Spanish pop singer and writer Enrique, is not sure whether he should actually go ahead and celebrate his country’s victory the way he had bet he would. The 35 year old singer had announced publically on BBC that "If Spain wins, I’m going to get drunk and ski naked in Biscayne Bay."

Now with the winner’s trophy safely in the hands of Spain, Enrique has all eyes on him. The sporting singer however says he’s not retreating on his bet. “A bet is a bet” is what he told media persons when questioned on whether he would actually go waterskiing nude.

The ‘Hero’ singer despite admitting that he’s got chicken legs and that he doesn’t consider himself as a sex symbol confirmed that he would celebrate Spain’s victory as promised but did not confirm the date and time. He added that he’ll do it "late, late at night and not during a full moon."

So while the pop star’s female fans will be keeping a watch out for Enrique in the Biscayne Bay, Enrique must be on the lookout for a moonless night.

Enrique who’s sold over 55million albums in Spanish and English has been dating former Russian Tennis Player Anna Kournikova since 2001. We are glad Anna is over with her career else imagine what all Enrique would land up betting for Anna’s wins.

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In a crackdown on various gambling ‘dens’ across Asia, the Interpol has seized over $10 million. Operation Soga III, which concluded on 11^th July after running for a month, led to thousands of cars, credit cars being seized and hundreds of arrests and unraveled a thriving nexus between various gambling dens across China, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand. The betting reportedly took place during this recently-concluded World Cup football and the Interpol is hopeful that these seizures will lead to more arrests soon.

BBC quoted the Chief of Interpol, Jean-Michel Louboutin as saying, “The results we have seen are impressive, not only in the number of arrests and seizures made across the region in just one month, but in terms of the police co-operation which made this possible." It was also apparent from what he said that there was a serious connection between these arrests and football gambling. "As well as having clear connections to organised crime gangs, illegal soccer gambling is also linked with corruption, money laundering and prostitution," Louboutin added.

Gambling is now a thriving business in China. Macau has reportedly topped Las Vegas to become to become the world’s largest gambling market. Earlier, the Hongkong Police had cracked down on gambling syndicate, seizing booty worth $1.3 billion.

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Muttiah Muralitharan has announced his intentions of retiring from Test cricket. But, his skipper at the Chennai Super Kings, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has asserted that Murali’s retirement will not distract him or his team. Murali needs just eight wickets to take his toll to a staggering 800 Test Match wickets.

“Good luck to Murali, but we are here to win,” wished Dhoni.“We all know Murali is a great bowler and his achievements speak for themselves.However, this is Test cricket and we do not intend to give our wickets easily. Our batsmen would like not to give him the opportunity to reach 800 wickets during the first Test.” Dhoni made it clear that they were not in Sri Lanka for attending any parties, but for winning.

Galle has been Murali’s hunting ground with 13 wickets in two Tests against India here. India, as we all know, has sweet and sour memories of Murali, who had achieved a 21-wicket haul in three Tests in 2008. India will also be looking to set their record straight in Sri Lanka. Series victory has been eluding this Indian team since 1993. That was when controversial Indian skipper Mohammad Azharuddin had led the Indian side to victory.

This small battle will have serious implications on Test Cricket statistics and if Murali reaches the 800 mark, it will really be a mental block for anyone who wants to reset the record!

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Principal owner and managing partner of Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees, who had played an important role in reviving the Yankees, and had also created controversy by hiking player salaries, George Michael Steinbrenner, died of a heart attack at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa, Florida. This is a second shock for the Yankees, who had lost long time Yankee Stadium public address announcer Bob Sheppard just two days ago!

The Flying Wedge Award winner’s reign saw the Yankees bagging 7 World Series championship teams and 11 pennant winners. He is one of the forefathers of “the business of baseball”. Indeed, he was the first owner to sell TV cable rights in baseball.

