Chip Ingram – Two Biblical Requirements to Resolve Conflict (pt 4)
To resolve conflict effectively and Biblically there are two absolutes that both parties must agree on – do you know what they are? Without this framework, you can try all kinds of things to avoid or resolve conflict in your marriage and relationships, but you probably won’t be successful. Listen and discover the common ground that can literally transform even the most challenging points of conflict. Want to learn more? Download the full message from guest speaker Tim Lundy for free at: http://www.venturechristian.org/files/sermons2/t032011.mp3
File photo of Schwarzenegger
File photo of the Schwarzenegger family: (L-R) Maria Shriver, Christina, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Patrick(AFP/Getty Images/File/Jason Merritt)…
Arnold Schwarzenegger Fathers Love Child With Longtime Member Of Household Staff
Maria Shriver Asks – How Do You Handle Transitions in Your Life?
Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted to his wife several months ago that he had fathered a child about 10 years ago with a member of their household staff. Maria moved out, but has not filed for divorce. In the you tube clip above she comments:
“Like a lot of you I’m in transition: people come up to me all the time, asking, what are you doing next?” she said, adding: “It’s so stressful to not know what you are doing next when people ask what you are doing and they can’t believe you don’t know what you are doing.”
“I’d like to hear from other people who are in transition,” she said. “How did you find your transition: Personal, professional, emotional, spiritual, financial? How did you get through it?”
Mrs. Shriver has asked for spiritual input and I personally think that unless she gets the spiritual help that she needs then she will end up in the divorce court. I am starting a series on how a marriage can survive an infidelity. My first suggestion would be to attend a “Weekend to Remember” put on by the organization “Family Life” out of Little Rock, Arkansas. I actually posted this as a response to Mrs. Shriver’s request on you tube.
He Led a Double Lifeby Mary May Larmoyeux
Scott Jennings never dreamed he would cross the line. But somehow it happened.A Weekend to Remember®After Scott reached his mother’s house, his sister Nancy and brother-in-law Douglas (who lived nearby) came to see him. “I told them that I had come to accept Christ,” Scott says. He had started reading the Bible regularly, and they realized he was sincere. Over the next week, news of Scott’s faith reached Sherry. They began studying Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Lifetogether, discussing chapters every day by e-mail and then by phone. Scott told Sherry that he wanted to rebuild their relationship, but this time with God in control and at the center. Sherry said she wanted the same thing, realizing “This is the Christian husband that God has for me.” Sherry hoped that someday she and Scott would remarry “But we needed to do it God’s way.”Sherry had heard about FamilyLife’s marriage conference on the radio—how it helped couples understand and apply God’s blueprints for their marriage. She told Scott, “We aren’t going one more step until we find a Weekend to Remember.” A few days later, Scott registered them for one in Philadelphia.
When the Jennings began their conference weekend, Scott wanted to do everything that he could to deepen his relationship with Jesus Christ and his wife. He wanted to show Sherry that she and God were his main priorities.
The first session of the conference introduces the concept of isolation in marriage, and the common factors that contribute to it. “That session was difficult,” Sherry says, “as we listened to all the familiar ways we broke our marriage and built walls of isolation.”
During the remainder of the weekend, the Jennings heard about God’s plan for marriage, and learned about practical communication tools for improving their relationship. They saw that God had been working in their relationship in ways they didn’t dream of. “We left that weekend knowing that God was using all the trials, tribulations, and ugliness, all our bad decisions from the past 14 years,” Sherry says, “to bring us … to a place to accept each other.”
They prayed that God would lead them in reconciliation and restoration, and also that they would follow and honor Him. Eventually they remarried, on May 5, 2007.
Today, Scott and Sherry not only promote the Weekend to Remember in North Carolina as FamilyLife volunteers, but also lead a marriage ministry in their church.
Sherry says that she now knows the truth about marriage. It’s “about choosing each day, each minute, to honor God with our words and actions, and in turn, we honor our spouses.” She says that God created Scott specifically for her. “How can I not love, honor, treasure a perfect gift from my perfect God?”
Mary May Larmoyeux is a writer and editor for FamilyLife. She is the author of My Heart’s at Home: Encouragement for Working Moms, co-author of There’s No Place Like Home: Steps to Becoming a Stay-at-Home Mom, and co-author of the Resurrection Eggs® Activity Book.
The day after a controversial call annulled an apparent goal and left the United States in a 2-2 draw with Slovenia, American Coach Bob Bradley maintained his stance that Maurice Edu‘s volley should have counted and suggested that referee Koman Coulibaly might have been compensating for an earlier decision.
“I think it’s a good goal,” he said at USA headquarters in Irene, South Africa. “The only things that clearly could be called would be penalty kicks for us. You don’t expect any answer. … Typically out on the field, when things happen fast, it’s not like referees then explain every call they make.
“In my mind, this isn’t something that referees would talk about a lot, but there are times when a referee, for whatever reason, blows a foul and now thinks he either didn’t make the correct call on the foul from a previous play, and then literally as soon as the free kick is taken, he blows his whistle. So you can speculate all you want about which guy [was called for a foul], I think it’s a waste of time. There was nothing there. It’s a good goal, and that’s that.”
More…..
Bradley also addressed the nature of soccer, in which not everything is meticulously explained. In the World Cup, when a less sophisticated, mainstream audience back home is watching, such situations cause confusion.
“We’re all accustomed to the fact that, if it is an NFL playoff game and there is a call of some question, there will be a statement by the league from the referees,” he said. “But FIFA operates differently. Soccer is a different game. … There are some aspects of it that are not made 100 percent clear that seem to add to the discussion about the games. On our end, we get used to that.
“We all have friends and family who asked us the same questions most of you [in the media] asked us. You end up saying that that’s just how it is sometimes and then you move on and you get ready for the next game.”
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Everette Hatcher picks the Ghana v USA game in 2006.
In the last moments of the first half, German referee Markus Merk awarded a penalty kick to Ghana, which led to Ghana’s winning goal and qualification to the Second round, and to the elimination of the United States from the tournament. The British newspaper Financial Times described the incident as follows: “The match turned on the worst of refereeing decisions. Germany’s Markus Merk was standing in a perfect position when USA defender Oguchi Onyewu won a header against the fabulously monikered Razak Pimpong. But inexplicably Merk blew for a penalty because of a non-existent push.”[26] The BBC agreed with this view in its match report: “Merk added one more twist to the first half, with a controversial penalty award. He penalised Onyewu, who appeared to win a clean header as Pimpong collapsed dramatically”.[27]
To fill the void during the countdown to kickoff, lists of the World Cup’s greatest goals, teams and players are endlessly paraded out and debated. But while the tournament is a platform for exquisite moments of individual beauty, team perfection and general human superlatives, soccer is a sport of both high and low culture. Rogues are celebrated as much as legends, and as any longtime fan will tell you, the searing pain of a nation’s hopes being dashed in sinister circumstances lasts longer than the thrill of any crucial goal, sublime pass or plucky victory.
Disgrace and controversy have been fixtures of every World Cup from the very first tournament onward. In 1930 a Uruguayan goalkeeper went on a scandalous, Caligula-style bender to release eight weeks of isolation suffered in training camp. And in 2006, French legend Zinedine Zidane’s remaking of soccer in Vince McMahon’s image courtesy of his infamous coupe de boule was detected not by the referee but by the fourth official, despite the fact FIFA had steadfastly eschewed the use of instant replay.
Controversy plays a hallowed role in the tournament’s history. For FIFA, an audience of millions watching the game is important, but making sure that audience talks about the tournament is almost as critical. The thrill of victory makes the heart skip a beat but the joy fades and can be forgotten. The stain of scandal or the sting of being robbed and cheated sticks in the throat like a fishbone that cannot be dislodged for decades. (To test this theory under scientific conditions, wait 20 years, go into any Irish bar and raise your glass in public toast to Thierry Henry.)
Here are 10 of the most fabled controversies in World Cup history, the embers of which still burn today.
1. Back in black: Italy versus France, 1938
AP Photo
With Europe on the brink of war, Mussolini’s Italian team, defending champions, reveled in their role as tournament heel. Their fixtures in France drew boisterous mobs of exiled Italian anti-fascists, up to 10,000 strong, who came to jeer their country’s every move. These protests only appeared to raise the Italians’ game. Led by the cunning play of Giuseppe Meazza, the team strolled to a second consecutive world championship.
Controversy came in the quarterfinals against the hosts. As both teams sported blue jerseys, Italy was asked to bring its alternate shirts which were traditionally white. Instead, on Mussolini’s orders, the team took to the field in black shirts, the Maglia Nera, a symbol of the feared and despised Italian fascist paramilitary. It was a gesture purposefully designed to goad the thousands of French and Italian protestors in the crowd. As an additional flourish, Il Duce ordered his players to hold the fascist salutes they effected before kickoff until the howling protestors had run out of energy. The team kept the title for the next 12 years as even the World Cup was trumped by the swirling conflict which consumed the Continent.
