Triumph of Death – Pieter Bruegel the Elder
“The Angolan government chose to use the northern enclave of Cabinda as a venue for the African Cup of Nations to improve the province’s war-torn image and drive investment. But its plan has turned out to be a tragic own goal, with reports of three dead, Togo set to pull out of the tournament and Angola in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. The Togolese team – which includes Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor and Aston Villa midfielder Moustapha Salifou – were shot at by a group of gunmen as they travelled by bus from the Republic of Congo into Cabinda, which is separated from Angola by a strip of the Democratic Republic of Congo.” (BBC)

“For the first time, a major international tournament begins without anyone knowing for sure how many teams will be taking part. Such is the case with the 2010 African Cup of Nations in the wake of the tragedy that befell the Togo squad on their journey to Angola. Three people died when the Togolese team bus was fired upon as it travelled through Cabinda, a province of Angola where a separatist movement has been involved in armed conflict with the central authorities.” (WSC)

“The cold air that is whistling through football isn’t solely as a result of the recent wintry weather. HMRC are on the move, and their aim is to recoup taxpayers’ money from football clubs that haven’t been paying their bills. They have been busy since the start of the season, having already extinguished Kings Lynn, agreeing a last minute payment plan with Rochdale and forcing a change of ownership at Accrington Stanley, where over £300,000 had to be found – new owner Ilyas Khan, at the last minute, paid £110,000 and stood as guarantor for the remainder. HMRC have also been after a number of non-league clubs, although Kings Lynn were the only terminal casualties.” (twohundredpercent)

“Sometimes I’m not surprised that online piracy is so rampant when it comes to soccer. Trying to find out who has the rights to a game or tournament is very difficult, and even when you find a stream, you’re not sure whether it’s an official one or not. Take, for example, the African Nations Cup which kicks off in a few hours from Angola. As far as I can tell, there’s no English-speaking television station in the United States that is broadcasting the game.” (EPL Talk)

“Football was never simply a game in Africa. It arrived in the mid 19th Century across the coast of the continent as a by-product of empire building. British, French, Portuguese priests, sailors, soldiers and missionaries brought a game unseen and not played by any in Africa. Traditional sports abounded but there is no record of anyone kicking a ball until the brutal transformation of the continent.” (BBC)

“One of the things I actually get paid to do in my office is run radiant heat load calculations for one of the product lines I represent. See, in my day-to-day work, I’m a sales representative for about ten different hydronic heating product lines, one of which is a radiant tubing company. Typically, we do heat loads for residential houses and driveways; however, one of the product lines I represent has been involved in some major projects. Projects like sports field turf conditioning. With all the weather postponements over the weekend, I figured I’d take a look at what, exactly, goes into a turf conditioning system and what they’re supposed to do.” (Avoiding the Drop)