“We’re Man United, we do what we want,” sing their fans.

It is possible that Barcelona have their own anthem of a similar message. And if they do not, then they should get one. The Catalan magicians have confirmed their greatness by despatching Manchester United in untouchable style. Just as they did two years ago, England’s finest team were pulled apart, and an even harsher footballing lesson was received. They can offer no excuses, and did not offer them. To be beaten by a team of this quality will register as no disgrace once the pain has healed.

Read it all.

…Here is something most people don’t know about Barcelona: Unlike every other famous soccer team in the world that thrives on possession and ball control, they do something unique during matches. They run as if their bikini briefs are on fire.

According to Stats Inc., which tracks the distance each player travels in a match, Barcelona’s players have covered 627,366 meters of turf during their six Champions League knockout-round matches, or about 390 miles. Its opponents, meanwhile, have run 611,120 meters or 380 miles, about 3% less, which is significant considering they are all chasing the same ball…

On its face, this makes absolutely no sense….[so how could it be true?]

The answer to the riddle is that for all the superlatives lobbed at Barcelona for its artistry with the ball, its central weapon, and perhaps its defining strength, is what happens when the other team does get its cleats on the ball….
The answer to the riddle is that for all the superlatives lobbed at Barcelona for its artistry with the ball, its central weapon, and perhaps its defining strength, is what happens when the other team does get its cleats on the ball….

Read it all.

Simply wonderful.

With just over a year left before the Games come to the capital, churches are drawing up their plans for coordinated outreach and engagement during the Games.

David Willson, chief executive of More than Gold, the umbrella group for outreach during the Games, has coordinated church engagement in Sydney, Athens, Beijing and Vancouver.

He said there were more churches and agencies getting behind the London Olympics than with any other Games previously.

Read it all.

Watch it all.

A penalty from Wayne Rooney allowed Manchester United to clinch a record 19th league title following a 1-1 draw with Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park.

Tomasz Kuszczak was a surprise inclusion in the Manchester United line-up, and it was his mistake that allowed Brett Emerton to fire Blackburn into the lead on 20 minutes. The Polish goalkeeper palmed Emerton’s initial cross into the path of Martin Olsson, who sent the ball to the back post for Emerton to volley home.

Read it all.

Watch it all and a version is there also.

Also, I found a good written description there.

Manchester United defeated Chelsea 2-1 at Old Trafford on Sunday, virtually clinching the Premier League title. United would have to lose its last two games, with Chelsea winning its final two””a combined scenario which is extremely improbable. It would be United’s 19th championship, putting the club one ahead of Liverpool as the most-successful domestic side in the English game.

…it was somehow fitting that the four men responsible for United’s goals were those who proved crucial to the club this season. Park’s playing time had been limited through injury and participation in the Asian Cup””he was out from late December to early April””but it was the hard-running Korean who scored the winner against Arsenal at Old Trafford, sending United to the top of the table. Vidic, the rugged defensive colossus, played more Premier League minutes than anyone else and gave an injury-plagued back four some much-needed stability. Hernandez, the newly arrived Mexican striker, went from project to super-sub to stalwart, chipping in 13 league goals””many of them late, many of them decisive.

Read it all.

My goodness!

Watch it all–wow.

The NBA’s leading scorer walks slowly into the Oklahoma City Thunder locker room, his eyes fixed on an open black leather Bible with his name engraved on the cover.

A pack of reporters awaits him, but he remains embedded in Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, a book in the New Testament. He reads carefully in front of his locker for several minutes, marking favored passages with a light blue highlight pen.

Shortly after reading the command, “Find your strength in the Lord, in his mighty power,” Kevin Durant closes his Bible and lifts his eyes to the reporters.

Read it all.

Manchester City reached the FA Cup Final for the first time in 30 years with victory over derby rivals Manchester United at Wembley.

Yaya Toure demonstrated power and poise to take advantage of Michael Carrick’s mistake to score after 52 minutes and set up another Wembley date against either Bolton Wanderers or Stoke City in May.

Read it all.

Check it out–it is on the front page of the local paper.

Four birdies in a row to close it. Wow.

At the tender age of just 21, Rory McIlroy stands on the brink of golfing immortality after another nerveless display at the US Masters in Augusta. At 12 under par, McIlroy will take a four shot lead into the final round later today.

Even with Tiger Woods unable to mount the charge he was looking for and defending champion Phil Mickelson remaining in the pack, McIlroy found it tough going for much of the third round.

But then, as the sun went down, the Holywood wonder kid regained control of the season’s opening major in thrilling fashion. After finding the green and two-putting the 13th and 15th, the two par fives on the back nine, McIlroy gave his biggest fist-pump of the week when he rolled in a 25-footer at the 17th.

Read it all.

Wow.

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson declared his side performed like “champions” to beat West Ham.

The Premier League leaders recovered from 2-0 down to win 4-2 with striker Wayne Rooney getting a hat-trick.

“We played like champions,” said Ferguson. “It was a real championship performance as far as I’m concerned.”

Read it all.

