Citius, altius, brutus

It's an even-numbered year, so we must have an Olympics on our hands. The quadrennial orgy of sun, fun, and infrastructure spending that is the Summer Games is taking place in Rio de Janeiro and blessedly drawing some attention away from the ongoing conflagration that is the United States election cycle.

The Olympics were designed to celebrate excellence in athletics -- hence the motto "citius, altius, fortius", or "faster, higher, stronger". While the best and brightest eventually get their due when they reach the business end of their events, for me that's only part of the allure. I also enjoy hearing the stories of people such as Siri Budcharern Arun, a 14-year-old swimmer from Laos.

Laos has one Olympic-sized swimming pool, but it is rarely used and too far from the capital for the athletes to reach regularly.

Instead, Siri Arun trains five times a week in the public, city-centre pool, without any lanes reserved for professional swimmers and sometimes under the monsoon deluges that hammer Laos.

While she tries to hone her rhythm and technique, kids clown around and launch themselves off diving boards nearby.

So far she has got her personal best down to 33.71 seconds, a good 10 seconds shy of the world record and a time that is unlikely to see her progress beyond the early heats.

But she keeps coming back, hoping to give herself the best possible chance in Rio.

In addition to athletes who qualify based on their performances, Olympic organizers also provide competing nations a small number of wild-card entries to make sure all 204 member nations have representatives at the Games. This Olympics also features the first team comprised of refugees fleeing conflict in their home countries. This isn't merely an exercise in handing out participation ribbons; it's about spreading the message of the Olympic movement and providing further inspiration for athletes from developing nations. Without this kind of outreach, the Olympics would quickly resemble cricket or European soccer, a closed shop accessible only by those with the best resources.

In proper doses, inspiration and patriotism can do great things. It is all too easy to overdose on them, though, and the Olympics is no exception.

Sheet of Integrity 2016

Old habits die hard. Even when I'm away from the US and unable to watch college basketball, I can't help but fill out a bracket for the NCAA men's basketball tournament. It just feels like the right thing to do, and this year I even have an excuse -- I am a Temple student now, and Temple managed to squeeze into the tournament.

As per tradition, I fill out one bracket and use those picks in any contest I enter -- two this year, one for the Tony Kornheiser Show and the other for the Living Room Times Memorial Pool. I reject the practice of strategically tweaking and submitting multiple brackets in the pursuit of filthy lucre.

Picks are below the fold. Yes, I know the tournament play-in games have started, but I have evidence to show I already picked every game. I've just been too busy with damn near everything else to actually post it.

Scarf update

One of the minor perks of coming back home is having a rare chance to consolidate the stuff I've collected and see how much I actually have. Usually this is a sobering experience, reminding me I'm not nearly as good at avoiding accumulating stuff as I think I am, but it has its high points, too.

For example, I recently got all my scarves in one place for the first time. I do my best to get a scarf when I see a team play live as it serves both as a nice keepsake and, depending on the scarf, a useful garment in the cold. It also provides something of an informal travelogue amid all my globe-trotting.

The fruits of said globe-trotting are below the jump.

Sports and politics, joined at the hip

Make no mistake – for all the rhetoric about how they should never interfere with one another, sports and politics are inextricably linked. Even former International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch admits as much. Whether for good or ill, there will always be political entities who prioritize promoting their worldview or policies over competition, fair play, and other Corinthian values. People mewling about how sporting events and political protests don't mix clearly have no sense of history, whether out of ignorance or willful blindness.

Do you even sports, bro?

So it finally happened. Brian Brushwood, friend of the family and all-around good egg, has finally cut a commercial that speaks to me, Sports Guy.

Well played, Brian.

They're coming to Tokyo -- Todai!

Combing the wires tonight, I saw that the NCAA baseball tournament is about to get underway. Even in years with no local interest -- like this one -- the tournament gets good coverage back in Nebraska as the College World Series has become a fixture on Omaha's calendar.

