Manchester City going coo-coo for Kaka

Manchester City might be paying $147 million for star soccer forward Kaka which, according to SI.com, would be over twice the world record Real Madrid paid to acquire Zinedine Zidane in 2001. However, some people are stepping up at the unfairness of big money teams taking advantage of their wealth.

Mohammed Al-Fayed, owner of Fulham, has brought up the need for the English Premier League to void the transfer and instill a salary cap.

“It’s madness,” said Al-Fayed. “If you have one fantastic striker, what about the rest of the team, the players around him? It’s gambling to do things like that. It’s bad news for football because it’s crazy.”

How young is too young? 

The NCAA has lowered the prospect age for college basketball recruiting to kids in Grade 7.

“It’s a little scary only because - we talked about this - where does it stop?” said Joe D’Antonio on SI.com. D’Antonio is chairman of the Division I Legislative Council that approved lowering the prospect age.

Just imagine, you are 13 and colleges are talking to you about where you’re going to school in six years. Most 13-year-olds can’t even decide what to do with their allowance.

The church of the Habs

University of Montreal professor Olivier Bauer has started a course exploring the religion that is the Montreal Canadiens.

According to TSN.ca, Bauer, who was born in Sweden, noticed many similarities between le bleu, blanc, et rouge and religion when he moved to Montreal.

Somethings Bauer talks about in his lectures are Patrick Roy’s nickname Saint Patrick and people who sometimes call current Habs goaltender Carey Price ‘the savior.’

Heart problems for Russians in hockey

It seems that the KHL (Kontinental Hockey League) is taking the correct measures to make sure that the death of 19-year-old New York Rangers prospect Alexei Cherepanov will not happen again. Since Cherepanov’s heart condition took his life, five Russian hockey players have been reported to have heart issues.

According to the Moscow News Weekly, 49 players have undergone testing to make sure the problem does not grow and 18 players still have yet to be checked.

Although it is scary that more hockey players are being found with heart issues, it is good to hear that an incident like Cherepanov’s is trying to be prevented.

Un-retiring: a new trend

Tennis great Martina Hingis returned to competitive tennis last Tuesday with straight set wins over Vera Zvonareva 6-1, 6-2.

Hingis, who retired three years ago, seems to be in tip-top shape in her return to the Australian Open as she put together 17 winners and 11 unforced errors.

She joins a list of recent un-retired super stars including Brett Favre and Roger Clemens. Hopefully, she has more success than Favre, who missed the playoffs, and Clemens, who may or may not have been caught using steroids.

Published in Volume 63, Number 17 of The Uniter (January 22, 2009)