Ghanan Chad Johnson Forced to Apologize

Perhaps we have found the soccer-equivalent to Cincinnati Bengals' Receiver Chad Johnson:

"Ghana's Football Association apologized on Monday after John Pantsil, who plays for Hapoel Tel Aviv, pulled out an Israeli flag during Saturday's 2-0 victory over the Czech Republic."

Seem harmless enough. Who cried foul? Over what?

"We're not here for politics... We don't support Israel or Arab nations... It was unfortunate that the player was ignorant about the political situation." Ghana FA spokesman Randy Abbey added: "But he has apologized to us and I think the matter should end there."

I'm totally perplexed by this. Someone was offended by his actions? I fail to understand how showing tribute to his team back at home could somehow--in some way--cause people to misinterpret Pantsil's political views. If bearing a flag demonstrates someone's political views, and we're worried about offending others who witness us holding the flags, then how can we conduct a World Cup? The P.C. Cup would force us to sing every country's national anthem before every game. Maybe it was complaints from overly sensitive viewers that got Nickelodeon's Guts cancelled.

Dan

Turkey Players are Chicken

How in the world did Hedo Turkoglu get denied entry onto the Turkish squad for the Aug. 19-Sept. 3 tournament in Japan? Who cares if he joined the team late. He's in the NBA...and plays. If there are players better than him, where are they playing now?

But more importantly, players like Mehmet Okur don't even want to play and are coming up with lame, and even refuteable, excuses to get tossed from this International jury:

"Okur is in doubt after he brought a medical report from the United States stipulating he'd been injured the whole NBA season - even though he didn't miss a game."

He wasn't injured, yet claims he was. Strange. You have to wonder why Turkoglu wants to be on a team that Okur is trying desperately to avoid like it was the plague. This fall, the plague hits Japan.

Dan

Larry King: Movie Reviewer?

I may be the only person on earth to notice this. Recently, a series of commercials has been running on TV for the upcoming release of The Pink Panther on DVD. Part of the commercial includes a statement along the line of "Critics say it's 'flat out hilarious.'" They credit this to a reviewer whose name you can't exactly make out because the font is significantly smaller than everything else of the screen. That name, if look close enough, is Larry King. You can find a record of this here.

Was that really the best review the producers could find to air along with the DVD release? Did no actual movie critics like this movie? Why then would Larry King?

Also, related, why does Steve Martin fall down that subway stairwell?

Dan

Newest Steroid Culprit

Report:

"Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Jason Grimsley told federal investigators he used illegal performance-enhancing drugs, according to court documents unsealed late Tuesday."

Oh, no! This will surely affect his chances at the Hall of Fame. Maybe they should stick an asterisk next to his 42 career wins. If this guy is on illegal performance-enhancing drugs, one has to wonder how bad he really is.

Dan