Humor

MADRID - An Athletic Bilbao fan endured more than just heartbreak as his side were beaten 1-0 in last Saturday's rearranged Copa del Rey final by rivals Real Sociedad, with local media reporting he suffered a punctured lung after jumping off a traffic light pre-game.

Last season, the Championship was a perfectly scripted drama that perfectly encapsulated the unpredictable nature of the league at both ends of the table — the final promotion and relegation spots were truly not decided until the last kick of the season.

The English second tier has been just as good so far this year, as numerous teams have challenged for promotion and the bottom of the table has been just as tight. 

For all the wacky, zany, unexpected occurrences that have happened over the years in Scottish football (and there have been plenty), most of them have at least had a logical explanation.

The automated match camera that confused the referee's bald head for the ball? Completely improbable — but the deductive reasoning makes sense. 

Since the beginning of time humanity has sought to cover its dirty bits. 

From sewing fig-leaves together and crafting loin-cloths in the Garden of Eden to oozing swagger in a turtleneck and chain combo, humankind has always been on an insatiable quest to combine the elements of decency and drip. 

However, these pieces might fit right, feel good and come at an affordable price, but do they do enough to support your viewpoint on how implementing promotion and relegation throughout the American soccer pyramid would win us the 2026 World Cup? 

Ole Gunnar Solskjær went some way toward discarding his “Baby-face” misnomer on Monday with a savage dig at anyone that dares stray from mass conformity. Much like José Mourinho before him with his effusive praise of Scott McTominay’s “normal haircut,” Solskjær’s weird anecdote about dismissing a transfer target solely because of what they did with their hair shafts must have Paul Pogba raring to sign a contract extension at Old Trafford.   

The offside trap is a rarity in professional soccer these days. While youth soccer in the U.S. employs this strategy all the time, it’s rarely seen at the highest level.

The last time an offside trap was used on a big stage and worked correctly was when Japan caught nearly all of Senegal’s team napping in the 2018 World Cup.