Hello Celebritys

It ranks up there with the best of them, this is hilarious!

This is excellent news for fans of the English Premier League on this side of the pond. Fox Sports International is now in negotiations with ESPN to sublicense some of their rights to the Premier League. You know what that means, more matches available for EPL fans in the United States.

EPLTalk.com

According to sources, ESPN and Fox Sports International are currently in negotiations for FSI to sublicense some of the Barclays Premier League TV rights in the U.S. through 2013 to ESPN.

According to sources, it is understood that ESPN is looking for expanded rights in the U.S. that will allow the company to feature the matches on more platforms than in its previous 2009-2010 season agreement. That agreement only allowed ESPN to televise the matches on ESPN2. For the 2010-13 seasons, it’s likely that the games will also be available on ESPN3.com in addition to ESPN2.

The Netherlands and Spain will go at it Sunday afternoon in the final match of the 2010 World Cup from South Africa. Two of Europe’s best teams will face off on the World’s biggest stage for a trophy that neither country has ever been able to secure. Spain comes into this match as the favorite, but the Dutch are riding a hot streak and feeling good about their chances.

I am torn on this match because obviously both sides are talented or they wouldn’t have put their teams in this position to be in the World Cup Final. Outside of Spain’s 1-0 opening loss to Switzerland, they have been solid and have only lost two matches since 2006 but… the Oranje are on a streak of their own having gone unbeaten throughout qualifying and at the finals.

The Netherlands offense has been electric at times and they have the ability to score goals, but on the other side, goals against Spain have been far and few between. I am definitely rooting for Netherlands, but my gut is telling me that Spain will take care of business. La Furia Roja will take down the Flying Dutchmen 2-1 to win their first ever World Cup.

One of the biggest controversies outside of refereeing in this World Cup has been the Adidas Jabulani ball. Before the World Cup even started players were complaining about the ball and saying it felt cheap. Well, NASA has gotten involved, and it looks like the players might have a legit beef…

Yahoo Sports

NASA's aerodynamics people at the Ames Investigation Centre managed to get some MLS players to kick a very dusty Jabulani around to what sounds like a soundtrack from a 1970s instructional video. The tests confirm what everyone has been saying: Jabulani's scanty 440-gram weight, coupled with the high-altitude conditions in South Africa, means when at speeds of 44 mph or more the ball becomes susceptible to something called the "knuckle effect." That's aerodynamic shorthand for "it swerves all around like crazy at high speeds because of the air flow on the seams and stuff," VIDEO

I don’t know how much of a factor this really is, but for anyone who has watched a lot of the World Cup, you can tell that some players aren’t comfortable with the ball. There have been a lot of shots and free kicks that have sailed 10-15 feet over the goal.

The World Cup semifinals get underway this afternoon with Uruguay vs. Netherlands starting the action followed by Germany vs. Spain tomorrow afternoon. I expect both games to be extremely entertaining and before things get going, I have to get my predictions in.

Let’s start with today’s game between Uruguay and the Netherlands. Both teams have obviously played good or they wouldn’t be here. Uruguay is coming off a controversial win over Ghana and will be missing key striker Luis Suarez after his red card in the last match for his hand ball. The Netherlands are coming off their 2-1 upset over Brazil and are feeling pretty good about themselves. The Uruguay defense has been great throughout the World Cup, but I don’t think it will be enough to slow down The Flying Dutchmen, give me Netherlands 1-0 over Uruguay.

The game I am excited for is Germany vs. Spain. The Germans didn’t go to South Africa to mess around, they came to win and outside of one slip up in the group stage, have been on an absolute war path in this World Cup. They have dismantled England and Argentina, and Spain looks to be the next victim. Although Spain isn’t a pushover and came into this tournament as one of the favorites, they haven’t been impressive. If David Villa isn’t scoring for the Spaniards it doesn’t look like anyone else will. I’ve got Germany over Spain 2-1.

This is a long way off, but it’s still great news none the less. Martin Tyler will be returning to ESPN for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Associated Press

ESPN is keeping broadcaster Martin Tyler for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

"We have a deal with Martin for 2014," Jed Drake, the executive producer of ESPN's World Cup coverage, said in an interview at the network's office overlooking Soccer City.

Tyler is regarded as one of the top soccer announcers in Britain, where he broadcasts the Premier League and Champions League for Sky Sports. He is part of ESPN's all-British play-by-play crew for this year's World Cup matches, joined by Adrian Healey, Derek Rae and Ian Darke.

ESPN has done a tremendous job on this year’s World Cup and it looks like it will continue on that path. Tyler is one of the best known soccer announcers in the world and is also the voice for EA Sports FIFA video game series. There is nothing bad that comes out of securing Martin Tyler and now we will have a long four year wait until the next go around.

Kelly Osbourne is baffled by the excitement surrounding the soccer World Cup - she finds herself "staring at the wall" in boredom during the televised matches.
The reality TV star, daughter of rocker Ozzy, isn't a fan of the sport but she has been watching the games in South Africa with her soccer-obsessed friends.
Osbourne admits she's already tired of the craze, and she's equally bored with Britain's ongoing Wimbledon tennis tournament.
In her column in Britain's Closer magazine, she writes, "I feel like the only person in the world right now not obsessed with the World Cup or Wimbledon.
"My friends were teasing me during the England vs Algeria game because I was staring at the wall rather than the TV. Sorry, but it was boring! I'm not really that interested in tennis either..."

It looks like FIFA might actually be doing something smart for a change. FIFA president Sepp Blatter said soccer's governing body will reopen the replay issue after the World Cup.

ESPN.com

Blatter said Tuesday that FIFA deplores "when you see the evidence of refereeing mistakes." It would be "a nonsense" not to consider changes, he said.

"After having witnessed such a situation," Blatter said, referring to England's non-goal against Germany, "we have to open again this file, definitely."

FIFA keeps saying they enjoy the human element and all the controversy that comes along with it, but they are severely hurting their sport. When you have a sport like soccer where goals are so valuable, you can’t continue to have bad calls where good goals are continually called off. There are so many technological advances out there that soccer could benefit from. If FIFA doesn’t do something, it could really hurt the sport and the World Cup.

Even if they don’t want to do replay, there is still another alternative, which is to add more referees to the field. Right now you have a head ref and two side judges, why not add another ref to roam the field? Why not add another judge by the goal line? There needs to be some type of change.