Diego Bitten during Kiss Goodnight

This would be vaguely sweet if it weren't so obviously silly.

Diego Maradona, he who was hospitalized and took sutures when his dog bit him ... was "saying goodnight" to his Shar Pei when he got nipped. Well, more than nipped. He needed 10 stitches to close a wound on his lip.

Read about it here. It's just too good.

There's a joke here somewhere about kissing dogs ... Make one up yourself.

His doctor says Diego told him "it's common he gets close to the dog like this before he goes to bed."

Have we already suggested that Diego is capable of anything ... and anything can happen to him?

Well, we're saying it again.

And, meantime, he may want to keep his face out of his dog's face. That might have been the clearest message here. "Hey, dude, back off. You're creeping me out." Read more!

Up Next: Copyright on 'World'

Fifa is outta control!

Three South African companies that make calendars are going to take the world soccer organizing body to court over its claims that "2010" is an intellectual property belonging to Fifa.

No. Really.

Here is the story.

The Johannesburg Sunday Times pokes fun at the concept, a big, by putting one of those little "TM" notations after the number 2010. You know, just in case Fifa's legal beagles go after the newspaper.

Seems hard to imagine that Fifa could actually sue the companies for "breach" of special legislation passed a year ago.

What's next? Newspapers printed with only the day and the month -- and not the year?

Schoolkids warned to leave 2010 off the papers they turn in?

Sports leagues referring to the "season after the 2009 season" when talking about 2010?

Or maybe a Fifa lawyer calling me up and demanding we change the name of this blog from countdown-sa2010 to something else. Perhaps countdown-safifaworldcup2010?

I wouldn't put anything past these guys. Read more!

Fabregas, Rooney Injured; World Cup at Risk?

They went down on consecutive nights. Two of the best players in the English Premier League. And the world.

Their Premiership seasons are at risk.

The question here is: Are their South Africa 2010 plans in jeopardy?

We must wait and see. But two days after Cesc Fabregas of Spain/Arsenal and Wayne Rooney of England/Manchester United were hurt, here are the early indications:

--Fabregas is in trouble. He suffered a broken leg while taking a penalty in the 85th minute of a Champions League game with Barcelona. He will be out at least six weeks, according to his club coach, Arsene Wenger. And with the World Cup only 10 weeks away, it's difficult to imagine he will be in peak condition for South Africa.

Spain is not hurting for talent. It has great players nearly everywhere. Actually, Espana started Fabregas only three times during qualifying. But he has grown in the past year, and you can't lose a player of his caliber and not be the less for it. And you can't play a Fabregas who isn't quite healthy and be the same team. So he bears close watching.

--Rooney may be OK. He rolled his ankle violently in ManU's match with Bayern Munich. But the team said today nothing is broken. Just "ligament damage" is what they are calling it. Which sounds like trainer-speak for a sprain. Now, sprains are nothing to sniff at, especially for a big lad like Rooney. His immediate availability with ManU is going to suffer, but if he gets some time to heal he ought to be ready for South Africa.

Clearly, all serious fans want all the top players to be healthy. That's what the World Cup should be about. The best against the best. But the endless club seasons make it a near-certainty that some elite players won't be there. Those who get hurt in the next few weeks are even more like to miss the Big Event.
Read more!

Settling the Safety Issue Once and for All?

Interpol has been down to South Africa, poked around, checked the chatter on its listening posts and decided no tangible threats to the 2010 World Cup exist.

Well, that takes care of that, doesn't it? Imagine the international cops brushing their hands together and saying, "All done!"

"Nothing to see here! Move along!"

Here is a sort of epitome of hubris about security. A comprehensive, "hey, what could go wrong?" that in works of fiction would demand something ugly to prove the authorities wrong.

If you were the cops, wouldn't you give all this World Cup stuff a more careful, middling assessment? Along the lines of, "we like their plan; it looks good; big events can be unpredictable and we know they are working hard, and we are here to help, if needed."

Instead of the Interpol honcho telling journalists: "South Africa's planning covers everything. South African planning is above our expectations." (Emphasis added.)

Can anyone ever say a plan cover everything?

Of course not. Ask the security people at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Or those at Munich in 1972.

Terrorists can be cunning. Just because they haven't been active in South Africa, on some large scale ... doesn't mean it can't happen.

Then we have the harsh facts of South Africa's crime rate: It is No. 2 in the world both in murders per capita and total murders. (Trailing only Colombia in both stats.) Does regular one-on-one crime fall under South Africa's amazing, all-encompassing plan?

This is just a silly, scary story. It is organizations that believe it has every eventuality covered ... is one likely to get sloppy and open to mistakes. Just sayin'. Read more!

Maradona Hospitalized, Has Surgery

Admit it. You see that headline ... and you don't know where to go with it.

Diego Maradona, coach of the Argentine national team, has had such an erratic/sickly/substance-addled life ... you see he's in a hospital ... and you think, "Well, OK ... it could be just about anything."