Check out what he wore yesterday at opening day–my goodness.

Call it a buzz kill, but anyone younger than 21 who brings alcohol to the Carolina Cup next month in Camden will find it harder to slip in and party.

Kershaw County deputies will be cracking down at the April 2 event by checking coolers and IDs. They will confiscate booze and arrest violators. And those particularly wily kids will find they no longer can hire a local adult to carry their booze onto the site.

Kershaw County officers are focusing on “College Park,” an area where thousands of young people ”” high school through young adults ”” have met for years to overindulge during the horse races, said newly elected Sheriff Jim Matthews.

Read it all.

The goal came with two minutes left. Wow.

Watch it all–wow.

When 7-year-old Amalya Knapp took the beam at the New Jersey state gymnastics finals last month, her excellent performance symbolized a far more complicated balancing act.

Although she would have ranked fifth in her age group, eligible for a medal, her individual scores were discounted. She was unable to compete on a Saturday because of her Orthodox Jewish family’s observance of the Sabbath.

“I was upset,” Amalya said, “but my mother told me there are decisions you have to make.”

Read it all.

An Anglican priest in British Columbia has earned a PhD for his research into the spirituality of snowboarding.

Rev. Neil Elliot of St. Andrews Anglican Church in Trail began his studies 10 years ago in England, pulling together a love of snowboarding, an interest in spirituality and a desire to understand the relationship between spirituality and religion.

It was the word “soulriding” that first captured his attention more than a dozen years ago, while he was living in England and snowboarding in the Alps in Europe. The term made him wonder if there was a spiritual dimension to carving a path down a mountain.

Read it all.

[STEFAN FATSIS]…Columnists and commentators love to defend righteous acts. But I think there’s more to this conversation.

[MICHELE] NORRIS: More like what?

[STEFAN] FATSIS: Well, these rules, for one thing. We haven’t heard much about whether these rules are applied uniformly across the student body. And it’s also worth noting that Brandon Davies is African-American, and the last two athletes who left their BYU teams for the same reason are of Pacific Island descent. And this is a campus that is overwhelmingly white.

Then you’ve got the stickier subject of whether these rules should maybe be questioned by people outside of the Mormon Church. And finally, I think it bears asking, you know, does BYU’s willingness to shame a 19-year-old in such a public way, is that the best approach, honor code or not?

Read or listen to it all. I happened to catch this yesterday in the car running an errand and what struck me was this phrase: BYU’s willingness to shame a 19-year-old in such a public way. Ah, so this is the university’s fault. Except, hang on now. First, the young man in question signed up for this school knowing the honor code on the front end of his whole undergraduate undertaking. So the possibility of bad consequences is something he already agreed to. Second, the young man is the one who has shamed himself, no?

This reminds me a bit of discussions in the house when I was growing up (with two parents who were teachers). One more than one occasion it was noted that when students do well a person will say “I got an A” but when things go wrong, what happens? The rhetoric changes to “the teacher failed me.” Oh what a tangled web we weave–KSH.

Future historians will long puzzle over how the self-immolation of a Tunisian street vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, in protest over the confiscation of his fruit stand, managed to trigger popular uprisings across the Arab/Muslim world. We know the big causes ”” tyranny, rising food prices, youth unemployment and social media. But since being in Egypt, I’ve been putting together my own back-of-the-envelope guess list of what I’d call the “not-so-obvious forces” that fed this mass revolt. Here it is….

THE BEIJING OLYMPICS China and Egypt were both great civilizations subjected to imperialism and were both dirt poor back in the 1950s, with China even poorer than Egypt, Edward Goldberg, who teaches business strategy, wrote in The Globalist. But, today, China has built the world’s second-largest economy, and Egypt is still living on foreign aid. What do you think young Egyptians thought when they watched the dazzling opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics? China’s Olympics were another wake-up call ”” “in a way that America or the West could never be” ”” telling young Egyptians that something was very wrong with their country, argued Goldberg….

Read it all.

Read it all. The penalty was definitely weak, but Chelsea did well to come back in the second half–KSH.

The words came up on Alicia Duerson’s cellphone as blithely as text messages typically do, but this one was different: her former husband, the former Chicago Bears star Dave Duerson, asked her to donate his brain for research.

She texted back and heard nothing, then called their son, Tregg, who was just ending his workday as a bank analyst in Chicago. They called again and got voice mail.

The next and last message they received from Dave Duerson was meant for them, their family and perhaps all of professional football. It was written in his hurried hand, repeating his text message in case it had not been received, and found in the South Florida condominium where he placed a gun to his chest and shot himself to death last Thursday.

“Please, see that my brain is given to the N.F.L.’s brain bank.”

Read it all.

God whose strength bears us up as on mighty wings: We rejoice in remembering thy athlete and missionary, Eric Liddell, to whom thou didst bestow courage and resolution in contest and in captivity; and we pray that we also may run with endurance the race that is set before us and persevere in patient witness, until we wear that crown of victory won for us by Jesus our Savior; who with thee and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.