A look at other stories from 2009

The major sports produced many memorable moments on 2009, but here's a list of five moments from other sports taht caught my eye.

5. Erin Andrews and her "stalker"

No human would want the type of press ESPN's Erin Andrews received in 2009. Somehow Michael David Barrett found a way to shoot and post nude videos of Andrews. Barrett is alleged to have rented hotel rooms by Andrews' room on three occassions, altering the peepholes, and setting up video recording devices in order to film Andrews. Barrett agreed to charges of interstate stalking and shooting the videos and to a 27-month prison term. He will also be directed to pay restitution to Andrews. Barrett's plot included selling the videos to TMZ.

4. USA soccer at Confederations Cup

The June event in South Africa did not start out with any promise. After losing their first two matches (3-1 to Italy and 3-0 to Brazil), the Americans needed a miracle to advance to the semis. The only way to advance was score alot and hope that Brazil would not let Italy hit the net. It worked. The US scored a 3-0 win over Egypt and Brazil duplicated that score against Italy. The US advanced based on scoring more goals, the third tiebreaker. In the smis, the US shocked the world with a 2-0 victory over world power Spain. A shot a redemption loomed in the fianl against Brazil. Things were looking up as the US manged a 2-0 halftime lead only to see Brazil strike three times in the second half. The one thing the US took away from South Africa, more respect from the soccer world.

3. Girls rule

Someone forgot to tell the owners of Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta that they didn't belong. Rachel Alexandra made 8 starts and won all 8 including the Preakness. She became the first filly to win the even since 1924. Her win by a length came over Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird. Zenyatta's year might have been a bit more impressive. Of her 5 starts, Zenyatta won all of her 5 starts including the $5 million Breeders Cup Classic. It was her 14th straight win and her first over a field of all males which included Mine The Bird and Summer Bird. Zenyatta's year was so impressive the she finished second to Serena Williams as the AP Female Athlete of the Year.

2. Thierry Henry and the handball

For all the great things Thierry Henry has done on a soccer pitch, it's an obvious instance of cheating that placed the spotlight on Henry. In a match that had a birth in the World Cup going to the winner, Henry was caught red-handed, so to speak. Henry was caught on tape redirecting a ball into the box with his hand (twice!) and passing the ball to William Gallas for the tying goal and sending France to the World Cup. All the French need was a tie to advance. They got the tie...and a lot of controversy. Henry could still face a suspension from FIFA for his gratuitous act.

1. Lance returns to France

In a move that shocked the sport of cycling, seven-time winner of the Tour de France Lance Armstrong announced he would compete in the event in 2009. The cycling world would watch closely at Armstrong, as well as those administering the testing. But Lance took all but two down, including his Astana "teammate" Alberto Contador, who won. In 2010, Lance will have his own team and we all know what his role will be then...to win #8.

More to come as we prepare for 2010. Next up will be college and pro hoops.

World Cup and Thierry Henry

In all other countries, it's called football. We in America call it soccer. Either way, and despite what some may think about its "lack of appeal", it is the world's most attended sport.

With the draw for the 2010 World Cup less than a day away, a couple of issues that I find very intriguing have transpired.

The first is the issue of French striker Thierry Henry and the other is how the seeds for the eight groups were determined. France might be getting a bad rep and a bad rap.

FIFA's Disciplinary Committee has apparently opened an investigation regarding Henry and his infamous handball incident in a mtach against Ireland.



Henry's play resulted in France scoring the game winning goal and knocking out Ireland. Irelans appealed to FIFA for a rematch. It was denied. Ireland requested to still be included as a 33rd eam. It was also denied.

FIFA's President, Sepp Blatter, acknowledged the investigation.

"The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has opened a case with regard to the behaviour of the French footballer Thierry Henry, and as a result will carry out an investigation as to what happened in that game. I don't know what the outcome of that will be given that it is an issue for the Disciplinary Committee and not the Executive Committee. We should let them get on with their job."

On soccerblog.com, Shourin Roy sheds a diferent light on Henry as a competitor. The picture is the most pleasant. But I do ask a few questions: Is it right to ban Henry for a match due to his "cheating" and past history? Why is FIFA just now moving forward with the "investigation"? Why wasn't one initiated when the incident of the handball occurred?

You could look at the potential changes in officiating, nd Blatter was asked about the possibility of having additional officials and/or the introduction of replay.

"We spoke about what to do with refereeing in future. It's clear that the main match official and his assistants cannot see everything that happens on the field of play. So, is it better to have more match officials or open the door to technology? We will have to evaluate this, though we did take one decision: even if the experiment with two additional match officials in the [UEFA] Europa League continues through to the latter stages (of the competition), there won't be any changes for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. We will continue to use one main match official, two assistants and a fourth official. There's no discussion on this, (the finals) are too soon for us to evaluate other possibilities."

I'll buy that. You would need additional equipment. You would need to have the adequate personnel to work such equipment. You would need to have the equipment positioned correctly in order to monitor the match.

But I feel that France is being equally punished for Henry's play.
Usually, the top eight seeds are detemined by FIFA's November rankings. This time, the October rankings were used. If the November rankings were used, France would have been one of the eight #1 seeds as France was ranked 7th in the world. The top 7 plus the host country get the eight #1 seeds. With the October ranking being used, France missed out as they were ranked 9th.

Why am I whispering "conspiracy" here? Have the rules been changed due to one event of one individual? It sure seems that way.

Politics strike again?

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