You often see something similar in football (soccer) friendlies. The three sub limited it, typically, dispensed with, so it's not unusual to see a very different line up in the first and second half. Before the 2012-13 season I saw my team, Brighton, play a game where the first half featured close to our starting line…

Are exhibition games what I, as a Brit, would call a friendly? A non-competitive game used to test players against opponents from another team?

It's partly historical. The very first international was played between England and Scotland, even though you could argue that it wasn't "really" an international as both were part of the United Kingdom at the time.

BBC America shows James Bond?! The BBC here in the UK doesn't, which would be great as the BBC doesn't have adverts domestically.

Yup, I'm 100% in favour of video reviews for goals. We've already got goal line technology, and reviewing it when people think a goal has been scored would not slow the game down much, particularly with the fourth official already on the side lines.

There really is no good reason to disallow that goal. Simply ridiculous.

Wait, so Bascombe is claiming that Balotelli is worse than Suarez in terms of controversy and danger with his solar storm comment? That's simply not true. Balotelli absolutely has issues, but he doesn't court controversy on the same scale as Suarez.

Hopefully this will allow him to focus on earning points for my fantasy team.

I'm sorry, but the Trofeo Colombino (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trofeo_Co…) is quite clearly the best trophy in world sport. Who wouldn't want to win a galleon in full sail?!

I'm sorry, but the Trofeo Colombino (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trofeo_Co…) is quite clearly the best trophy in world sport. Who wouldn't want to win a galleon in full sail?!

Yeah, for some reason Switzerland's anti-corruption laws don't apply to non-profits. I can understand why the tax laws don't apply, as obviously those exemptions are crafted for charities and the like, but to exclude non-profit organisations from anti-corruption legislation seems bizarre (unless the exemption was…

I'm pretty sure FIFA is exempt from any prosecution in Switzerland, where they also get substantial tax breaks. Both of these come from the fact FIFA is technically a non-profit. I mean sure, they're a non-profit with a billion dollars in the bank, but what's that between friends?

Russia, probably not. Qatar maybe, if it interferes with domestic leagues significantly. On the other hand the current summer World Cup interferes with non-European leagues, so confederations other than UEFA might not be into it, and UEFA already has an internal tournament.

Didnt Colombia back out, rather than FIFA actively stripping them of their host status?

It feels a bit obvious for a fix. You want it to be subtle, like a 2-1 win or a bit of spot-fixing. People are less likely to pore over the likely results, because sorting the fixed matches from the non-fixed matches in a string of close matches is going to be a tough task for any investigative team. Hiding your crime…

The craziest thing is the 5 goals he's now on was the record for the last two World Cups, and he's still got at least one more game to play. Several other players are 4 goals right now too.

Van Persie's goal is great and by far the most entertaining goal of the tournament (I would have also given it weirdest goal until Dempsey's odd stomach thrust maneveur).

It tended to jink about in the air, generally quite late in its flight. Somewhat like a knuckle ball, but it was so unpredictable that attackers started to hit it as straight and flat as they could in an attempt to make the flight more predictable for them, knowing that it would still move in the air and potentially…

This is a really interesting question I'd never considered. Thanks for teaching me something new.

Well aren't you a pleasant fellow.