I hope people enjoy the CWS. I haven't for some years and probably won't again, due in large part to Mike Fahey earning life-long enmity for reasons detailed here and others elsewhere. Instead, I'd like to highlight another college baseball story -- one that should give a little inspiration to underdogs everywhere.

Spot the difference

Sigh.

So this happened. In a dance as old as time, sportsball fans got liquored up, set fires and broke shit because their sportsball team out-sportsballed the other sportsball team in The Big Game. It's not the outcome of the game that makes me sigh, though -- as I've stated before, I have fallen out of love with college football (if not football in general) and the damage to the relationship appears irreparable.

No, this is altogether more sociological. Look at the headline in that first link:

Fans get a little rowdy over Ohio State national championship win

"Get a little rowdy"? Setting 89 fires, vandalizing property and causing police to use tear gas and pepper spray to disperse crowds is "rowdy"? It seems more than a bit curious that when white people riot -- for whatever the reason, great or small -- they're described as "rowdy", "overexuberant" or "disruptive" and that things just got out of hand. Yet when African Americans protest in the name of social justice, they're derided as "savages", dismissed as "hoodlums" and written off as lawless "thugs" who are destroying their own community.

Sticking to sports

I was going to rant about these people who believe athletes should stick to playing sports, that they're too dumb to hold court on matters outside of their job or have no business exercising their Constitutional right to free speech. I was going to point out how protesting and sports have always mixed, and that the history of such mixing in the United States goes back to at least the 1960s, if not earlier. I was going to mention how such protests are hardly limited to US sports, and that authorities have been surprisingly reasonable in allowing athletes to publicly express their support for the families of those caught up in the recent tragedies.

But then, in a scant five minutes, Andrew Hawkins of the Cleveland Browns gave a rebuttal to those meatheads and chauvinists that was so eloquent, so poignant and so heartfelt that it scarcely requires further comment.

Quitting Old State U

College football used to be my No. 1 sport. That's hardly a surprise as I grew up in Nebraska, a state that is something of a Lagrangian point for professional sports. Denver, the Twin Cities, Chicago and Kansas City are all fairly close, but none so close that they can seriously claim Nebraska as "their" territory. That leaves the University of Nebraska -- and specifically Cornhusker football -- to dominate the state's sporting attention.

I used to follow the Huskers with a passion. Going to games was a rare treat growing up -- I went to four or five games as a fan, mostly thanks to a family member who was a season-ticket holder -- but I made sure to catch every game on TV or the radio. (For younger readers, these were the days before every game was on TV and in HD. I know, I'm so old.) Wins were exhilarating and losses were crushing, especially the near-annual, seemingly inevitable defeat to a faster, more talented team from Florida in the Orange Bowl. Nebraska's run from 1993 to 1997, in which they went 60-3 and won three national championships, was spectacular and likely spoiled at least one generation of fans into believing Nebraska should always hold such pride of place in college football.

As I said, though, college football used to be my favorite sport. Now, I barely pay attention to it. What happened? In short -- time, distance, and seeing how the sausage is made.

I did a blog

Hello, beautiful people. As the title suggests, I did a blog, but this time for a respectable media organization. If you would, please give it a read – it's on college basketball and the inequities built into the current system.

By the way, have I told you how lovely and intelligent you look today?

SHEET of Integrity, 2014 edition

Yup, it's that time of year again; that wonderful few weeks when vast swaths of America pretend to be experts on college basketball. I've actually seen a fair bit of college basketball this season despite moving to the UAE, thanks largely to Fox Sports showing the Pac-12 and Big East, plus a smattering of Big 10 Network programming. So, in this latest addition to the "Predictions Sure to Go Wrong" pile, here is a non-graphical representation of my 2014 NCAA Tournament bracket.

(Yes, I know the play-in games -- and that's what they are -- have already happened, but anyone with even a room-temperature IQ knows the real tournament starts now.)

