Sports Illustrated: leader in international sports.

So Sports Illustrated claims that they're...

...the league leader in original in-depth coverage of professional, local, college and international sports.

I find it easy to believe the first three claims (pro, local, college), but the 'international' call is perhaps a step too far. I've been counting international stories that have come through on the SI feed over the last month, and the grand total is ... 12. Compared to literally hundreds of US-based stories. No Ashes coverage, not a peep about Shane Warne's retirement and European football only makes it into the mix thanks to David Beckham being ordered to miss Tom Cruise's wedding. For interests sake, here's the non-American stories that were deemed worthy enough for SI coverage...

• Beckham ordered to miss Cruise's wedding
• Federer rips Nadal in Masters Cup semifinal
• Federer routs Blake to win Masters Cup title
• Five-time Olympic champ Thorpe, 24, retires
• Yacht capsizes during around-the-world race
• Zanardi's inspiring F1 comeback ends early
• Spanish cycling champ dies in racing crash
• Italy's Cannavaro earns Golden Ball
• Skiers worried about global warming impact
• Safin, Russia lock up second Davis Cup title
• Els wraps up South African Open with 65
• Match-fixing scandal rocks Israeli pro league

NBA: Knicks v. Nuggets brawl

Ten players were ejected (all those on the court at the time), seven have since been suspended (with NBA scoring leader Carmelo Anthony getting the longest suspension of 15 games), and the Knicks and Nuggets clubs have each been fined US$500,000, after one of the biggest all-in brawls ever seen in NBA history.



From the Houston Chronicle...

It was the NBA's scariest scene since the brawl between Pacers players and Pistons fans two years ago. The league is still recovering from that episode, and Stern made it clear the players must learn to control themselves.

"We're going to go after the players who aren't able to stop," he said during a conference call. "We have set up the goal of eliminating fighting from our game. We haven't eliminated it completely."

Anthony's suspension was the sixth longest in NBA history. Mardy Collins, whose hard foul on Smith sparked the fighting, was suspended six games and Knicks teammate Jared Jeffries will miss four. Also, the Knicks' Jerome James and Denver's Nene were both penalized one game for leaving the bench area during the chaos.

Auckland City v. Al Ahly - World Club Championships 2006: video highlights

As mentioned the other day, NZ's football champs Auckland City (not to be confused with the Beleaguered NZ Knights, who play in Australia's A-League), were the Oceania representatives at this year's FIFA Club World Cup. Here's the goal highlights from their match against African champs Al Ahly...

Scottish response to the Haka

After all the brouhaha surrounding 'appropriate' responses to the All Blacks haka (after the debacle that was this year's test against Wales), some clever clog from Scotland has come up with a suitable reply from that part of the kingdom...

The ins and outs of Rugby: the Maul

Following on from the video highlighting the new rugby scrum laws we posted the other day, here's some more footage for those of you not totally au fait with the vagaries of rugby union, in which the various techniques of the maul are highlighted...