George had a lot of love for the Yankees. People would remember him once remarking, “I care about New York dearly.I like every cab driver, every guy that stops the car and honks, every truck driver. I feed on that.” His passion for the Yankees was unfaltering. “This is a very important thing that we hold the string to,” he called the Yankees. “This is the people’s team.” Once he had also remarked, “I hate to lose. Hate, hate, hate to lose.”

He was also indicted on 14 criminal counts on April 5, 1974. He also pleaded guilty to making illegal contributions to the election campaign of Nixon, and also obstructing the path of justice. No doubt he was controversial, but he will always be in the memory of the Yankees.

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For baseball lovers, it’s certainly the end of an era. Legendary New Yankees owner, George Steinbrenner, infamously known as ‘The Boss’, breathed his last on Tuesday at Tampa, Florida. He was taken to the hospital last night, after suffering a massive heart attack. He was 80.

In less than four decades of his ownership of the New Yankees, after he took over its reins in 1973 from the erstwhile owners CBS, he oversaw the rise of the team, which went on to win 11 pennants and 7 World Series titles. However, this span was barred marred by controversies, with Steinbrenner firing around eleven general managers and managers in this period including the late Billy Martin. But what turned around his fortunes most was the unprecedented decision to sell the TV rights to broadcast group MSG. Before this, team owners were reluctant to it. Later, he launched a new broadcast channel YES network exclusively intended for broadcast of Yankee’s matches. In 1997, the team signed a decade-long, $97 million deal with Adidas. Though he became quite unpopular for off-the field decisions, he had a reputation for an unusual business foresight, employing the biggest baseball names of his time, including Reggie Jackson, Thurman Munson, Alex Rodriguez and Mariano Rivera among others.

For all his criticism, he was universally hailed for turning this $10 million baby (Steinbrenner’s own contribution being $168000 in this deal) into a formidable, corporate giant worth over one billion.

"The Yankees are no circus,” he once remarked, “They are tradition. They are the greatest and most famous sports team in the world. Thanks to him, they are indeed a ‘tradition’ now.

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The ace golfer has since long been on the receiving end but of course because of his own mis- doings and has thus got entangled in several court cases against him. These cases have not only cost him his reputation, his marriage, his contracts and endorsement deals but have also proven to be financially very expensive.

Just as he had managed to wind up his divorce case with Elin Nordegren for a whopping $ 750 million, his mistresses have begun trying their luck in getting a share of Wood’s fortune.

A 29-year-old prostitute turned adult film star had, Devon James had filed a paternity suit against the American Golfer claiming that she had Woods’ baby when she was 19 years old
and that Woods is the father of her nine-year-old son named Austin T, ‘T’ being a tribute to Woods. James has earlier earned thousands of pounds by selling her story about alleged sex with Woods.

James had filed paperwork in a court in Florida demanding Woods undergo a paternity test for the same. However Woods has apparently been saved by the porn star’s mother who produced a report of a DNA test done in 2002 proving that Woods was not the father of the 9 year old.

The golfer has finally instructed his team of lawyers to have the paternity case dismissed, but we still left to wonder how many more of these disgraceful cases are yet to crop up.

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Immaculate socialites will invariably come with a condemnation. Popular world leaders will probably sign a memorandum lamenting it. ‘Conscientious’ news-channels will debate on the implications of this. But the perpetrators of this gory massacre, one of the worst reminders of Munich Olympics, will still remain at large. On Sunday night, when the whole world was in jubilation, two blasts rocked Ugandan city, Kampala killing over 70 soccer fans at a sports club. Investigation is underway to determine if the blast were caused by suicide bombers. Although the actual perpetrators are yet to be identified, it is widely believed that Somalian radical Islamic insurgent group, al-Shabaab, suspected to have links with the Al-Qaeda, is behind this.