SOUTH
Round 1: (1) Florida def. (16) Albany; (9) Pittsburgh def. (8) Colorado; (5) VCU def. (12) Stephen F. Austin; (4) UCLA def. (13) Tulsa; (11) Dayton def. (6) Ohio State; (3) Syracuse def. (14) Western Michigan; (7) New Mexico def. (10) Stanford; (2) Kansas def. (15) Eastern Kentucky
Round 2: Florida def. Pitt; UCLA def. VCU; Syracuse def. Dayton; Kansas def. New Mexico
Sweet 16: Florida def. UCLA; Syracuse def. Kansas
Elite Eight: Florida def. Syracuse

EAST
Round 1: (1) Virginia def. (16) Coastal Carolina; (9) George Washington def. (8) Memphis; (12) Harvard def. (5) Cincinnati; (4) Michigan State def. (13) Delaware; (11) Providence def. (6) North Carolina; (3) Iowa State def. (14) North Carolina Central; (10) St. Joseph's def. (7) Connecticut; (2) Villanova def. (15) Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Round 2: Virginia def. George Washington; Michigan State def. Harvard; Iowa State def. Providence; Villanova def. St. Joseph's
Sweet 16: Michigan State def. Virginia; Iowa State def. Villanova
Elite Eight: Michigan State def. Iowa State

WEST
Round 1: (1) Arizona def. (16) Weber State; (9) Oklahoma State def. (8) Gonzaga; (12) North Dakota State def. (5) Oklahoma; (4) San Diego State def. (13) New Mexico State; (11) Nebraska (!!!) def. (6) Baylor; (3) Creighton def. (14) Louisiana-Lafayette; (7) Oregon def. (10) BYU; (2) Wisconsin def. (15) American
Round 2: Oklahoma State def. Arizona; San Diego State def. North Dakota State; Creighton def. Nebraska (please, please, please let this happen); Wisconsin def. Oregon
Sweet 16: San Diego State def. Oklahoma State; Wisconsin def. Creighton
Elite Eight: Wisconsin def. San Diego State

MIDWEST
Round 1: (1) Wichita State def. (16) Cal Poly; (8) Kentucky def. (9) Kansas State; (12) North Carolina State def. (5) St. Louis; (4) Louisville def. (13) Manhattan; (11) Tennessee def. (6) Massachusetts; (3) Duke def. (14) Mercer; (10) Arizona State def. (7) Texas; (2) Michigan def. (15) Wofford
Round 2: Wichita State def. Kentucky; Louisville def. North Carolina State; Duke def. Tennessee; Michigan def. Arizona State
Sweet 16: Louisville def. Wichita State; Michigan def. Duke
Elite Eight: Louisville def. Michigan

Final Four: Michigan State def. Florida; Louisville def. Wisconsin
Championship: Louisville def. Michigan State

As long as Nebraska gets its first NCAA (men's) Tournament win in program history, though, everything else is gravy.

Who says there are no happy endings?

Sports will break your heart. That's what it does. For all the inspiring underdogs and feel-good stories it produces, only a vanishingly small number actually complete the journey and win the Big Game/Trophy/Tournament. That's not to say there is no value in sports other than winning, of course -- there's camaraderie, physical fitness, handling adversity, learning teamwork, winning and losing with equal grace, just plain having fun, etc. That said, no one watches "Hoosiers" to see Hickory High give a good accounting of themselves before making way for bigger schools with more realistic chances of a state championship. We want to see the underdog finish the job and revel in Eternal Glory.

Sunday brought one such story. The Rakuten Eagles beat the big, bad Yomiuri Giants (Japan's answer to the New York Yankees) to win the Japan Series in seven games and claim their first league title. This is great news for a few reasons: 1) The Eagles play at Kleenex Stadium. Seriously. 2) Ace pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, likely the next big Japanese prospect to make the move to Major League Baseball, won an unearthly 30 straight starts this season with a 1.08 ERA before losing in Game 6 of the Japan Series. In a nice touch, Eagles manager Senichi Hoshino brought Tanaka back to close out Game 7, giving the pitcher a chance to end his time with the club with a good performance as well as a championship.

