the only good thing about hockey. Here's one now.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhRlMYRu0fw[/youtube]
Just a quick reminder to anyone who hasn't already joined the Balls.ie Bracket Prediction Contest on ESPN to sign up now, before the first match. You'll need to create an ESPN account but that's fairly painless. Then you can get to bracketing, and knocking the outrageously confident Hal LaRoux down a peg or two.
