Ireland: Dirty Dancing

A cheating scandal has rocked the Emerald Isle, and it doesn’t involve Gaelic football, Hurling, or Camogie. The highly-competitive world of Irish Step Dancing has been rocked by allegations of feiseanna and oireachtais judges trading high scores for sexual favors. Maybe it’s those short skirts and tight pants.

More:

“Major misstep: sex and cheating scandal rattles Irish dancing world,” Jack Hobbs, NY Post

“High kicks and dirty tricks: Irish dancing hit by fixing and sexual favour claims,” David Mouriquand and Ken Murray, Euro News

“Irish dancing rocked by major allegations of competition fixing involving dance teachers and judges,” Ellen Coyne, The  Independent

“Now Irish Dancing Is in the Grip of a Major Cheating Scandal,” Sophia Smith Galer, Vice

“An Irish Dancing Scandal Is the Latest in Our Season of Cheating,” Kady Ruth Ashcraft, Jezebel

Update:

“‘BagGate’ is the professional cornhole drama taking over the sport,” James Dator, SBNation

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Oh, That Bill Clinton!

“Down on Clinton.” written and recorded by Denise LaSalle, 2000. All men are dogs, even the good’uns.

Extra Credit essay assignment: 2000 and 2017, compare & contrast.

More:

“Denise LaSalle, Singer and Writer of Earthy Songs, Dies at 78,” Jon Pareles, New York Times

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Nike Drops Lance, Lance Drops Livestrong

“Due to the seemingly insurmountable evidence that Lance Armstrong participated in doping and misled Nike for more than a decade, it is with great sadness that we have terminated our contract with him. Nike does not condone the use of illegal performance enhancing drugs in any manner.

 Nike plans to continue support of the Livestrong initiatives created to unite, inspire and empower people affected by cancer.”

 — Nike Statement on Lance Armstrong

Say It Ain’t So, Sumo

This week’s big story in sports is the sumo wrestling scandal. It’s heavy: sumo wrestlers weigh in at over 300 pounds. The scandal: athletes have been fixing matches for Yakuza gangsters in return for cash payoffs. The repercussions: the grand tournament of Japan’s national sport has been cancelled for the first time since World War II.

Some sumo wrestlers have fixed matches by texting on their cell phones. The fingers of these huge pro athletes are so fat that some use iPads as cell phones.

In other sports news, three Pakistani cricket players have been banned from world play for cheating, and there is some kind of indoor football match in Texas.

Bonus: The Sumo Success Diet.

“Secrets of the sumo wrestler’s diet,” Monami Yui, CNN City Pulse

It’s really not much of a secret. Eat lots of this with big hunks of meat.

Want to know how you’d look as a sumo wrestler? There’s an app for that.

 

Image (“Say It Ain’t So, Sumo, after Utagawa Kuniyoshi”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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