The main reason to celebrate Rakuten's title, though, is that it's a welcome bit of good news for a region that is still recovering from the tsunami/earthquake/nuclear meltdown on March 11, 2011. Clean-up efforts by the company largely responsible for the mess are hardly worthy of the name and Corporate Japan seems determined to maintain the status quo regardless of the reality outside their gleaming offices, so every little lift helps.

The Eagles are the only professional baseball team located in the Tohoku region that was devastated by the March 11, 2011, disaster. The team's home stadium was severely damaged by the earthquake.

More than two years after the disaster that killed nearly 19,000 people, the region is still struggling and progress in recovery efforts is slow. More than 280,000 people remain living in temporary housing. Leaks of radioactive contaminated water at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant have been keeping people on edge. Sendai is only 36 miles from Fukushima.

''This is a great present for the people of the Tohoku region,'' Rakuten manager Senichi Hoshino said. ''I hope this victory will be an inspiration to the evacuees. There will be many tough days ahead but tonight I hope we can all enjoy this win.''

Yes, it's just sports. No, the Eagles winning won't fix the mess left by Tepco and the Japanese government or get the people of Tohoku back in their homes. But dammit, these people have been all but forgotten by a government more concerned with protecting their friends in the nuclear power industry than the people who helped vote them into power in the first place. If a nearby Sporting Club wins a championship and provides them a bit of respite in the process, who are we to complain?

MIA lawyer leaves NFL DOA

I care not one whit about the NFL. I didn't watch a second of the most recent Super Bowl, instead spending the day at the movies. Until this afternoon I had no idea who MIA was or that the NFL was pursuing legal action against he/she/they for making an obscene gesture during the Super Bowl halftime show and "tarnishing the league's goodwill and reputation." However, when your lawyer drops bombs like these:

"Of course, the NFL's claimed reputation for wholesomeness is hilarious," [Howard] King tells THR, "in light of the weekly felonies committed by its stars, the bounties placed by coaches on opposing players, the homophobic and racist comments uttered by its players, the complete disregard for the health of players and the premature deaths that have resulted from same, and the raping of public entities ready to sacrifice public funds to attract teams."

You most definitely have my attention. Apparently the NFL wants $1.5 million and a public apology from the performer for her rude gesture. If this is just the opening salvo from MIA's legal team, Roger Goodell and friends better buckle up their chinstraps.

The Good Bleepin' Life

Fun times here in Nebraska. Unless you've been living under a rock or in a Bluejay bubble, odds are you've heard of the mess in which Big State University's football coach has found himself. For those unfamiliar with the goings-on down Lincoln way, here's Keith Olbermann with the extended breakdown. If you don't want a dissertation on swearing in sports, this is the recording in question:

This has caused quite a stir among the Big Red faithful, with some of the more reactionary elements calling for Bo Pelini to be fired. That may seem awfully rash, especially given Pelini's record -- his teams have gone 9-4, 10-4, 10-4, 9-4 and 10-4 during his time in charge. That's a fairly respectable record, so why do some people want Pelini gone?

It seems like it's not so much the losses that bother Nebraska fans (though no doubt they still do to some degree) as it is how the losses keep happening. One could argue that Nebraska has taken on a bit too much of Pelini's personality over the years and become increasingly inconsistent, volatile and undisciplined. Plus, when the momentum turns away from the Huskers, things tend to snowball quickly. Pelini was hired in 2008 to stop Nebraska from falling behind not only the likes of Texas and Oklahoma but Missouri, Kansas State and Kansas. When the Huskers come up against teams that Nebraska fans and administrators think are their school's peers, though, the Huskers tend to fail and fail spectacularly.