In this case? Diego was bitten by his dog. He has had surgery on his face. Diego. Not the dog.

And what this reinforces is that the Argentines, as good as they are (and they are very good, individually) are led by the most erratic coach in the South Africa 2010 World Cup. Whoever is second isn't within a country mile of Mad Maradona.

(Unless one of those other 31 gentlemen have been hiding some massively corrosive personal shortcomings that include rampant cocaine usage, near-death experiences from substance abuse and, now, attacks from their own dogs.)

If I were Argentina's fans, or bettors on Argentina ... well, I would be worried. Because this guy is a loose cannon. A goofball. A man who can barely get through the day. A disaster waiting to happen.

And he is expected to make the decisions to get Argentina through the World Cup?

So, today it is a dog that put Diego Maradona in the hospital. What will it be next time?

Whatever it is, it won't surprise us.

And here is an update with a few more details. A couple of fun facts: Diego was playing with his Shar Pei and got wounds on his mouth ... ick. Also, the hospital he went to is the same he went to in 2007 to get his liver fixed up.

Sigh.
Read more!

Ivory Coast Picks Sven-Goran

Hey, what was the rush? Ivory Coast finally settled on a coach for South Africa 2010, which begins in all of 74 days. And it is the Swede Sven-Goran Eriksson, best known as England's boss at two World Cups.

He has more than two months to figure out the Elephants and point them toward the correct goal.

What? You mean he never did figure out Mexico in 10 months running El Tri?

Uh-oh.

This has the feel of one of those marriages made in ... hell.

Guus Hiddink would have been the perfect guy for this job. A month ago. Bora Milutinovic, even.

Sven-Goran just gives off a vibe that he may not be able to coach outside Europe. Something kind of stuffy and mechanical and joyless about him that seems to say, "Let him coach a team from some cold, wet country. Or maybe Italy."

Ivory Coast is wet, but it's never cold.

It will be interesting to see how he gets along.

To be sure, Ivory Coast has talent. Just a few months ago, the Elephants were the fashionable choice as the "African team that will make a deep run in 2010."

Then came the draw into the official 2010 World Cup "Group of Death," a quartet that includes Brazil and Portugal (gulp). Followed by a spotty performance in the Cup of African Nations, followed by this really, really drawn-out search for a mercenary coach.

Hiddink was caught between commitments to Russia (leaving) and Turkey (about to arrive). So he fell out. And by the time Ivory Coast finished its dithering, Sven-Goran apparently looked as good as anyone else.

At least it doesn't have to last long. Ivory Coast could be eliminated as early as June 20, the day it plays Brazil. After opening with Portugal on June 15. Two defeats, and it could be buried even before it gets the eminently beatable North Koreans on June 25.

Did we mention Ivory Coast has talent? Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou, Yaya Toure, Emmanuel Eboue ... all of whom play in England or Spain.

Anyway, Sven-Goran needs to get a look at these guys in the flesh, firm up the defense, figure out a way to get a result from Portugal or Brazil, and perhaps he can make some African history.

More likely, we're thinking, he will not. And he may already be back in Europe by the time Ivory Coast plays North Korea on June 25 to wrap up the group stage. Read more!

And on the Third Day, Becks Is Healed?

We shift from mind games to spiritual ... games?

This is one of the stranger sports medicine stories of recent times.

David Beckham has a ruptured Achilles tendon. It has been surgically repaired. Now he needs something like six months to rehabilitate. It is a serious injuries.

But a "spiritual healer" from Sri Lanka says he can get Beckham healthy in three days.

Ohh-kay.

Our first reaction to this idea is ... "balderdash!" Second reaction? "Quack!"

Then you read a little deeper, and India's best cricket player, Sachin Tendulkar, says this doctor/healer helped heal his knee.

The guy, named Eliyantha Lindsay White, is the "personal physician" of the president of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapakse. And it was President Rajapakse who offered his healer to Becks.

Hmm.

The doctor apparently uses ayurvedic medicine, traditional medicine native to the subcontinent. It calls for herbs, massage and yoga. For us science-based Yanks, it sounds like quackery. But I should note that our insurance here in the UAE covers ayurvedic.

Where Dr. Eliyantha is involved, though, it gets a little more exotic, as this story notes.

I suppose I am willing to listen to someone promulgating treatment from a country with an ancient culture. But when Dr. Eliyantha suggests he has "special powers" ... and that "when someone sits before me with an ailment I can study his reports and feel his system, but what is more important I can see a light, as small as a welder's sparkle and I begin to hear and sense the medication for his ailment."

Anyway, the point is this: Dude says he can fix Beckham.

"I am ready to treat him," the good doctor said. "His condition can be easily treated and within three days he will be able to go back to playing. ... His case is simple. He can be treated. He can play again."

Well ...

What does Beckham have to lose? Plane fare to Colombo, maybe?

Anyway, if this guy fixes Beckham and we see him in England's starting lineup at South Africa 2010 on June 12 ... well, I may be taking a hop over to see about this achy back. Read more!