As if the pressure to compete in England’s Premier League weren’t high enough, now perennial competitors Chelsea will have to step it up even a notch higher. FIFA recently banned the team from signing any new players for the rest of 2009 and all of 2010 after reports surfaced that its staff had illegally approached French youth player Gaël Kakuta in hopes of signing him for the 2010 season.

The harshness of this penalty—along with a €780,000 fine for Kakuta—sets a new precedent in international soccer, warning other teams about the seriousness of utilizing prohibited recruiting techniques. While Chelsea has a right to appeal the restriction and likely will, it’s become clear that not only will the team suffer over the upcoming year, but Kakuta’s promising young career will take a hit as well.

Here’s a disastrous concept: let’s tell drunk, ticket-holding sports fans that they can’t EVER send a text message, update their Facebook or post a photo to Twitter while they’re at a game. Short of banning cell phones at games, there’s almost no way the Southeastern Conference’s new media policies will fly.

Based on a recent press release, social media of all kinds has been essentially banned at venues hosting SEC events. The move comes in an effort to protect CBS—the sole owner of broadcasting rights for the SEC—but the likelihood of controlling user-created media items would be almost impossible without a ban on personal devices, too. (more…)

Hey there sports fans! Do you like illicit videos of attractive baseball announcers brushing their hair and exercising nude in their hotel rooms? Well hold onto your rally caps, because today is your lucky day! We at NSFW POA would like to present you with the ultimate piece of memorabilia—real live video of Erin Andrews doing private things in private that someone captured through a peephole! Now you can own a piece of sexy sports history, all for the price of a possible piracy suit.
(more…)

It’s last orders for Andrew Flintoff. The 18-stone English all-rounder has announced his retirement from Test Match Cricket at the end of this current Ashes Series between England and Australia. Fred, as he is affectionately known throughout the sport, is as well known for his colossal drinking sessions as much as his heroics on the pitch. When he single-handedly bashed the Aussies to win the Ashes for England in 2005, Fred famously went on a 48 hour bender before stumbling straight into 10 Downing Street to meet the then-Prime Minster Tony Blair, who was hosting the whole England squad to honor their achievements. (more…)

In the before time people used to find out all of their vital information via phone calls, subpoenas, or beautifully written and subsequently narrated letters from their significant other in Charleston, South Carolina during times of Civil War. Today, however, we have Twitter, which much like text messaging asserts the pressure to get one’s point across in a finite amount of characters. Yesterday brought such an occasion, when NBA Superstar and certifiable Twitterlebrity @THE_REAL_SHAQ got traded to @cavs.

ESPN had like a 8 min piece on it said its a DONE DEAL you a Cavalier but aint beliving it till the BIG @THE_REAL_SHAQ SINGS.

It seems @THE_REAL_SHAQ was not aware of said transaction until @allonso notified the aging big man, telling him “ESPN had like a 8 min piece on it said its a DONE DEAL you a Cavalier but aint beliving it till the BIG @THE_REAL_SHAQ SINGS.” Shaq responded by tweeting @allonso, “I didn’t hear dat yet.” But indeed the Big Cactus would have to be changing his tune and his nickname as he would find out moments later. Perhaps getting the biggest kick out the whole situation was @DJJTR3Y who twote at the diesel “U CLEVELAND BOUND…shaq found out he was traded thru twitter! lmao….hahahaaaaaa.” Shaq confirmed @DJJTR3Y’s Twitspicions with an “I kno right” over the micro-blogging service. It was quite the to do and now we all feel dumber for having followed it. Oh well, so much for the delicate beauty of the English language.

Kobe Bryant earned himself another notch in his belt last night as the LA Lakers beat the Orlando Magic 99-86 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals. The dashing superstar forced his way into the narrow scoring lane—sometimes from behind—numerous times throughout the contest, running circles around Magic players as if they were helpless groupies. Kobe played rough, assaulting the basket all night long and amassing 30 points.

Last night’s victory secured Bryant’s fourth title, but only his first since the days of double-teaming opponents alongside Shaquille O’Neal.

(more…)

Over the last 30 years Fantasy sports have transformed from a few nerds in a bar obsessing over stats to a billion dollar business. Today, aforementioned nerds can complete the same task from the privacy of their own darkened basements, basking in the warm glow of constantly emanating computer statistics. While it’s those statistics that earn many an allegiance-less, money hungry sports gambling fanatic a pretty penny come the end of their chosen season, there is one group that hasn’t seen any profit from the heaps of exchanged coinage thrust upon fantasy hosting sites: the players.

(more…)