2012: Ohio State 63-38 Nebraska; Nebraska 31-70 Wisconsin; Georgia 45-31 Nebraska
2011: Wisconsin 48-17 Nebraska; Michigan 45-17 Nebraska; South Carolina 30-13 Nebraska
2010: Washington 19-7 Nebraska
2009: Nebraska 10-31 Texas Tech
2008: Nebraska 17-52 Missouri; Oklahoma 62-28 Nebraska

Then there's the annual inexplicable loss that's come to be known as the "Bofart" game, such as the 2011 home loss to Northwestern, falling at home to a 5-7 Texas team in 2010 or committing seven turnovers in a 2009 home loss to Iowa State. Turnovers, dumb penalties and inconsistency have been a hallmark of Pelini's teams since his arrival, whether he had Callahan's players or his own.

Pelini continually tells people to "trust in the process" and that any problems are "fixable", yet the same problems keep popping up over and over again. His circle of trust is exceedingly small -- and will no doubt shrink further after Effgate -- and he's packed his coaching staff with friends and guys who are beholden to him for being where they are. There are no dissenting voices or outside influences within the locker room, and even the mildest of criticism -- and seeing as it's the Nebraska media, it will undoubtedly be mild -- sets Pelini off in a profane fury he justifies by saying it's all in the name of "protecting the kids." His behavior smacks of insecurity one usually doesn't associate with big-time college football coaches.

Even the most blinkered of Nebraska fans acknowledge that the college football landscape has changed since the mid-90s. Going 60-3 and winning three national titles in a four-year span isn't happening again anytime soon. What bothers people is that Nebraska consistently gets outplayed and outmaneuvered on the biggest stages, a fact that was as true in 2008 as it is today. The question now is whether the Nebraska program and fanbase will accept more four-loss seasons and having the Rose Bowl as its highest aspiration or jettison Pelini and risk drifting further into irrelevance.

Prejudice saves time

A quick tour through the news, with one story doing much to confirm stereotypes and another perhaps undermining some preconceived notions.

First, the former. Three Oklahoma teenagers have been accused of shooting and killing a college baseball player from Australia. Why? "We were bored and didn't have anything to do, so we decided to kill somebody."

Christopher Lane, who was visiting the town of Duncan, where his girlfriend and her family live, had passed a home where the boys were staying and that apparently led to him being killed, police chief Danny Ford said on Monday. A 17-year-old in the group has given a detailed confession to police, but investigators haven't found the weapon used in last week's shooting, Ford said. That teen and the others – aged 15 and 16 – remain in custody; Ford said the district attorney is expected to file first-degree murder charges on Tuesday. It wasn't known if the three would be charged as adults or juveniles. They are to appear in court Tuesday afternoon.

"They saw Christopher go by, and one of them said: 'There's our target,'" Ford said. "The boy who has talked to us said, 'We were bored and didn't have anything to do, so we decided to kill somebody.'"

He said they followed the 22-year-old Lane, a student from Melbourne who was attending college on a baseball scholarship, in a car and shot him in the back before driving off. Ford told the television station KOCO in Oklahoma City that one of the teens said they shot Lane for "the fun of it."

Let's see -- dumb teenagers? Check. Oklahoma? Check. US gun culture? Checkity-check-check.

The media reaction in Australia has been as nuanced and understated as you would expect. Tim Fischer, a former deputy prime minister from the John Howard regime, is doing his part by encouraging Australians to stop visiting the United States in order to force Congress to enact further gun control legislation.

"Tourists thinking of going to the USA should think twice,'' Mr Fischer said. "This is the bitter harvest and legacy of the policies of the NRA that even blocked background checks for people buying guns at gunshows.

"People should take this into account before going to the United States. I am deeply angry about this because of the callous attitude of the three teenagers (but) it's a sign of the proliferation of guns on the ground in the USA. There is a gun for almost every American.''

Fischer has something of a history when it comes to criticizing US gun culture. To be fair to him, though, it's hard to fault Australia's record. When a conservative government enacts sweeping gun control legislation and the country goes from 13 mass shootings in the 18 years prior to 1996 to zero mass shootings since 1996, there just might be something to that approach.