2. Fists of fury: Italy versus Chile, 1962
AP Photo
The Italians’ reputation for Machiavellian tactics became legendary in the wake of the “Battle of Santiago,” against Chile. One of the most violent games in World Cup history, this was more martial arts demonstration than soccer match. The action was so shocking that the BBC saw fit to preface a broadcast of the game film with the following warning: “Good evening. The game you are about to see is the most stupid, appalling, disgusting and disgraceful exhibition of football, possibly in the history of the game.”
It took just 12 seconds for the first foul to be inflicted and 12 minutes for the first player to be sent off, Italian midfielder Giorgio Ferrini, who refused to leave the field and had to be forcibly removed by police. After attempting to officiate the 90-minute riot, referee Ken Aston was inspired to invent yellow and red cards in the wake, admitting “I wasn’t reffing a football match, I was acting as an umpire in military maneuvers.”
3. War reparations: England versus West Germany, 1966
Soccer truly came home when the World Cup was played for the first time in England, the nation which invented the game. The hosts won their only championship, but the legality of their winning goal has always been hotly contested, and their beaten foe, West Germany, proceeded to become one of their greatest rivals.
The final was played at Wembley Stadium in London, a city the Luftwaffe had nearly blitzed into submission 26 years before. The 93,000 who packed the stands were bolstered by 400 million others tuning into televised broadcasts of the game — the first played between these two rivals since the war. The game was tied 2-2 at the end of regulation. Eleven minutes into overtime, English striker Geoff Hurst smashed the ball goalward from close range inside the German box. The ball cannoned off the underside of the German bar and appeared to bounce either over the line or exactly on it depending whether you are English or German. The only opinion that mattered, though, was that of Soviet linesman Tofik Bakhramov, who awarded the goal. There is an apocryphal story that when Bakhramov was on his deathbed he was asked how he was so sure it was a goal and he gave the one-word reply “Stalingrad,” referring to the bloody World War II battle in which 750,000 Soviets died.
England may have been defending champion at Mexico 1970, but the English were vehemently despised across Latin America. The entire continent was still simmering over the last World Cup, which was widely believed to have been fixed. The English further offended their hosts by flying in an arsenal of frozen meals so their squad could avoid local cuisine and the Montezuma’s revenge they associated with it.
On the way to the tournament, the English stopped off in Bogota, Colombia, and their captain and national talisman, Bobby Moore, was apprehended for allegedly stealing an emerald bracelet. The rest of the team travelled on, but the iconic defender was placed under house arrest for four days before being released.
The modern-day equivalent of the incident would be if Wayne Rooney was jailed on the way to South Africa. The temporary loss of Moore unsettled the English squad, who became further sleep-deprived thanks to the flotilla of Mexican automobiles that spent the wee hours honking its horns as it circled the Guadalajara Hilton, the poorly chosen English base camp. West Germany had its revenge for 1966 as it picked off a tired England in the quarterfinals.
5. Don’t cry for me, Netherlands: Netherlands versus Argentina, 1978
Argentina, the hosts, reached the final against the creative Dutch side in murky circumstances. The Argentineans needed a four-goal victory to qualify for the championship game, and were able to blast six past a strangely paralyzed Peruvian side that was later rumored to have been paid handsomely to fix the score.
Few games have been played in a more intimidating atmosphere than the final, held in the raucous atmosphere of Buenos Aires Estadio Monumental. The trophy was claimed with moments of technically brilliant soccer, but the hosts’ gamesmanship also had an influential role in the outcome. First, the Dutch team bus was taken on a prolonged and circuitous route to the stadium. Then the Dutch were kept on the field for nearly 10 minutes before the game began, as their hosts chose to remain in the locker room, leaving the Dutch to face a war of nerves, alone with only a hostile crowd of more than 70,000 for company.
The Argentineans finally emerged, only to question the legality of a plaster cast on Dutch midfielder Rene van der Kerkhof’s hand, which had been sanctioned by FIFA and worn in previous games. Having won the mind games, Argentina set about winning the actual game, delivering the trophy the ruling Argentinean military junta craved.
6. Teutonic stitch-up: West Germany versus Austria, 1982
AP Photo
Plucky Algeria kicked off its first World Cup tournament by shocking West Germany 2-1. Back then, group games were not played at the same time, and subsequent results meant the Germans lined up for their final group game against Austria aware that a 1-0 victory would allow both teams to progress at Algeria’s expense.
The Austrians proceeded to leak a goal within the first 10 minutes before the competition drew to a screeching halt. Collusion has never been proven, but suffice it to say the ball barely made it out of midfield for the remainder of the game. Outraged Algerian fans powerlessly waved banknotes from the terraces to suggest that the fix was in. One German fan expressed his displeasure by setting fire to his own flag. The team’s hotel was besieged by its own fans, who mounted a protest back at the hotel, but the team’s coach, Jupp Derwall, dismissed his critics, arguing “we wanted to progress, not play football.” The incident’s legacy was the changing of the rule for subsequent tournaments. The final two games in each group are now played simultaneously.
7. Sheiken, not stirred: France versus Kuwait, 1982
AP Photo
The fluid French delighted with their elegant and potent attacking soccer throughout the tournament. Led by the offensive creativity of the “Three Musketeers” — Michel Platini, Alain Giresse and Jean Tigana — they were almost unstoppable in the opening round. And then they met the Kuwaitis, who unleashed a novel strategy to prevent them from scoring. Sheikh Fahad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, president of the Kuwait Football Association, left his seat and stormed the field, removing his players in protest of a French goal that he believed had been scored only after his players had heard a whistle blown from the stands and stopped playing. The match official, Ukrainian Miroslav Stupar, wilted in the spotlight and reversed his original decision, disallowing the goal, the only time a World Cup decision was vetoed by a member of the crowd. The French still won 4-1.
8. Fallen god: Maradona, 1986, 1994
England faced Argentina in the 1986 quarterfinal grudge match, the first time the two rivals had met after fighting a real war over the Falkland Islands. Logic would dictate that an experienced referee would be handed the duty. Instead, the Tunisian representative Ali Bennaceur was awarded his first World Cup game. In the 51st minute, Maradona used the “Hand of God” to punch the ball past a stunned English goalkeeper into the back of the net. Everyone in the world saw the illegal use of a fist, apart from the one guy who mattered. Bennaceur awarded the goal, and later blamed his error on a hemorrhoid treatment he was taking that affected his sight. When challenged about the legality of his goal, Maradona innocently yet poetically suggested it was scored with a “little bit of the hand of God, a little bit of Maradona’s head.”
Just eight years later, the Argentinean was the villain of the tournament, sent home for ephedrine doping. After scoring an opening-round goal, he celebrated in such a hopped-up style that a urine sample was almost unnecessary. Grabbing a sideline television camera and pressing his mug against it, Maradona was, in the words of the Guardian, “broadcast around the world, his contorted features made him look like a lunatic, flying on a cocktail of adrenalin and every recreational drug known to man.”
9. Diving is believing: South Korea versus Italy, Spain, 2002
Shaun Botterill/Getty Images
Just because you are paranoid does not mean they aren’t out to get you. When host South Korea bounced Italy from the 2002 tournament, Italian manager Giovanni Trapattoni cried conspiracy. The referee, Byron Moreno of Ecuador, seemed hell-bent on ensuring the Koreans progressed, disallowing a perfectly fine Italian goal and controversially sending off their star, Francesco Totti, for diving to draw a foul.
The Spanish newspapers belittled the Italian claims, but when Spain lost to Korea in the next round, the Spanish newspapers changed their tune, with Marca’s headline screaming “Italy was right!” Referee Gamal Ghandour disallowed two legal Spanish goals and his linesmen — one Ugandan, the other Trinidadian — judged one Spanish attack after another to be offside. Moreno returned to a hero’s welcome in Ecuador but was out of the game within a year after receiving two domestic bans for crooked refereeing. Ghandour retired shortly after Spanish newspapers accused him of accepting a Hyundai car as a “gift” on behalf of the Korean Football Association.
10. Battle of the brewskis, 2006
The most protracted argument at the last World Cup was neither the “Battle of Nuremberg” between Portugal and the Netherlands — in which a jittery Russian referee, Valentin Ivanov, awarded a startling 16 yellow cards and four reds — nor was it the performance of English referee Graham Poll, an infamously smug official who awarded Croatian Josip Simunic three yellow cards when two should have been sufficient to grant him an early bath. The most heated controversy occurred before a ball had been kicked when the German media discovered that America’s own Budweiser, King of Beers, had been granted a monopoly on sales inside World Cup stadia.
