From FIFA to Serena Williams to singing Packers, there's been plenty of sports news over the past week. Here are a few of the headlines that caught Dave Begel's eye.
FIFA
The Women’s World Cup is has ended, and on the heels of the successful event, FIFA – the organization that runs soccer with an iron fist – added one more huge embarrassment to its string of corruption.
The FIFA ethics committee, which bears a strong resemblance to the Mafia anti-extortion committee, has banned Chuck Blazer.
Blazer is the former FIFA executive committee member and the former general secretary of CONCACAF, the regional body governing soccer in North and Central America and the Caribbean. He has pled guilty in 2011 to 10 counts including racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies and income tax evasion, along with several minor charges.
As part of that plea, he agreed to go undercover and become an informant for the United States in the ongoing investigation of FIFA, which has resulted in last month’s charges against members of FIFA, all connected to the corruption probe. He was a whistleblower.
And the response from FIFA was to crack down. They banned him for life. He is 72. He reportedly is very ill and suffers from rectal cancer.
But FIFA, the real life model for the video game "Star Wars: Empire at War: The Forces of Corruption," wants the world to think it is really cracking down on the rampant corruption that courses through the organization.
''(Blazer) was a key player in schemes involving the offer, acceptance, payment and receipt of undisclosed and illegal payments, bribes and kickbacks as well as other money-making schemes,'' the FIFA ethics committee said in a statement.
Way to go FIFA! Way to go!
Serena Williams
Is there any athlete more dominant in their sport than Serena Williams?
She dismantled Maria Sharapova in the Wimbledon semifinals Thursday. She has beaten the glamour girl of tennis 33 of the last 35 times they have met.
Chris Evert, a commentator who knows something about Wimbledon, said that playing Serena makes a player "insecure."
"When she is playing as well as she is, nobody can even touch her," Evert said.
Wimbledon will be her 24th Grand Slam final, and she has a record of 20-4. Watching Williams play is like watching Tiger Woods play before his fall from grace.
Just overwhelming.
Packers Movie Stars
Trading out shoulder pads for singing lessons has paid dividends for the five Packers players who appeared in the movie "Pitch Perfect 2." Not only has the a cappella sequel almost racked up $300 million worldwide, but the five football stars have now been nominated for a Teen Choice Award.
Pro Bowl linebacker Clay Matthews and offensive linemen Josh Sitton, David Bakhtiari, T.J. Lang and Don Barclay — along with Jordan Rodgers, the younger brother of Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers — were all nominated in the "Choice Movie Scene Stealer" category.
They'll be up against their fellow cast mates Adam DeVine and Hailee Steinfeld from "Pitch Perfect 2," as well as Chris Evans in "Avengers: Age of Ultron," Nicholas Hoult in "Mad Max: Fury Road" and Miles Teller in "Insurgent."
But can those guys block and tackle?
Tour de What?
Is there any major world sporting event more ignored or boring in the United States than the Tour de France bicycle race?
Ever since Lance Armstrong disappeared in a cloud of drugs and lies, it’s hard to find any coverage, and what coverage there is seems to draw little or no attention.
I’m sure the hard core bike riders follow it, but as for the average sports fan, I’d bet the race falls somewhere below the World’s Strongest Man competition and that Scottish thing where guys wearing kilts throw some kind of big log.
With a history in Milwaukee stretching back decades, Dave tries to bring a unique perspective to his writing, whether it's sports, politics, theater or any other issue.
He's seen Milwaukee grow, suffer pangs of growth, strive for success and has been involved in many efforts to both shape and re-shape the city. He's a happy man, now that he's quit playing golf, and enjoys music, his children and grandchildren and the myriad of sports in this state. He loves great food and hates bullies and people who think they are smarter than everyone else.
This whole Internet thing continues to baffle him, but he's willing to play the game as long as OnMilwaukee.com keeps lending him a helping hand. He is constantly amazed that just a few dedicated people can provide so much news and information to a hungry public.
Despite some opinions to the contrary, Dave likes most stuff. But he is a skeptic who constantly wonders about the world around him. So many questions, so few answers.
