Anyhow, I’m all for giving them an Oscar for good acting, though.

Forza Azurri!

If the 2002 scandal was an issue (& there is certainly one in 2006), then that just paints a consistent picture. “Preponderance of Evidence”. 2002 incident doesn’t lessent he 2006 incident, they *collectively* point to an Ethics/Standards issue.

All Sports are being rocked by Cheating Scandals, the PED (Performance Enhancing Drugs) is a really serious widespread problem. If 1 athlete uses them..& gets away with it, then other athletes feel compelled to do it. If they don’t, they can’t compete (& can’t win). Obviously, the Sanctioning Body has to step in with Rules & Enforcement (drug tests). Unfortunately, Science/Bio-Tech is getting a black-eye here, just like the A-Bomb (“explosive technology”): it’s being used for malevolent purposes.

I won’t forget the infamous Olympics boxing scandal, where a S. Korean boxer was given a decision over an American boxer (black)..after the American clearly won the fight. There were allegations of bribes (“diamonds given to the refs”).

I’m against any violation of Ethics, Integrity, Credibility. Italy’s win is tainted, I’m playing no favorites. “Cheaters never Prosper”

Here’s a good essay on Ethics/Integrity, Man in the Glass, & here

Can Team Italy look at themselves in the Glass? If they do, then they have problems..

The rules of the World Cup should have a clause, regarding Ethics & Sportsmanship. The US Military (West Point) was rocked by a Cheating Scandal back in the 70′s (& even now, with harassment of female cades @Air Force Academy), whereupon they had to amend the U.S. Cadet Code of Conduct:

“A cadet does not engage in Cheating, NOR DOES HE CONDONE IT (if he witnesses it)”
[ to prevent a "Code of Silence" situation, thereby fueling cheating situations. It's actually emblazened on a large stone on the Air Force Academy campus ]

If half of the Italian squad is implicated, & the World Cup allows them to walk away with a championship..what does that say about the Credibility of the WC?

“Once you lost Credibility, YOU CAN NEVER GET IT BACK”
– from a Journalism ethics website

I wonder if some enterprising soul/entity will file a protest (& possible legal-action), claiming disqualification of Italy..thereby handing the championship to France? An Indy 500 result ended up getting wrapped up in a court-case (B. Unser & M. Andretti), before the final result was handed down. The “passing under yellow” rule was the issue, & a lawsuit was filed to have it enforced!

Sportsmanship & Ethics, the Integrity of the Game. The World Cup is about unity of countries all over the world, where they can ignore politics/war & come together (“even playing field”) for some sportsmanlike competition. “May the best player win!”

Possibly didn’t happen, with the Italian soccer scandal.

Recall the 2002 Winter Olympics skating scandal, they actually rectified the situation by awarding TWO gold medals (public outrage forced the Olympic committee to “upgrade” the 2nd place Canadian team). This prompted a lashback, “this defeats the purpose of a gold medal, you can’t have 2 winners!”

There may be some motivation for FIFA World Cup to do something similar. I don’t think they can have their image tarnished by a WC champion (Italy) go around with this “cloud of suspicion”. Look at the recent Tour de France blood doping scandal, the offenders were flat out DQ’d from competition (an Italian cyclist accused L. Armstrong/USA of cheating, a book came out & lawsuits were filed). TDF is taking a stand against cheating, enforcing rules (DQ’d 2 of the top cyclists, Basso & Ulrich) & preventing it from tarnishing their Sport & public-image.

“The predictive power of a Theory”

You’re all scientists, & understand the “global implications” of a local phenomena. This type of “game fixing, refs being paid off” must extend beyond Italian soccer, how big of a problem is it elsewhere? Short response to a solution: Rules & Enforcement. Some education of players/managers, a sports-wide mandate should be implemented. Olympics have 2 stages of blood testing. Some athletes were DQ’d & sent packing home, after failed drug tests at the recent Greek Olympics.

“What’s the point, in participating in a Competition, where there isn’t a ‘level playing field’? May as well go home.”

Italia!

Italia!

Italia!

No poker!
No physics!
Yes Italia! Let’s talk about Italia!

Honk your horn for Italia!
Beep! Beep!

Please.

After an even 1-1 game (although France dominated the game late..with ball-control & possession), it came down to a missed PK (hit the dang crossbar!?) from France. Announcers said Italy was lucky that France didn’t score on them late in the game (when they were dominating), France was lucky that the Italy goal was nullified (close offside call by ref). Luck, Luck..& more luck!

In the end, Italy had the last “Lady Luck” smile on them..

“That’s all She [ Lady Luck ] wrote”

In the History books

“I’d rather be Lucky, than Good..ANY DAY”
– famous saying in Auto Racing

“The Thrill of Victory, & the Agony of Defeat”
– ABC Sports

I feel for Team France, they deserved better. (“You’ve come too far!!”) Devastated players sitting on the ground, contemplating what could have been.. At this level, there are NO losers..only survivors.

“Wanna be a great Scientist? Make sure you HAVE A LOT OF LUCK!”
– Leon Lederman, “From Student to Scientist”

“Let Luck reign when the LHC comes on-line next year”

Who will be that “lucky team” who will make a great discovery next year?

But I think it’s a fair outcome as the chain of events that ensued put Italy as heavy odds as both Zidane and Henry were not on the shootout roster as the rule requires that only the men standing in the field after the extra time qualify to participate in the shootout. So even if the first ten players scored for either team, Italy would still have been one up …

That being said, I think one of the “problems” with americans and football is that they rarely watch any game, and when they do it it’s (evidently) the final. Which may seem like a boring game, being so much at stake, and in this case, having 2 teams with excellent defences. I remember all my american friends complaining after the final in ’94 (Brazil – Italy, the other final to be decided in PK’s). What I remember from that world cup was the game Argentina – Netherlands, one of the finest matches I will get to see in my life. In this one, it may be too soon to tell, but I think I will not forget Mexico – Argentina in a while.

They are showing referees gettting medals..well BS!, the missed the call (the girl analyst mockingly said she’s never seen officials get medals).

There is talk of the Italy scandal, about officials being influenced by $$. “The fix is in”. Just like the infamous cheating scandal in Ice Skating (the female French judge pressured by another judge, to give the incumbent skaters favorable marks).

“It’s all rigged”
– xxx, ex-Northrop engineer
[ about getting US Govt contracts for fighter-aircraft, "there's no fair play" in the contract-bidding system ]

Same deal with Science Research, is more about “Salesmanship & Schmoozing” (“The golden rule: He who has the Gold, Rules”), as per IPAC/Caltech (written by one of K. Thorne’s ex-PhD students). Same thing with NASA becoming more of an “Entertainment” agency (halucination w/manned-Mars mission), than one which funds projects that supports Science. I heard that Stanford is more interested in projects which bring $$ into the university (as opposed to the quality of Research)..this is true for most Universities (to varying degrees).

Were the refs “paid off” by wealthy Italian-based mafia? Conspiracy Theories are welcome! Given all the Sports Scandals (blood doping in this years Tour De France..3 major riders thrown out: Basso, Ulrich, xxx, Baseball’s steroids scandal..B. Bonds trainer thrown in jail recently, et al), you have a situation called “Preponderance of Evidence”. Can’t give “benefit of the doubt”, there’s too much cr*p going on..

“The Almighty Dollar”
“Money talks, BS walks”

France deserved to win, but I guess Italy “stole it” at the end. Italy lost the shootout in ’94 (against Brazil), but “turnaround is fair play”.

Announcers are talking about the soccer scandal rocking Italy, & the bad play by Zitane (France).