Bitburger, plucky manufacturers of a local beer known as Bit, were goaded into suing as the hometown press whipped up the conflict to a foamy head. Der Speigel demanded, “What is this U.S. beer? An amber-colored cold drink that gives you a headache without making you drunk,” furious that an American brew was the only one on sale in a country famed for its beer. Under local pressure, Bud was forced to relent, permitting its local rival to be available on tap as long as it was sold in unmarked cups.
Roger Bennett is the co-author of the forthcoming “ESPN World Cup Companion,” your guide to everything you need to know to enjoy the 2010 World Cup. E-mail him at sirfabiocapello@yahoo.com.
In an earlier post I went into great detail about this. Today I am only going to show that the atheist and humanist has no intellectual basis for saying that one group of humans versus another group should survive at all. Of course, Christians have the Bible which teaches that all are created in God’s image and have value.
A letter written by Adolf Hitler in 1919, over a decade before he became the future Chancellor of Germany , has been revealed to the public for the first time in New York.
According to BBC, the letter was displayed briefly at the Museum of Tolerance in New York, before being purchased by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, which will place it on permanent display at their Los Angeles location.
The statement by the then 30-year-old soldier is regarded as a key historical document from the period because it demonstrates how early the future Nazi leader was forming his views.
The document suggests that Hitler already believed, more than two decades before the Holocaust, that Jews should be removed from society.
“To begin with, Judaism is definitely a racial and not a religious group,” writes Hitler in the four page document that is also known as the “Gemlich letter.”
Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in LA explained that his organization purchased the letter- originally found at the end of WWII by an American soilder- for $150,000 from a private dealer.
When questioned on the reasoning behind the purchase, the Rabbi explained:
“It does not belong in private hands. It has too much to say to history. It belongs in public hands, and it has found its home at the Museum of Tolerance.”
“This is the first document of its kind that deals with the Jews exclusively and postulates the solution,” Hier went on to say. “We have 50,000 archives, and this is the most important archive I’ve ever seen.”
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I am a big Woody Allen movie fan and no other movie better demonstrates the need for an afterlife than Allen’s 1989 film Crimes and Misdemeanors. This film also brought up the view that Hitler believed that “might made right.” How can an atheist argue against that? Basically Woody Allen is attacking the weaknesses in his own agnostic point of view!! Take a look at the video clip below when he says in the absence of God, man has to do the right thing. What chance is there that will happen?
Crimes and Misdemeanors is about a eye doctor who hires a killer to murder his mistress because she continually threatens to blow the whistle on his past questionable, probably illegal, business activities. Afterward he is haunted by guilt. His Jewish father had taught him that God sees all and will surely punish the evildoer.
But the doctor’s crime is never discovered. Later in the film, Judah reflects on the conversation his father had with Judah’s unbelieving Aunt May during a Jewish Sedar dinner many years ago:
“Come on Sol, open your eyes. Six million Jews burned to death by the Nazi’s, and they got away with it because might makes right,” says Aunt May.
Sol replies, “May, how did they get away with it?”
Judah asks, “If a man kills, then what?”
Sol responds to his son, “Then in one way or another he will be punished.”
Aunt May comments, “I say if he can do it and get away with it and he chooses not to be bothered by the ethics, then he is home free.”
Judah’s final conclusion was that might did make right. He observed that one day, because of this conclusion, he woke up and the cloud of guilt was gone. He was, as his aunt said, “home free.”
The basic question Woody Allen is presenting to his own agnostic humanistic worldview is: If you really believe there is no God there to punish you in an afterlife, then why not murder if you can get away with it? The secular humanist worldview that modern man has adopted does not work in the real world that God has created. God “has planted eternity in the human heart…” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). This is a direct result of our God-given conscience. The apostle Paul said it best in Romans 1:19, “For that which is known about God is evident to them and made plain in their inner consciousness, because God has shown it to them” (Amplified Version).
Crimes and Misdemeanors (Woody Allen – 1989) – Final scenes
It’s no wonder, then, that one of Allen’s fellow humanists would comment, “Certain moral truths — such as do not kill, do not steal, and do not lie — do have a special status of being not just ‘mere opinion’ but bulwarks of humanitarian action. I have no intention of saying, ‘I think Hitler was wrong.’ Hitler WAS wrong.” (Gloria Leitner, “A Perspective on Belief,” The Humanist, May/June 1997, pp.38-39). Here Leitner is reasoning from her God-given conscience and not from humanist philosophy. It wasn’t long before she received criticism.
Humanist Abigail Ann Martin responded, “Neither am I an advocate of Hitler; however, by whose criteria is he evil?” (The Humanist, September/October 1997, p. 2.). Humanists don’t really have an intellectual basis for saying that Hitler was wrong, but their God-given conscience tells them that they are wrong on this issue.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Five players on Mexico’s soccer team, including goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa and defender Francisco Rodriguez, have tested positive for a banned substance and are out of the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Decio de Maria, the secretary general of the Mexican soccer federation, said Ochoa and Rodriguez — two starters for Mexico in last year’s World Cup — tested positive for clenbuterol. Also testing positive were three role players: defender Edgar Duenas and midfielders Christian Bermudez and Antonio Naelson “Sinha.”
De Maria said he believes the positive results come from the players eating contaminated beef. Last July, Tour de France champion Alberto Contador also tested positive for the banned anabolic agent and said he consumed the drug in contaminated beef.
Carlisle: Five Aside
Five Mexican players, including goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa, have tested positive for a banned substance and are out of the Gold Cup. How will this change the team’s prospects? Jeff Carlisle breaks it down. Story
But until an investigation is completed, the Mexican players won’t be able to play.
“What we presume … one had to ingest contaminated materials — meat or chicken,” De Maria said. “Now comes the tough part, taking the players off the squad and opening an investigation. Meanwhile, it is a disagreeable moment to take this kind of decision, but we have to take responsibility.”
The latest potential doping scandal has the potential to dramatically affect the Gold Cup, the championship of North and Central America and the Caribbean. Mexico, which was to play Cuba on Thursday night, is the defending champion and one of the favorites again this year along with the U.S.
CONCACAF spokesman Ben Spencer said the governing body would meet in a conference call Friday to decide possible sanctions for Mexico and if the team will be able to replace the suspended players. Spencer said Mexico would not lose the three points it received for beating El Salvador 5-0 in the opening match of Group A on Sunday.
“We’re still getting information as it comes down,” Spencer said. “(Mexico) has chose to separate the players from the team.”
Clenbuterol is used in some countries to treat breathing disorders, but also has been used as a weight-loss drug. De Maria said the players were tested on May 21, but the results weren’t revealed until Wednesday.
“Everything points to it being an accident, very unfortunate,” De Maria said.
Teams were able to bring 23 players to the Gold Cup and dress 18 for each match. Ricardo Osorio already was sent home with an illness, so Mexico was down to 17 eligible players against Cuba at Bank of America Stadium. Jonathan Orozco and Alfredo Torrado are the other goalkeepers on the roster.
Spencer said a decision on whether Mexico would be able to call up replacement players likely would be made before Sunday’s final group match against Costa Rica.
Spencer said two Mexican players — Pablo Barrera and Efrain Juarez — passed random drug tests after Sunday’s game. The five suspended players were not tested.
The suspensions dampened increased enthusiasm for Mexico’s team. Javier Hernandez, who scored 20 goals for Manchester United this season, had a hat trick in Mexico’s impressive opening Gold Cup victory.
The Associated Press reported: Five Mexican players fail test Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Five players on Mexico’s soccer team, including goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa and defender Francisco Rodriguez, have tested positive for a banned substance and are out of the CONCACAF Gold Cup. Decio de Maria, the secretary general of the Mexican soccer federation, said […]
Today is a discussion of the 10th most controversial game in World Cup History. Everette Hatcher: I believe the game between Slovenia and the USA is my choice for number 10. Bradley revisits controversial call in World Cup The day after a controversial call annulled an apparent goal and left the United States in a […]
Today we are discussing the best player of all time. Everette Hatcher picks Pele. Pele The Great videosport.jumptv.com – A tribute to history’s greatest soccer player of all time. Wilson Hatcher’s pick: Lionel Messi Lionel Messi 2009 – Top 10 Goals *NEW* This list is based on talent not influence. For Pele would easily be […]
Landon Donovan expects to play Tues. Email Print Comments11 Associated Press ALLEN PARK, Mich. — A day after being routed by the World Cup champions, Clint Dempseyand the Americans were eager for another challenge. They won’t have to wait long. The United States plays its Gold Cup opener Tuesday night against Canada, meaning the Americans will […]
Posted on Saturday, 06.04.11 In My Opinion Mexico, U.S. favored to win Gold Cup OFF THE POST Who’s leading MLS: East — Philadelphia (20), New York (18), D.C. United (16), Houston (15). West — L.A. Galaxy (30), Dallas (22), Seattle (20). NASL: Carolina (22), Edmonton (16), Minnesota (14), Puerto Rico (11), Tampa Bay (10). Argentina: Velez Sarsfield (30), […]
Wilson Hatcher’s predictions Group A 1. Mexico 2. Costa Rica 3. El Salvador Group B 1.Honduras 2. Guatemala Group C 1. USA 2. Canada 3. Panama Quarter Finals Costa Rica 2-1 Guatemala Mexico 4-1 Panama Honduras 1-1 Canada USA 3-0 El Salvador Semi Finals Costa Rica 1-1 Mexico USA 2-1 Honduras Finals USA 1-0 Costa […]
Maria Shriver Asks – How Do You Handle Transitions in Your Life?
Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted to his wife several months ago that he had fathered a child about 10 years ago with a member of their household staff. Maria moved out, but has not filed for divorce. In the you tube clip above she comments:
“Like a lot of you I’m in transition: people come up to me all the time, asking, what are you doing next?” she said, adding: “It’s so stressful to not know what you are doing next when people ask what you are doing and they can’t believe you don’t know what you are doing.”
“I’d like to hear from other people who are in transition,” she said. “How did you find your transition: Personal, professional, emotional, spiritual, financial? How did you get through it?”
Mrs. Shriver has asked for spiritual input and I personally think that unless she gets the spiritual help that she needs then she will end up in the divorce court. I am starting a series on how a marriage can survive an infidelity. My first suggestion would be to attend a “Weekend to Remember” put on by the organization “Family Life” out of Little Rock, Arkansas. I actually posted this as a response to Mrs. Shriver’s request on you tube.
He Led a Double Lifeby Mary May Larmoyeux
Scott Jennings never dreamed he would cross the line. But somehow it happened.He was unhappy at home. He loved Sherry, but … well, she was the boss at her work, and she acted like the boss at home. When things needed to be done, she would tell Scott what to do. And he got tired of it.He wasn’t one to talk about his emotions. So he turned inward. He would escape to the fire station—where he was a volunteer fire fighter—and start drinking.Things got worse after the Jennings’ son, Steven, was born in 1995. Sherry wanted to be supermom and Scott was happy to let her do it. Soon he avoided being around Sherry and Steven altogether. If Sherry went to bed early with Steven, Scott stayed up late and watched TV.He often pretended that a call had come in from the volunteer fire department, but when he left the house he would head to a local bar instead. That’s where he became friends with people who seemed to really understand him.Scott also turned to a woman at work for a listening ear. Eventually they went to a motel together. He never thought he would be the type of person to cheat on his wife. But he did.
He had stepped into a world of repeated lies, affairs, and deceit. Scott Jennings was living a double life.
An unfamiliar phone number
In 2002 Sherry grew tired of waiting up at nights for Scott. She was weary of the crying, the arguing, the making up, and then repeating the cycle again. She knew there was more to life than this. She started attending a local church and, at times, Scott reluctantly joined her.
Over the course of several months Sherry came to know Jesus as her Lord and Savior. She begged Him to heal her marriage.
For years Sherry had believed her husband’s lies about working late and answering alarms for the fire department. But in 2004 she could no longer avoid the truth. She knew something was terribly wrong in her marriage.
She found an unfamiliar phone number on her husband’s cell phone and drove to the local address that matched it. Sure enough, Scott’s truck was parked outside an apartment complex. With the remote to his truck in her hand, she set the horn off, which brought him outside to silence it.
And that’s when Scott’s double life fell apart.
When he saw Sherry, he claimed he was just visiting a friend before he came home. Sherry didn’t believe it. She knew that Scott was trying to cover up the fact that she had caught him with another woman. She told him that it was time to go, that she was his wife and they needed to talk.
Scott followed Sherry to their house. They talked in the backyard for about an hour. He told her that he was depressed. He had it all—a loving wife, child, and house—and yet he didn’t want it. He seemed confused and told Sherry that he felt trapped by her and their son, Steven. He said that he wanted his freedom.
Sherry decided to give her husband space. She hoped and prayed that things would somehow work out in their marriage. Scott, on the other hand, went on several trips with his girlfriend and spent large amounts of time drunk or under the influence of prescription drugs.
End of a marriage
One night, when Scott was leaving his girlfriend’s apartment, he discovered that his truck was gone. “I hoped that it had been towed or stolen,” Scott says, “but in my gut I knew that I had been caught again.”
His girlfriend drove him home, where he found the truck. As soon as he walked into the house, he says, “I started in on Sherry and was very verbally abusive and angry.” She told him he could no longer live in the house since he was not living as part of the family.
Scott was stunned by his wife’s words. He packed a bag and left in anger, tearing up part of the yard as he drove away from the house.
Sherry reluctantly filed for divorce and eventually followed through with it. The final divorce proceeding was on September 21, 2005—their fourteenth wedding anniversary.
Scott and Sherry drove to the courthouse together, and he played a CD with teachings about marriage. He hoped this might lead Sherry to change her mind, but it did not. “I angrily went through the proceedings and spent the rest of the day drunk and stoned,” Scott says. “I think I was in a state of shock.”
After the divorce
Two days later, when Scott called to say goodnight to his son, he also talked to Sherry.His girlfriend complained that he spent too much time on the phone with his ex-wife. Even he was surprised by his response. “The fact was that I still did love Sherry.”
Scott’s girlfriend was livid. She punched him in the eye and told him to leave. He gathered all of his belongings, meekly called Sherry, and asked if he could store them in the garage. When he arrived at the house after midnight with his meager belongings, he wanted to see Steven. Sherry refused, and Scott became belligerent. He threatened Sherry with a lawsuit and left.
With just a few items of clothing and a six-pack of beer, he checked into a cheap motel. As soon as he got into his room, he called Sherry and berated her. He didn’t know what to do or where to go. “Everything that I had held dear was gone,” he says.
“When he called me for the second or third time,” Sherry says, “I tried to honor him and not yell at him.” Finally, she contacted Scott’s sister, Nancy, a pastor’s wife, thinking she might be able to talk some sense into her brother.
Nancy convinced Scott to open the Gideon Bible in the room’s nightstand drawer. As she read from the book of Isaiah, he followed along. Tears filled his eyes when he recited Isaiah 55:7: “Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him, for He will freely pardon.”
A changed man
Wanting to get away from reminders of his failures, Scott decided to drive to his mother’s condo in North Carolina. He knew she was visiting family, and he could be alone for a while. He called his boss and said he was quitting his job and moving out of state. His boss was empathetic and wished him well. “I didn’t see how things could possibly work out,” Scott says.
On the road, he hit the radio’s scan button and heard a preacher ask if anyone was listening who didn’t know which way to turn next. “It sounded like he was speaking directly to me.”
The preacher asked the listeners, “Do you want to climb out of the pit of darkness towards the light?” He explained how to repent and give Jesus Christ control, and Scott felt a deep sense of remorse for his wrongdoing. He repeated a simple “sinner’s prayer” to indicate his decision to receive Christ as his Savior and Lord. “I said the prayer and I literally felt different right afterward,” he says. “I felt like I had been carrying so much anger.”
Scott realized that his struggles with drugs and alcohol could be traced to his anger at God for allowing his father to die—just three years after he and Sherry got married. “Somewhere along the line I made the decision that I wasn’t going to talk about it [his father’s death] anymore.”
At the same time, as a volunteer fireman he had learned how to keep things to himself. He wouldn’t talk to anyone about the horrendous things that he often witnessed. “There was one particularly horrible wreck, and for a long time I would look at people’s faces and see one of the victims.”
He drank to avoid the pain. And when his alcohol use became obvious to co-workers, he started to abuse prescription drugs.
The sights, the smells, and the sounds of death haunted Scott until the day his life changed on his way to North Carolina. God doesn’t do this for everyone, Scott says, “but I physically let it [the anger and pain] go. All of those things were gone.”
Mary May Larmoyeux is a writer and editor for FamilyLife. She is the author of My Heart’s at Home: Encouragement for Working Moms, co-author of There’s No Place Like Home: Steps to Becoming a Stay-at-Home Mom, and co-author of the Resurrection Eggs® Activity Book.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Shriver and family – “The Longest Yard” Los Angeles premiere, May 19, 2005
Michael Middleton lifts Catherine’s bridal veil at the altar of Westminster Abbey, 29 April 2011
Prince William and Kate moved in together about a year ago. In this clip above the commentator suggested that maybe Prince Charles and Princess Diana would not have divorced if they had lived together before marriage. Actually Diana was a virgin, and it was Charles’ uncle (Louis Mountbatten) that gave him the advice that he should seek to marry a virgin.
