Tag: SOCCER

According to The Telegraph, the Italian mafia has been using a soccer TV show's interactive text messaging feature to communicate messages to imprisoned bosses. As part of the show 'Quelli che il Calcio,' fans send in text messages which are displayed on a ticker, while host Simona Ventura chats onscreen about soccer. Apparently, mafia goons would send seemingly mundane phrases, like "All is ...

We aren't 'football' experts, but even we notice that the flight path of the Adidas Jabulani ball, the official ball of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, is unpredictable to say the least. Nearly every kick seems to send the ball knuckling, slicing or hooking past the goal. Apparently, there's a scientific reason for its awkward trajectory. According to The Mirror, aerodynamics experts at NASA claim that ...

After steadfastly adhering to a no-tech policy, FIFA's flighty leader Sepp Blatter has acquiesced that -- in the midst of an escalating international furor -- soccer needs to once again "reopen the file on technology." His "technology file" grows increasingly full, though, because FIFA has repeatedly investigated the use of goal-line cameras, video replays and sensor-equipped balls. With each ...

In 2004, the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) awarded South Africa the privilege of hosting Africa's first World Cup. Based on concerns -- both legitimate and ethnocentric -- over crime, violence and inadequate facilities, some observers immediately proclaimed the tournament doomed. But the World Cup, which is now in its 80th year, is currently enjoying enormous success and ...

Share In celebration of... well, we're not sure what exactly (perhaps to raise awareness of migraine sufferers), Google has added a vuvuzela button to YouTube. Just click the soccer ball icon to overlay a loop of the blaring World Cup staples over almost any video on the site. It's great for transforming seemingly harmless clips (of bunnies staring, for instance) into terrifying, Stanley ...

If you missed Landon Donovan's game-winning goal in the waning minutes of the USA's World Cup match against Algeria, you missed a milestone moment in American soccer and the Internet. According to Mashable, Internet traffic on 100 major news sites, as tracked by Akamai's Net Usage Index, spiked to a whopping 11.2 million visitors-per-minute after Donovan nailed the net. While that's not quite as ...

Earlier this week, Brazil's national soccer team beat North Korea at the World Cup. The result wasn't shocking, but the fact that North Korea actually has a soccer team certainly took us by surprise. The team may be the lowest ranked squad in the tournament, and the country may be making its first World Cup appearance in 44 years, but the underdog of this year's Cup apparently has a secret, ...

While it might be overshadowed by the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the Robocup, a soccer tournament for robots, is also happening right now. According to Physorg, researchers from Carnegie Mellon University have developed a computer algorithm for the American robo-team that allows the bots to anticipate and predict how the ball will move around the pitch. The goal of the Robocup is for researchers to ...

Vuvuzelas, those long plastic horns, are inescapable at this year's World Cup. The stadium horns, as they're sometimes known, are as integral a part of the soccer experience in South Africa as fight songs are in the U.K. Outside of South Africa, though, the horns are regarded largely as an annoyance. The sound generated by the constant blaring of the "instruments" has been compared to the sound ...

While most of us have been spending our evenings watching Glen "Big Baby" Davis slobber all over the NBA Finals, the rest of mankind, for whatever reason, is caught up in something called the 'World Cup.' From what we've heard, it's some sort of grandiose international event where people from historically war-torn nations find new excuses to burn the cars of their former colonizers, drunk ...

The global fascination with sports thrusts professional competitors into an inescapable communal spotlight, a lesson learned long ago by the first tweeting athletes. Players and owners from both the NBA and NFL continue to draw the ire of league officials for sexual, bigoted and inopportune Twitter updates. While patronizing and condescending European "football" clubs may dismiss U.S. soccer, the ...

The 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa is nearly upon us, and, to get in the soccer spirit, Google has introduced a soccer Easter egg on its search results page. According to Geekosystem, when you enter "world cup" into Google's search bar, the page index at the bottom of the screen reads "Gooooooooooal!" instead of the company's name. This trick also works when you enter other phrases like ...

Share We're flooded by PR pitches, with various announcements of gadgets and gizmos a-plenty, hoozits and whatzits galore, from celebrity endorsements to industry ratings, and every now and again, info on "Brexting." But today, we received news of a collaboration so mind-blowing, self-referential, and fairly awesome that we have to post it. Nothing says World Cup Soccer like 'Star Wars,' so ...

In less than one month, the entire planet will turn its attention toward South Africa -- home of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Despite our usual distaste for this sport, we can't help being swept up in the patriotism that accompanies this 32-team tournament. Playing on that, Facebook has launched a page that tracks fans' passion for their country's team. According to the Facebook blog, the Facebook ...

According to Media Week, The Sun will become the first national newspaper to publish in 3-D this summer. In preparation for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa beginning on June 11th, the Rupert Murdoch-owned British rag will publish with an extra dimension (requiring those snazzy, headache-inducing red and cyan glasses) in the June 5th issue. Of course, it's not just soccer stories, images and ...