And now for something only slightly less depressing. Canadians are supposed to be all nice and understanding, right? Nothing like their noisy neighbors to the south. As it turns out, though, the Great White North has its own infestation of fuckwits. For example, there's this enlightened individual:

Ontario police are aware of a disgusting letter that apparently sent to a woman caring for an autistic child by a woman neighbour who wanted the "wild animal kid" out of her neighbourhood, even if it meant killing the child.

The hateful letter was reportedly sent last week to a resident of Newcastle, Ont., just west of Toronto, who hosts her 13-year-old grandson, Max, during summer days.

The full letter is below the jump.

Map attack

Geography has always fascinated me. As far back as fourth grade, I can remember poking through encyclopedias and being fascinated by entries on countries I never knew existed. Sometimes all it took was a cool-looking flag (Kenya was a particular favorite) to get me hooked. It was right around that time that my school started holding a geography bee -- like a spelling bee, only with less spelling and more geography. After being in the running in fifth and sixth grade, I came in second in my school (to brainiac and all-around good egg Paul Steinbeck) in seventh grade and finally claimed victory the following year.

That love of geography has stayed with me, so I can't help but have my head turned when I see an interesting map. Gizmodo flagged up just such a map this week, a map of the United States identifying each state by the brand for which it is best-known. The map is the work of Steve Lovelace. (HT Joe. My. God.)

For Nebraska, Cabela's might not leap immediately to mind if you're not into hunting or fishing, but with 2012 revenue topping $3 billion, it's hard to question its inclusion. Check the links if some of the states are too small to read. You might not immediately recognize the Hawaiian Airlines logo with so little of it showing. Also, Microsoft might be a better option for Washington than Starbucks, but the creator didn't go into his methodology and, given how far he likely had to dig to find some of these companies, I'm not inclined to quibble.

There's another fun map below the fold.

My eyes!

Oh, West Virginia. How could you?

This does nothing to dispel pre-existing notions about West Virginia or college baseball. Unfortunately, the Mountaineers are in the process of crushing TCU in the Big 12 tournament, so America will be subjected to these monstrosities for at least one more day.

Predictions sure to go wrong

Six pools, one Sheet of Integrity, countless hours of gutless chalk and baseless punts on underdogs -- it must be March Madness time again! Yes, it's those magical few weeks when national productivity plummets as everyone who's been ignoring college basketball up until this point suddenly becomes keenly interested in the sport (or at least in the prize money for winning their office pool).

I make no claims of great insight or analysis; the vast majority of college basketball games I watched this season were with the sound off and podcasts playing instead. Still, I would be remiss if I, too, didn't jump into the pool with both feet. It's only a matter of time before my bracket is irreparably busted, of course, at which point I do like any self-respecting observer and cheer for chaos.

Midwest Region
First-round upsets: Missouri (9) def. Colorado State (8), Oregon (12) def. Oklahoma State (5), St. Mary's (11) def. Memphis (6).
Second round: Louisville (1) def. Missouri; Oregon def. St. Louis (4); Michigan State (3) def. St. Mary's; Duke (2) def. Creighton (7).
Sweet 16: Louisville def. Oregon; Michigan State def. Duke. Elite Eight: Louisville def. Michigan State.

West Region
First-round upsets: Wichita State (9) def. Pittsburgh (8); Iowa State (10) def. Notre Dame (7).
Second round: Gonzaga (1) def. Wichita State; Wisconsin (5) def. Kansas State (4); New Mexico (3) def. Arizona (6); Ohio State (2) def. Iowa State.
Sweet 16: Gonzaga def. Wisconsin; New Mexico def. Ohio State. Elite Eight: Gonzaga def. New Mexico.

South Region
First-round upsets: None. I know Minnesota (11) over UCLA (6) is a popular pick, but did you see how the Gophers finished the season? The same Gophers who lost to Nebraska while an NCAA bid was on the line?
Second round: Kansas (1) def. North Carolina (8); VCU (5) def. Michigan (4); Florida (3) def. UCLA; Georgetown (2) def. San Diego State (7).
Sweet 16: Kansas def. VCU; Florida def. Georgetown. Elite Eight: Florida def. Kansas.