I really do wish Kate and William success in their marriage. I hope they truly are committed to each other, and if they are then the result will be a marriage that lasts their whole lifetime. Nevertheless, I do not think it is best to live together before marriage like they did, and I writing this series to help couples see how best to prepare for marriage.
Researcher Scott Stanley’s case is this: Women living unmarried with guys and expecting a lasting, committed marriage down the line had better review their options. His research finds that men who cohabit with the women they eventually marry are less committed to the union than men who never lived with their spouses ahead of time. Stanley, co-director of the Center for Marital and Family Studies at the University of Denver, says the evidence from his research is so strong that cohabiting women “should be very careful about how aligned they are with a particular man if he does not show any strong sense of marriage and a future together.” Men who either drift into marriage “through inertia” following a cohabiting arrangement or who are “dragged down the aisle” by women who finally put their feet down aren’t good marriage risks, he says. (Cohabiting Is Not The Same As Commitment – by Karen S. Peterson, USA TODAY July 8, 2002)
The day after a controversial call annulled an apparent goal and left the United States in a 2-2 draw with Slovenia, American Coach Bob Bradley maintained his stance that Maurice Edu‘s volley should have counted and suggested that referee Koman Coulibaly might have been compensating for an earlier decision.
“I think it’s a good goal,” he said at USA headquarters in Irene, South Africa. “The only things that clearly could be called would be penalty kicks for us. You don’t expect any answer. … Typically out on the field, when things happen fast, it’s not like referees then explain every call they make.
“In my mind, this isn’t something that referees would talk about a lot, but there are times when a referee, for whatever reason, blows a foul and now thinks he either didn’t make the correct call on the foul from a previous play, and then literally as soon as the free kick is taken, he blows his whistle. So you can speculate all you want about which guy [was called for a foul], I think it’s a waste of time. There was nothing there. It’s a good goal, and that’s that.”
More…..
Bradley also addressed the nature of soccer, in which not everything is meticulously explained. In the World Cup, when a less sophisticated, mainstream audience back home is watching, such situations cause confusion.
“We’re all accustomed to the fact that, if it is an NFL playoff game and there is a call of some question, there will be a statement by the league from the referees,” he said. “But FIFA operates differently. Soccer is a different game. … There are some aspects of it that are not made 100 percent clear that seem to add to the discussion about the games. On our end, we get used to that.
“We all have friends and family who asked us the same questions most of you [in the media] asked us. You end up saying that that’s just how it is sometimes and then you move on and you get ready for the next game.”
Wilson Picks the Argentina vs Peru in 78. (below I got this from the internet)
Argentina have been involved in numerous World Cup controversies over the years – some going for them, and others against. In their own edition of 1978, they were involved in a hugely notorious affair that saw them qualify for the final where they would beat the Netherlands 3-1.
In the second group stage, Argentina needed to beat Copa America holders Peru by four clear goals to reach the final ahead of bitter rivals Brazil. They won 6-0 but there were dark rumors that Peru, who had an Argentine-born goalkeeper, had thrown the game. Certainly the ease in which the Peruvians capitulated raised eyebrows, especially as this was a fine team that contained stars such as Teofilo Cubillas.
I got this list below off the internet.
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Top 10 Most Controversial World Cup Games
Following the ‘Hand of Henry’ on Wednesday night that prevented Ireland from traveling to South Africa, Carlo Garganese counts down the 10 most controversial World Cup games.
10) Fabio Grosso’s Fall – Italy vs Australia 2006
Ask your average Australian football fan (those without Italian heritage) who their most hated individual is, and Fabio Grosso will be high up on the list.
This all revolves around a controversial incident during the 2006 World Cup second round clash in Kaiserslautern. The Azzurri were in a very precarious position as they were down to 10 men, had used their three substitutes, and were starting to tire as the game moved towards inevitable extra time.
Then, deep into injury time, left back Grosso pounced on a mistake, cut into the area before going down under the challenge of Lucas Neill. The referee pointed to the spot, and Francesco Totti buried his penalty with the last kick. Italy would go on to win their first World Cup in 24 years, but Australia still argue to this day that Grosso dived. While Neill was naive in going to ground, and there was definitely contact – at the same time it is clear that Grosso was looking for the penalty. Nevertheless, Italy fans often point out that they had been dominating the game until the 50th minute when defender Marco Materazzi was straight red carded for an offense that wasn’t worth any more than a yellow.
9) Schande von Gijón (The Shame of Gijón) – West Germany vs Austria 1982
Next summer Algeria will make their first World Cup appearance for 24 years, and if there is one team they will be dying to face it will be Germany. Back in 1982, the North Africans caused a sensation when they defeated the European Champions West Germany 2-1 in the opening game of Group 2 thanks to goals from the legendary Rabah Madjer and Lakhdar Belloumi.
Algeria attained four points from their three games (two wins and a defeat), and would be guaranteed a place in the next round providing West Germany didn’t defeat Austria by one or two goals in the final game of the pool.
The West Germans launched wave after wave of early attacks, taking a 10th minute lead through Horst Hrubesch. For the following 80 minutes both sides, knowing that the current scoreline would qualify them both, made virtually no attempt to attack with the ball almost continuously being passed sideways.
The crowd in Gijón were disgusted by what they saw. Algerian fans waved banknotes and white handkerchiefs, while Spaniards chanted “Fuera, fuera” (“Out, out”). One German supporter was so ashamed that he burnt his national flag. Algeria complained to FIFA, but their protest was rejected. This game did result in one important change to the rules as from Euro ’84 onwards the last games of a group in international tournaments always took place at the same time so that teams didn’t know in advance what result they required.
8) Peru Pummelling – Argentina vs Peru 1978
Argentina have been involved in numerous World Cup controversies over the years – some going for them, and others against. In their own edition of 1978, they were involved in a hugely notorious affair that saw them qualify for the final where they would beat the Netherlands 3-1.
In the second group stage, Argentina needed to beat Copa America holders Peru by four clear goals to reach the final ahead of bitter rivals Brazil. They won 6-0 but there were dark rumors that Peru, who had an Argentine-born goalkeeper, had thrown the game. Certainly the ease in which the Peruvians capitulated raised eyebrows, especially as this was a fine team that contained stars such as Teofilo Cubillas.
7) Spain vs Yugoslavia 1982
Spain’s performance at their own World Cup in 1982 was a really miserable one. They won just once in five games, scoring only four goals – of which two were controversial penalties.
Indeed the Spaniards wouldn’t have even made it out of the groups but for refereeing favors. They trailed 1-0 to outsiders Honduras in their opening match and only earned a 1-1 draw thanks to a disputed Roberto Ufarte penalty, while they were humiliatingly defeated 1-0 by Northern Ireland in their final match of Group 5.
Only a 2-1 win over Yugoslavia saw them qualify for the second group phase, but this was secured in infamous fashion. Trailing 1-0, Spain were awarded a penalty for a Yugoslavian foul that occurred clearly two yards outside the area. Ufarte struck his penalty wide, but the referee then demanded a retake which Juanito made no mistake from. Spain went on to win 2-1, while Yugoslavia would eventually be eliminated despite going into the tournament as one of the favorites.
Yugoslavia would earn their revenge eight years later at Italia ’90 when they defeated Spain 2-1 in the second phase, thanks to two brilliant goals from the legendary Dragan Stojkovic.
6) From Russia With Two Offsides – USSR vs Belgium 1986
Believe it or not, there are some people who believe that Argentina vs England was not the most controversial game of the 1986 World Cup. The alternative is the round of 16 clash between the USSR and Belgium in Leon.
The match ended in a thrilling 4-3 extra time win for the Belgians, but it would not be unfair to declare that the USSR were cheated out of the tournament. The Soviets, who contained many of the exceptional Dynamo Kiev team that had won the Cup Winners’ Cup just a month earlier (including star man Igor Belanov below who scored a hat-trick and won the Ballon d’Or that year), were clearly the superior team and created chance after chance throughout the 120 minutes.
But they were denied by a referee and two linesmen seemingly wearing Belgian shirts. The USSR twice led in normal time, but twice Belgium equalized through clearly offside goals, the second from Jan Ceulemans on 77 minutes in which he was an incredible five yards ahead of play.
5) Antonio Rattin’s ‘Violence of the tongue’ – Argentina vs England 1966
For many people in Argentina, Diego Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ in 1986 was revenge on England for another World Cup quarter final between the two countries twenty years earlier where the South Americans felt they were cheated.
