Puppies and Flowers

Soccer stars win sex toy suit

GERMAN sex shop chain Beate Uhse must pay German soccer stars Michael Ballack and Oliver Kahn 50,000 euros ($81,205) each for using their names for vibrators without permission, the company said today.

The company had marketed the sex toys, dubbed "Michael B." and "Olli K.", before Germany hosted the World Cup in 2006.

Although the surnames of the two German soccer stars were not used, it was clear they referred to Chelsea midfielder Michael Ballack and Bayern Munich goalkeeper Oliver Kahn.

Kahn and national team captain Ballack sued Beate Uhse in court for unauthorised use of their names and won.

"The products have been withdrawn," the spokeswoman said. "We have to pay 50,000 euros to each of them."

Link to YouTube via BBC 

If you didn't know the name Rhain Davis before, you almost certainly do now.

The nine-year-old, a recent recruit for Manchester United's academy, is now the talk of football - thanks to a DVD of him in action for Brisbane club Redlands United.

He even made the front page of The Sun newspaper - who have immediately, and somewhat inevitably, dubbed him the new Wayne Rooney.

An unnamed 'source' told the paper: "He has created a huge buzz and people are raving about him all over the world."

The video, which is said to have already had more than three million viewers on YouTube, is undeniably impressive. The youngster dances round defenders, performs some step-overs a la Cristiano Ronaldo and delivers defence-splitting passes. 

Wait a minute, homeless  world cup?

From Spiegel:

The Homeless World Cup brought 500 homeless people from around the world to Denmark to play soccer. But Copenhagen appears to have been too welcoming -- 15 players have overstayed their visas and gone underground.

The Afghanistan team parades in Copenhagen's City Hall Square during the opening ceremonies of the Homeless World Cup. One of their players has gone missing, along with 14 Africans.

Photo: Woody Norvell

From The Guardian:

Federal police said Monday that the beer tap failed aboard a special train carrying Bayer Leverkusen fans to Hamburg on Saturday. The fault was discovered half an hour into the journey.

"In order not to endanger the good mood" of the passengers, railway officials halted the train in Wuppertal for 25 minutes and had a replacement part delivered by taxi, a police statement said. It added that there was no trouble among the fans.

Their team was less obliging. Top-division Leverkusen's 1-0 elimination from the cup by second-division St. Pauli in a first-round upset left its fans with plenty of sorrows to drown on the way home.

 Link

Contains supposedly useful phrases, however "Who's your father referee?" (scroll down to #44) and "Scottish kiss" seem to be missing.
From book:

- 'Le coup d’envoi est à 15 heures' The kick-off is at 3pm

- 'Où en est le match?' What’s the score?

- 'On prend une bière?' How about a beer?

- 'C’est ma tournée' It’s my round

- 'J’ai la gueule de bois' I’ve got a hangover

- 'J’ai la tête qui tourne' I feel dizzy

- 'Au secours!' Help!

- 'L’arbitre' The referee

- 'Les joueurs' The players

- 'Un pilier' A prop

- 'Le talonneur' The hooker

- 'Le demi de mêlée' The scrum half

- 'Un ailier' A winger

 Link

found photo: lafrancevi

From article:

KABUL, Afghanistan —  The U.S. military regrets any offense it may have caused by handing out a soccer ball emblazoned with the name of Allah on it as part of a public relations exercise in Afghanistan, a spokesman said.

Link to YouTube 

The company I work for did this but in February 2007, TBWA\Chiat\Day San Francisco became Cutwater. 

Ananova reports:

A new water sport in which contestants row a boat made of a single bamboo cane has been invented in China.

Villagers from Chishui, near Zuiyi city, came up with the idea, reports News Express.

They make the boats out of locally grown bamboo and hold races on the Pinzhou River.

"Participants can sit or stand on the piece of bamboo, and with a thin bamboo oar, they race and compete at other tasks," explained one villager.

Villagers say the races have become a popular local attraction and hope the sport will spread across the region.

Link

See more entries at Osocio 

This doesn't appear to be a sponsored viral, but who knows, fun to watch just the same.

Link to clip.

Link 

image by TeeRish

From The Guardian:

Referee books Chorlton Villa player for distracting rival with 'ungentlemanly conduct' at key moment in match...

The drive to bring good manners back to football has reached new heights after a referee issued a yellow card to a player for "breaking wind" as a penalty was being taken.

The official deemed the act "ungentlemanly conduct" and booked the player responsible. However Chorlton Villa, who conceded a goal on the second take, went on to win the match 6-4 against local rivals International Manchester FC at Turn Moss in Stretford, Manchester, last Sunday.

The article goes on to say:

"This has come at a bad time in the season as we don't have sponsor and we are looking for a new sponsor for next season."

Heinz Beans perhaps? I'll stop there—oh wait pull my finger.