Earlier last week, the African Union had decided to step up its presence in Somalia. Local radical Islamic insurgent groups have led the country to anarchy and the UN, which is striving hard to assert its presence, is fast losing the grip on this lawless country, the democratic govt. backed by it now confined to a few streets and lanes in Mogadishu. Given the state of the “state”, Uganda decided to boost its presence in Somalia by extending all possible military help to the African Union and earlier to the UN. Quite expectedly, it fell up with the al-Shabaab group, which culminated in this bloodbath. Though prior attempts have been made to rein in the deadly al-Shabaab, and this includes earlier US strikes on the alleged Al-Qaeda targets in Somalia, it is unlikely that this country, now torn by mindless civil war, along with Uganda, will have some peace in the absence of a stable State.

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When Spain was savouring its moment of jubilee, a group of men in the Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg looked appalled. The common complaint was that 10 Dutchmen were up against 11 Spaniards and one Englishman named Howard Webb (referee). Needless to say, everybody in that group wore orange.

84,000 people were in live attendance. Another 700 million watched from home. As the Holland players and public rant against the refereeing errors, here is some uncovering into what went wrong for the Dutch.

They played ugly. With all the evidence, they seemed to believe that the only way for them to match the talented Spaniards is by knocking them down ruthlessly. For all this, they should be thankful and not blaming that the red stayed in referee’s pocket until the extra time. If they themselves were to watch this game all over again, eight yellows might seem a bit too lenient. When Spain scored, the irony couldn’t have been better. Andres Iniesta, probably the most fouled player on the field, gleefully accepted a Cesc Fabregas pass and deposited it where it deserved to be. Not only a goal was awarded, justice had been delivered. On July 11, when the two best teams in the world were up against each other, one was not playing football. To the other team and to the referee Howard Webb- A job well done.

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Yes! Friends! Paul, the genius gets it! Battling all odds (recall the lethal threats that he received following Germany’ defeat), the master Oracle rightly predicted a victory for the Spanish Armada. And what a stupendous feat this was for this 2-year old mollusk! In a match marred by over an hour of clumsy, dull play, which, at one point of time, even threatened to move to the much-dreaded penalty shoot-out, Spain finally drub Dutch, clinching the world title for the first time. For the Dutch, two-time finalists in erstwhile editions of this tournament, it seems their mad tryst with destiny will never end.

Paul trounces one of his rivals, Mani, the Singaporean parrot, which had a spotless record in predicting the outcomes of the quarter-finals until this. The parrot’s successful stint ended with his favoring the Dutch against the Spanish in the final showdown. Oracle Master Paul, though, is basking in glory. What promised to be a grueling encounter in the penalties ended with an abrupt goal in the 116th minute. ‘Paul’ wave? Well, “Glamorous superstition”, one would say. If this is the case, SO BE IT!!

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Nelson Mandela is under extreme pressure to attend World Cup final, says his grandson Mandla Mandela to BBC radio. The 92-year apartheid icon had already skipped the opening ceremony to attend the funeral of his great grand daughter, Zenani Mandela. Nevertheless, his presence would certainly bring a glorious end to this tournament, the first to be hosted in the continent but the Mandela family appears upset with FIFA for exerting “extreme pressure” on this aging icon.

“We’ve come under extreme pressure from FIFA requiring and wishing that my grandfather be at the final today,” Mandla said, speaking to BBC, “But I think that decision will solemnly lie with him, as how he wakes up today, how he feels, and what his medical team says.” He further adds, “My grandfather is 92 years old next week, this is an evening game; he’s expected to hand over the trophy after the game which could be anything from 10:30 p.m to 11:00 p.m and it will be quite strenuous on his part.”

It’s not clear if Mandela is to attend the finishing ceremony, given that his whole family is still in mourning for Zenani, who died just two days before her 13th birthday in an unfortunate car accident.

FIFA supreme Sepp Blatter is hopeful. “We cannot foresee exactly what will happen, but if (Nelson Mandela) can come to the stadium it will be good,” he said on Thursday. He adds, “…… and it will be a wonderful moment for him, for football, for Africa - if this can be a possibility.”

Despite this setback, everybody is still counting on this icon to honour the last moments of the ultimate showdown.

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