Hosts England won the game 1-0 through a 78th minute Geoff Hurst goal, but not before Argentina had had captain Antonio Rattin controversially sent off in the 35th minute for arguing with the referee. Rattin initially refused to leave the field, believing that the ref wanted England to win, and when he did finally walk the 29-year-old insulted the Queen.
Three Lions manager Sir Alf Ramsey let rip at the opposition with comments that were viewed as racist in Argentina. “We have still to produce our best, and this is not possible until we meet the right sort of opponents, and that is a team that comes out to play football and not act as animals,” sniped Ramsey.
Post match statistics showed that Argentina had committed only 19 fouls in the game, to England’s 33, while the referee spoke no Spanish so could not have understood what Rattin said to him. Back in Argentina, it was pointed out that the referee in the England game was German, while the official in Germany’s quarter final was English.
4) Rudi Voller’s dive – West Germany vs Argentina 1990
For many it was poetic justice after a painfully negative Argentina side had somehow scraped through all the way to the final, winning two penalty shootouts along the way.
In the Rome showpiece against West Germany, the holders had again ridden their luck in arguably the dullest final of all time. But they were then undone by the referee in the closing stages. First Pedro Monzon became the first player in history to be red carded in a World Cup final after a clear dive by Jurgen Klinsmann on his challenge. Then, with five minutes remaining, the Germans were awarded a penalty when Rudi Voller went down far too easily in the box. Andreas Brehme converted the spot-kick and Germany were champions. Argentina cried foul, claiming that no one wanted them to win after they had knocked out hosts Italy in the semis.
3) Korea 2002 – Italy, Spain & Portugal cry conspiracy
The 2002 World Cup has gone down in infamy due to the huge number of refereeing mistakes that helped eliminate a string of top nations, and also ensured that co-hosts Korea made it all the way to the semi-finals.
During their final two group games against Croatia and Mexico, Italy had four perfectly good goals disallowed, but somehow managed to scrape through to the second round where they met South Korea. Against Guus Hiddink’s men, Italy again had a valid goal chalked off, a golden goal from Damiano Tomassi which would have taken them to the next round. Francesco Totti was sent off for diving when replays showed he had lost his footing, while the Koreans were awarded a controversial penalty for a Christian Panucci tugging offense. Italy eventually lost after Ahn Jung-Hwan’s golden winner, but the match and Ecuadorian referee Byron Moreno have gone down in Italian football notoriety.
The Italian nation cried that there had been a conspiracy against them, and they were soon joined by the Spanish, who in the very next game against Korea had two perfectly good goals disallowed as they were eliminated on penalties. At the end of the game, Ivan Helguera had to be held back by team-mates as he attempted to attack the referee.
Italy and Spain were not the only team to be apparently wronged by Korea during the 2002 World Cup. In their final group game against Portugal, the co-hosts continually appeared to win favors from the referee as they won 1-0, thus eliminating the Europeans. Portugal had both Joao Pinto and Beto red carded, the latter after a clear dive from a Korean player, while the former was suspended for six months by FIFA after he hit official Angel Sanchez as he made his way off the pitch. Luis Figo also booted the ball straight into the crowd from the kick-off following Park Ji Sung’s winner to signal his disgust.
2) ‘Phantom Goal’ – Geoff Hurst vs West Germany 1966
Was it over the line or not? This is a question that raged for years around the world following England’s controversial third goal against West Germany in the 1966 World Cup Final at Wembley. With the scores tied at 2-2 eight minutes into extra time, Geoff Hurst span in the area only to see his shot crash off the underside of the crossbar, bounce down on or over the line, before being cleared.
England players appealed for a goal, West Germans wagged their fingers, but the goal was eventually given after Swiss referee Gottfried Dienst had consulted with USSR linesman Tofik Bakhramov. England went onto win the game 4-2 and lift their one World Cup to date.
However, improvements in technology have recently proved that the ball did not cross the line. When asked on his deathbed why he told the referee that Hurst had scored, linesman Bakhramov is alleged to have replied, “Stalingrad”, referring to the infamous battle between the Soviets and the Nazis in World War II where more than two million people were killed or wounded – the bloodiest in the history of warfare.
1) ‘Hand of God’ – Diego Maradona vs England 1986
The most infamous goal in World Cup history occurred during the quarter final of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico between Argentina and England. With the score locked at 0-0 six minutes into the second half, Maradona chased a miss-hit clearance by England midfielder Steve Hodge, jumped above goalkeeper Peter Shilton before flicking it past the veteran with the outside of his left fist. The referee failed to spot the infringement and Argentina took a one-goal lead. Minutes later, Maradona would score the ‘Goal of the Century’ after dribbling past half of the England team – Argentina would win 2-1 and go on to lift the World Cup.
After the quarter final Maradona said that the goal had been scored “a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God,” also saying it was revenge for the Falklands War between England and Argentina four years earlier. The current Albiceleste boss became enemy No.1 on English shores following this incident and 23 years on he is still very much a hated figure.
What are your views on this topic? What do you believe to be the most controversial game in World Cup history? Goal.com wants to know what YOU think…
Today we are discussing the best player of all time.
Everette Hatcher picks Pele.
Pele The Great
videosport.jumptv.com – A tribute to history’s greatest soccer player of all time.
Wilson Hatcher’s pick: Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi 2009 – Top 10 Goals *NEW*
This list is based on talent not influence. For Pele would easily be number 1. But when it comes to talent, Messi is the best.
He is only 23 and he has won the FIFA player of the year award twice and he came in second for another one. He is very quick and he is great with his feet. The speed, the dribbling, the assist, the goals, this guy has it all. Teamwork is what leads to victory, with players like Messi, all of that increases.
This video is about lionel Messi and a little about his life story. I love it!!!
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Here is another top 10 list I got off the internet:
1Pele (Edson Arantes do Nascimento)
“This is a century old question that will impact future generations, some say that he won everything with the best team, but in that same thought, remember this is a team game. Pele was terror to any goalie, he only presence in the area shuke fear in their very core. But beyond that a player goes beyond the field, sets standards of living for other players and fans, the only one to positively do this is not but Edson Arantes Do Nascimento, any more questions check his numbers.
“Just look at his goals on You Tube, he could whack the from a mile out or dribble them into the back of the net, he was the most complete player the game has ever seen and unlike modern players didn’t have the comfort of referees protection… opposing players tried to kick him off the park. I remember seeing him in the early 70’s and frankly it was a time to really watch football rather than spoilt brats thinking they are a lot better than they really are.
“When you see this guy play, it’s like everything else around you doesn’t matter. The ringing phone doesn’t disturb you. The chatter of the people makes no impact on you at all. It’s just him, him and his game. Pele wasn’t just another amazing football player, he was an excellent one, a prodigy, incomparable, and probably, someone this world will never see again in the next 100 years. He simply is, a football legend.
“He is the best that is, that was and that will be. Better than Lionnel Messi or Rooney. His free kicks, his dribbles, his shots and his high class on the pitch. May be he has another skills that we don’t know. Remember, before Messi he was the winner of the fifa golden ball. Don’t be stupid and vote the best player.
“yes he is the best… I literally worship him… he should be the no.1.. he is the most skilled player in the world
“Ronaldo is simply amazing. He make soccer a show and entertains. He shows up and shows what he is mad of good or bad. Pele is the only one that can beat him.
ronaldo is the greatest striker ever played football with that speed an skill he’s the best ever may i call him the phonomonen, the king , the number 9,the best ever rooooooooooooooooooonaldo
Deserves the 2nd place. Definintely better than Cristiano Ronaldo.
SIMPLY THE BEST, NOT ONLY FOR HIS SKILLS BUT HE JUST CHANGED THE WAY THAT FOOTBALL WAS PLAYED… THERE WILL NEVER BE A PLAYER LIKE HIM. GREATEST PLAYER OF ALL TIME. GREAT GOALSCORER
“Maradona is the best player ever, and the second one is Messi. His playing skills were simply marvelous, amazing just like maradona. They have perfect ball controlling ^^ dribbler ability.
“ronaldo = fake of soccer
messi = genius of soccer
pele = king of soccer
maradona = god of soccer
ONLY MARADONA!
“maradona lived in a more modern day soccer while pele was great but he played in a time where the game was so slow. and I’m not talking about physical side I’m talking about the mental and tactical part of the game. even maradona’s time was slow compared to today. I give pele huge props but maradona was just better.
His playing skills were simply marvelous, amazing, punctuated in my opinion by his incredible performance against Brazil in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. At that point of his career he was more Brazilian than any Brazilian at the time.
Always present when needed, he led France to back-to-back major championships in 1998 and 2002.
Came back in 2006 and almost won it for France in overtime with another amazing headshot (his specialty in the Finals) blocked by a certain Gianluigi Buffon, at the top of his craft.
