Over in the soccer world, championships were decisively won and lost this past weekend.

Beginning in Spain, only five points separated Barcelona and Madrid in their annual two-horse race at the start of Saturday morning. By day’s end, Madrid’s title challenge was effectively over. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week, news broke that English heavyweights Chelsea were to be banned from buying any talent in the next three transfer windows (January ’10 and Summer ’10) after improperly inducing French teen Gaël Kakuta to jump ship from RC Lens.

Now, without the ability to supplement their aging squad with new faces, Chelsea will face a tough task in keeping up with Europe’s elite as it standard practice for teams to reload every transfer window. Consider the fact that Chelsea has a strong African contingent (Drogba, Essien, Obi Mikel) that they’ll lose in January to the African Cup of Nations and the Kakuta signing becomes even more disastrous. Read the rest of this entry »

In more ways the one—its global reach, the grandiosity of the festivities — the Champions League final held every May has been likened to the Super Bowl. Now, there’s a staggering statistic suggesting that it may even surpass the Super Bowl in one regard. As SI.com reported recently. Read the rest of this entry »