East Region
First-round upsets: Temple (9) def. North Carolina State (8). I just can't pull the trigger on another sexy pick, Bucknell (11) over Butler (6).
Second round: Indiana (1) def. Temple; Syracuse (4) def. UNLV (5); Butler def. Marquette (3); Miami (2) def. Illinois (7).
Sweet 16: Syracuse def. Indiana; Miami def. Butler. Elite Eight: Miami def. Syracuse.

Final Four
Louisville def. Gonzaga; Florida def. Miami.

National Championship Game
Louisville 71, Florida 63

Too good to be true

There's an old line that's popular in the circles of grizzled, ink-stained wretches: "If your mother says she loves you, check it out." Such bleak humor was popular among newspaper folk before the industry entered its current death throes, of course, but in it lies an important message for journalists and media consumers alike -- credulity is not a virtue.

That willingness to question everything has been shown as embarrassingly lacking in the ongoing Manti Te'o "girlfriend" saga. In brief, for those not immersed in Sporting Culture: Te'o -- a devout Mormon of Samoan descent and standout linebacker for the University of Notre Dame football team -- received many accolades for his play this season, but that praise was amplified by the presence of a too-good-to-be-true narrative that tugged at even the hardest of heartstrings. Prior to the Fighting Irish's game against Michigan State, Te'o learned that not only had his grandmother died, but girlfriend Lennay Kekua succumbed to cancer. Taking the field with a heavy heart, Notre Dame's emotional leader played the game of his life and led the team to a 20-3 victory, receiving the game ball from coach Brian Kelly to take back to Hawaii in honor of Kekua.

At least, that's what we were told. As it turns out, Kekua and the narratives spun around her untimely demise were all a load of blarney. "Lennay Kekua" never actually existed -- despite some claims to the contrary -- and was the creation of at least two individuals out to pull a hoax on Te'o. Why this hoax was perpetrated is just one of many questions still lingering over this sordid affair. According to a Notre Dame statement, Te'o and his family notified the school on December 26 (almost two weeks before the national championship game against Alabama) that the player had learned he'd been duped. Why did this news take so long to surface, and why did it require the intervention of Deadspin, a popular sports website but not exactly a bastion of investigative journalism?

Scarfing down money

I'm back from New Zealand, somewhat refreshed and definitely refocused. A more detailed summary of the trip will come later, but for now I'll throw up a few photos to tide over folks. One thing I made sure to do was keep up my tradition of taking in a sporting event when I go on vacation -- this time, it was the Wellington Phoenix taking on the Perth Glory in an A-League match at Westpac Stadium in the New Zealand capital.

The Phoenix won 1-0 in a match that was long on aspiration and short on execution, but it was a decent Saturday afternoon otherwise. Ticket: 30 New Zealand dollars (US$23); Pie and a Coke: NZ$8 (US$6); Hyundai A-League (TM) Officially Licensed Wellington Phoenix Supporters Scarf: NZ$35 (US$27). I won't go so far as to say charging damn near $30 for a scarf is definitely part of what's weighing down soccer's development in Australia and New Zealand, but it sure can't help.

Here, then, is my updated scarf collection -- modest but heartfelt.

 

From top: Wellington Phoenix (New Zealand), Beijing Guo'an (China), Indonesia national team, Kyoto Sanga (Japan), Hiroshima Carp (Japan baseball), Seibu Lions (Japan baseball), Tokyo Verdy (Japan), Urawa Reds (Japan), Kansas City Wizards (MLS), US vs. Poland (friendly at Soldier Field, Chicago), US national team (friendly vs. Honduras at Safeco Field, Seattle). These are grouped in roughly reverse chronological order. I should note that I only buy scarves of teams I've watched in person -- it's just a point of principle for me.