Zidane’s name should be well ahead of the two Ronaldo’s. Cristiano is a great player but he hasn’t won anyhting worthy now and probably won’t.
“Zindane is higher than Ronaldhino.
Ronaldhino cant play big games. He can never use his tricks when he play. The fake u-tube video(gitting the post several times) does not make him great.
Pele …dont know about hi. Looking at the videos, i dont think he can be compared to Zidane.
Football was different then. It was not competetive.
Pele is better than general but not great because he did not face great opposition and he didnt have magic touches like zidane or other players have these days. he was just a mere shooter like Trazeguet….he got lucky. But zico is better in Brazilian player.
“zidane is first period. there is no question he may not have been the shooter or scored the most goals. but he lead his teams they did not even need there coach they could just follow there amazing player who’s passing and way of looking at the game surpasess any player.
“just incredible by far the best could have rivalled pele in his day
FANTASTIC PICMENT OF BRAZILLIAN AND FOOTBALL OVERALL
“He is unarguably the best player I have ever Seen. His dribbling abilities are mesmerizing his passes n free kicks are awesome, bust most important of all,… he is a team player unlike C. Ronaldo… I simply love him…
“RONALDINHO… NIGHTMARE OF ANY DEFENDER
perfest tricks, speed and preciseness… shame he had to leabve FCB
he is the B E S T…
just amazing
wonderful crazy
and he plays as someone play on a x-box or PlayStation
go Messi go
totally incredible
out of word to say
Best player in the world
Messi=The best
5th best in history and 3rd best of the dacade
he is just the best!
messei is genius no one can be better then him and I wish he play good ever as he is now doing it he can dribble ronado ronaldino and anyone that think he can cheat messie he nithing to messie
+2He is the best player the world has ever witnessed. He can see the whole pitch better than anyone else. TIMO JUTILA once said that Jari is also really good at making fantastic barbecue. That said, he is without a doubt the greatest player of all time.
+2The last of the Mohicans of “total football”. While at Ajax he taught everything to Zlatan except those dirty stuff which Zlatan learnt from violent movies when he was kid.
+1Was an outstanding player, and according to my Finnish mates, he is still very good when he plays. An absolute genius. Legend.
In this May 3, 2011 file photo, local residents gather outside a house, where al-Qaida leader …
By KIMBERLY DOZIER, AP Intelligence Writer Kimberly Dozier, Ap Intelligence Writer – Wed Jun 8, 7:04 pm ET
WASHINGTON – The U.S. is tracking possible new terror targets and stepping up surveillance of operatives previously considered minor al-Qaida figures after digging through the mountain of correspondence seized from Osama bin Laden’s hideout, officials say. The trove of material is filling in blanks on how al-Qaida operatives work, think and fit in the organization, they say.
The new information is the result of five weeks of round-the-clock work by a CIA-led team of data analysts, cyber experts and translators who are 95 percent finished decrypting and translating the years of material and expect to complete the effort by mid-June, two U.S. officials say.
Al-Qaida operatives worldwide are feeling the heat, with at least two of them altering their travel plans in recent weeks in apparent alarm that they might become the targets of another U.S. raid, one official said.
All officials spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the review of bin Laden files taken by U.S. Navy SEALs in a May 2 raid on his Abbottabad, Pakistan, hideout.
The items taken by the SEALs from bin Laden’s second-floor office included a handwritten journal, five computers, 10 hard drives and 110 thumb drives.
Copies of the material have been distributed to agencies from the FBI to the Defense Intelligence Agency to continue long-term analysis, one official said. The material is now classified, greatly limiting the number of people who can see it and making any detailed public accounting of the contents a crime.
FBI Director Robert Mueller told Congress on Wednesday that one of the early assessments from the trove is that al-Qaida remains committed to attacking the United States.
“We continue to exploit the materials seized from bin Laden’s compound” and “we are focused on the new information about the homeland threat gained from this operation,” Mueller told the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is considering legislation that would extend Mueller’s job for up to two more years.
There is nothing in the bin Laden files so far to indicate an imminent attack, three officials said. The U.S. has increased its vigilance regarding some of the targets bin Laden suggests to his operatives, from smaller U.S. cities to mass transport systems, to U.S. embassies abroad and even oil tankers in the Persian Gulf.
A law enforcement official briefed on the process said investigators have been analyzing raw digital data found on multiple hard drives and flash drives, and that some of it consists of sequences of numbers. Investigators were trying to discern potential bank account or phone numbers that might point to al-Qaida contacts in the United States or elsewhere, or codes that could produce other leads, said the official, who was not authorized to publicly discuss the analysis and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Especially useful in the communications between bin Laden and his followers from Asia to Europe to Africa is the light they shed on the personalities of known al-Qaida operatives and what drives the various terrorist commanders who corresponded with bin Laden, officials said.
Like an email chain showing office politics, with various members of the hierarchy weighing in and sometimes back-stabbing each other, the communications show different officials vying for the boss’ attention and working the system, the officials said.
Some proposed daring raids aimed at causing mass casualties, like the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, while others proposed smaller targets to circumvent increased security measures worldwide.
While bin Laden continued to laud the merits of large-scale attacks, the records show he also embraced the shift to smaller operations carried out by Yemen’s al-Qaida of the Arabian Peninsula as a way to retain the broader organization’s image as a viable terrorist group able to strike U.S. targets, officials said.
It’s not clear that any of the affiliates who were proposing some of the larger-scale attacks had the ability to carry them out, one of the officials said. After the initial proposal of an idea, there were no follow-up proposals in the trove describing specific resources available to go after a suggested large-scale target.
And while the al-Qaida chief advised his operatives on targets to strike, and helped them devise ways to hit those targets, there is no evidence in the files that any of the ideas bin Laden proposed led to a specific action that was later carried out, the officials say. For instance, though bin Laden advised Europe-based militants to attack in unspecified continental European countries just before Christmas, the threat never resulted in an actual attempted attack, the officials said.
There have been small-scale violent incidents in Denmark, where bin Laden had repeatedly encouraged followers to attack because of disparaging references to the Muslim prophet Mohammed in Danish media, the officials said. But he did not seem to be involved in planning those specific incidents, the officials said.
As for bin Laden’s suggestion to hit oil tankers, there is an indication of intent, with operatives seeking the size and construction of tankers, and concluding it’s best to blow them up from the inside because of the strength of their hulls. In a confidential warning obtained by The Associated Press, the FBI and the Homeland Security Department said that al-Qaida operatives also recommended test runs, but there’s no evidence the plot went any further, the officials say.
The U.S. has briefed allies such as Britain, Germany and other countries in Europe on the contents of the trove relevant to their nations or their portions of the counterterror fight, officials said.
They have also shared some of the information with Pakistan, as part of an effort to renew cooperation with Islamabad, in the wake of the raid, U.S. and Pakistani officials said. The U.S. hid the operation from Pakistan for fear that the raid plans would leak to militants, but the unilateral action brought protests from Pakistani leaders over what they called an affront to their sovereignty.
High-level U.S. visits have aimed to take the edge off that dispute, including a visit by CIA Deputy Director Mike Morell, who met with intelligence chief Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha last month.
After that outreach, Pakistan allowed the CIA to re-examine the bin Laden compound. Pakistan also returned the tail section of a U.S. stealth Black Hawk helicopter that broke off when the SEALs blew up the aircraft to destroy its secret noise- and radar-deadening technology.
The investigative team, made up mainly of intelligence officers from both nations, will compare the CIA’s analysis of computer and written files with Pakistani intelligence gleaned from interrogations of those who frequented or lived near the bin Laden compound, the officials said.
Pakistan’s intelligence service has been interviewing those who spent time at the compound, from a guard who used to do the compound’s grocery shopping, to an extremist sheik who came in weekly to teach the 18 children that Navy SEALs counted at the compound the night of the raid.
Pakistani officials described the emerging picture of life inside the compound. One official described it as bleak, almost prison-like in its austerity.
Some of the roughly two dozen surviving residents told Pakistani intelligence they subsisted on a weekly delivery of one goat, which they slaughtered inside the compound, plus milk from a couple of cows kept in the courtyard. There were also eggs from chickens that roamed the courtyard, and vegetables from a small kitchen garden.
Bin Laden’s upper apartments were bare of paint or adornment on the walls. There were only two beds, a double and a single, both of poor quality, one Pakistani official said. Officials haven’t determined the sleeping arrangements for bin Laden and his three wives among the beds, he added.
Bin Laden’s rooms did have the only air conditioner in the compound, in a region where summer temperatures can top 100 degrees Fahrenheit. There were no heaters, despite winters where temperatures can drop to freezing. That could explain the blanket bin Laden clutches around him in one of the videos taken from his office.
