Of course, just as soon as I make some exceedingly inane remark about shiny trophies, we get this monstrosity from the Russian Football Federation. This trophy, which goes to the club who has the best combined finish in the Russian Premier League and its equivalent youth competition, is made of almost 44,000 diamonds and 2.5 kilograms of gold. Yet somehow, it cost only $1 million to make, prompting Kobe Bryant to feel a sudden pang of buyer’s remorse.
And the bald dude in the reflection? He judges. Quietly.
This information comes to us from Yahoo’s brand-spanking new soccer blog Dirty Tackle, a gig that Brooks Peck got because A.) he’s very entertaining, and B.) I’ve been phoning it in for the last 18 months and still don’t have a plan for the future. But pretty much A.
Since I’m still phoning it in, though, here’s some other football-related stuff you should be reading:
- Every possible storyline for Super Bowl XLIV, and then some. [NFL Fanhouse]
- The annual Madden sim has the Saints winning by 10. No word yet on what Tecmo Super Bowl predicts. [Shutdown Corner]
- The Colts’ biggest fan? Jared. Way to go, Indianapolis. [The Sporting Blog, which, by the way, is all over this Super Bowl like white on Zenit St. Petersburg rice.]
- Memo to bakeries: don’t give the icing gun to people who know nothing about football. [Cake Wrecks]
- Anthony Bourdain takes on Miami cuisine. Sort of. [Kissing Suzy Kolber]
- Jason Whitlock thinks NFL owners are foolish for even considering a lockout. He missed the part where the TV networks have to pay the owners in 2011 whether there’s a season or not, and wealthy men don’t stay wealthy by doing things that make them less money. [Fox Sports]
- Online betting in the USA is still technically illegal. And really sketchy. [Shutdown Corner]
- Drew Brees points out how the NFL is attempting to use the courts to become a single entity, rather than 32 separate teams. Kind of like Major League Soccer, come to think of it. [Washington Post]
- A complete list of soccer podcasts. And there’s a whole hell of a lot of ‘em, too. [EPL Talk]
- Royal Bank of Scotland has apparently had it up to here with Tom Hicks and George Gillett. [The Independent]
- The head of the Confederation of African Football banned Togo from the African Cup of Nations, just weeks after Angolan separatists sprayed machine gun fire at the Togolese team bus, killing 3 people. Here’s why he should resign after such an appalling decision. [Pitch Invasion]
- That whole thing John Terry getting his teammate’s girlfriend pregnant? He was just following John Harkes’ lead. I suspect it’s far less likely that England’s World Cup gets ruined over this. [Dirty Tackle]
- Brian Phillips is working on something awesome. Can’t wait to see it. [The Run of Play]
- Oh, by the way, the NAB Cup begins in a week. Are you ready for some footy? [AFL.com.au]