___
Associated press writers Pete Yost in Washington and Tom Hays in New York contributed to this report.
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden (L) sits with his adviser and purported successor Ayman al-Zawahri, an Egyptian linked to the al Qaeda network, during an interview with Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir (not pictured), in a file image supplied by the Dawn newspaper on November 10, 2001. Osama bin Laden’s longtime lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahri, said the United States faces rebellion throughout the Muslim world after killing the al Qaeda leader, according to a 28-minute YouTube recording posted on June 8, 2011. In what appeared to be his first public response to bin Laden’s death in a U.S. commando raid in Pakistan in May 2011, the Egyptian-born Zawahri warned Americans not to gloat and vowed to press ahead with al Qaeda’s campaign against the United States and its allies. REUTERS/Hamid Mir/Editor/Ausaf Newspaper for Daily Dawn/Files « Read less
(AFGHANISTAN – Tags: POLITICS CONFLICT IMAGES OF THE DAY)
The Associated Press reported on June 8, 2011: In this May 3, 2011 file photo, local residents gather outside a house, where al-Qaida leader … By KIMBERLY DOZIER, AP Intelligence Writer Kimberly Dozier, Ap Intelligence Writer – Wed Jun 8, 7:04 pm ET WASHINGTON – The U.S. is tracking possible new terror targets and stepping up […]
Below is a post from the Arkansas Times Blog that I am responding to: Who is a better person? The one who helps their fellow man and does what is right because they it’s the right thing to do, or one who treats people well only because they are threatened with an eternal punishment? Posted […]
1998 Embassy Bomber Killed By U.S. Airstrike in Somalia Jan 10, 2007 CBS News Investigative Reporter Phil Hirschkorn reports Mohammed, known as Haroun Fazil to his fellow terrorists, had a key role in the twin truck bombings of two U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania on Aug. 7, 1998, which killed 224 people and injured […]
Broadcast As the U.S. fought wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, bin Laden periodically released audio and video recordings (like this one, from 2007) calling for the destruction of America and its allies Al Qaeda release Osama recording Al Qaeda have released a posthumous audio recording by Osama bin Laden, in which he praises revolutions […]
A still from a bin Laden video released by the US Department of Defense. The al-Qaeda leader was visited in Pakistan by representatives of the Taliban. Osama bin Laden Source: Reuters Published: Friday, May 25, 2007 7:34 AEST Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden speaks at a news conference in Afghanistan on May 26, 1998. […]
Soldiers stand guard Soldiers of Pakistan army and police officer stand guard after a bombing in Shabqadar near Peshawar, Pakistan on Friday, May 13, 2011. A police officer says the death toll in a pair of explosions outside a security force training center in northwest Pakistan has risen to 80. Liaqat Ali Khan says 66 […]
Soldier of Pakistani para military force A soldier of Pakistani para military force collects the belongings of his colleagues after a bombing in Shabqadar near Peshawar, Pakistan on Friday, May 13, 2011. A police officer says the death toll in a pair of explosions outside a security force training center in northwest Pakistan has risen […]
NYC terror plot arrests The Associated Press reported today: Two U.S. residents, including one who complained that the world was treating Muslims “like dogs,” bought guns and a grenade and wanted to carry out a terror plot against a New York synagogue, officials said Thursday. One of the alleged homegrown terrorists also expressed interest in […]
Crimes & Misdemeanors (pictured is Judah and his criminal brother, ultimately his brother hires a hitman to take out Judah’s girlfriend who threatens to turn Judah over to the cops) Crimes And Misdemeanors 1989 9/13 Adrian Rogers – Crossing God’s Deadline Part 4 crimes & misdemeanors Best scene of the movie!!!!
Next Back BroadcastAs the U.S. fought wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, bin Laden periodically released audio and video recordings (like this one, from 2007) calling for the destruction of America and its allies. Kimberly Dozier of the Associated Press reported today in her article, “Bin Laden’s diary shows he eyed new targets, big […]
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AP Osama’s youngest son, Hamza, is believed to have escaped the compound where his terror fiend dad was killed by SEALs. Chuck Bennett of the NY Post in his article “Osama’s youngest son escaped capture,” wrote this morning: Osama bin Laden’s youngest known son — a budding teen terrorist groomed since childhood to wage jihad […]
Omar bin Laden, son of Osama bin Laden, in his apartment in Al-Rahad city near Cairo in 2008 The New York Times reported today: The adult sons of Osama bin Laden have lashed out at President Obama over their father’s death, accusing the United States of violating its basic legal principles by killing an […]
Pete Souza / The White House The White House, May 1, 2011 Vice President Joe Biden and President Barack Obama, along with members of the national-security team, receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room of the White House on May 1, 2011. Please note: a classified […]
Bin Laden was born in 1957, reportedly the 17th of the 57 children of Mohammed bin Laden, the owner of the largest construction company in Saudi Arabia. He was raised under conservative Wahhabi tenets and, while enrolled at King Abdel Aziz University in Jidda, developed a belief in pan-Islamicism, a philosophy that stresses a united […]
Pakistani policemen walk Pakistani policemen walk past a compound, surrounded in red fabric, where locals reported a firefight took place overnight in Abbotabad, located in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province May 2, 2011. Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed in a firefight with U.S. forces in Pakistan on Sunday, ending a nearly 10-year worldwide […]
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Picture of former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee Adrian Rogers – Crossing God’s Deadline. Part 1 John Brummett in his article “Huckabee speaks for bad guy below,” Arkansas News Bureau, May 5, 2011 had to say: Are we supposed to understand and accept that Mike Huckabee is in hell where he has official duties as a […]
Not only do we have the word of President Obama that Osama bin Laden is dead, but now Al Qaeda sources have confirmed it. CNN reported on May 6, 2011: Al Qaeda released a statement on jihadist forums Friday confirming the death of its leader, Osama bin Laden, according to SITE Intelligence Group, […]
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The Associated Press reported on May 5, 2011: Some of the first information gleaned from Osama bin Laden’s compound indicates al-Qaida considered attacking U.S. trains on the upcoming anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. But counterterrorism officials say they believe the planning never got beyond the initial phase and have no recent intelligence pointing […]
In the pantry, among the few untouched items are two cartons of eggs. (ABC News) President Obama deserves a lot of credit for sending the team in. I personally do not like many of the policies of this administration, but this raid was planned very well, and I am glad he made the decisions […]
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1-4 ISLAM -VS- CHRISTIANITY – The Concept of God DEBATE Last night I was on one side of the house and I heard an argument between my son Wilson and my wife. The argument was over if Osama Bin Laden was going to hell or not. My son said we would not know for sure […]
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— A lightning strike Wednesday afternoon sent 77 Air Force ROTC cadets to hospitals in the Hattiesburg, Mississippi, area, where they were all responsive and in stable condition, according to spokeswoman Maj. Deidre Musgrave of Camp Shelby.
Two of the 77 were sent by ambulance, and the remaining 75 were sent to the hospital by Camp Shelby buses, Musgrave told CNN.
All 77 were college students enrolled in the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps, which uses Camp Shelby as its summer training site, Musgrave said.
The cadets, all of whom are seeking to become Air Force officers, come from universities across the country and had been scheduled to spend two weeks at an on-site forward operating base simulated training center, Musgrave said.
Musgrave said the base had been under a severe thunderstorm warning when the lightning strike occurred and that the facility had been receiving reports of bad weather all day. She said she didn’t know what the cadets were doing when the accident occurred.
CNN affiliate WDAM reported that four of the cadets were close to the lightning when it struck.
The personnel were sent for medical evaluation because they were in the area of the lightning strike at a training site on Camp Shelby around 2 p.m., Musgrave said in a news release.
“We always want to be safe,” she said.
The remaining personnel at Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center quickly responded to the situation to ensure that anyone injured received medical attention, Musgrave said.
Over the next week, news of Scott’s faith reached Sherry. They began studying Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Lifetogether, discussing chapters every day by e-mail and then by phone. Scott told Sherry that he wanted to rebuild their relationship, but this time with God in control and at the center. Sherry said she wanted the same thing, realizing “This is the Christian husband that God has for me.” Sherry hoped that someday she and Scott would remarry “But we needed to do it God’s way.”Sherry had heard about FamilyLife’s marriage conference on the radio—how it helped couples understand and apply God’s blueprints for their marriage. She told Scott, “We aren’t going one more step until we find a Weekend to Remember.” A few days later, Scott registered them for one in Philadelphia.
AP Photo
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Five Mexican players, including goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa, have tested positive for a banned substance and are out of the Gold Cup. How will this change the team’s prospects? Jeff Carlisle breaks it down. 
The Daily Hatch 
