Via WashingtonPost.com’s Crime Scene:

On Saturday, state and local officials raided booths at the [St. Mary's County farmer's] market in Charlotte Hall, Md. and came away with $88,413 worth of merchandise with counterfeit trademarks, authorities said.

Authorities said they hauled away clothing with fake logos from the National Football League, Major League Baseball and National Basketball Association.

There were counterfeit Coach, Gucci and Louis Vuitton purses, too.

St. Mary’s Sheriff’s officials said seven suspects were identified and prosecutors are reviewing the case.

When I first read this, I was confused (probably because I’m terrible at thievery). If it’s all counterfeit, why is the lot worth $80 Grand? Well, as my source @asilentflute asserts: “must have been a sh*tload.”

Way to be discreet, merchants.

London-based, English bred mando-rock quartet Mumford & Sons took the stage this past Saturday evening at Bonnaroo in Manchester, TN before a crowd of more than 75,000. After two songs off their absolutely excellent debut album Sigh No More, bandleader Marcus Mumford addressed the crowd:

Congrats on your draw.

It fell in stark contrast to say an ACDC-like Are You Ready?! greeting (source: Jim Breuer), and presumably most of the crowd had not even seen the ENG/USA World Cup game that day that ended in 1-1 tie (a tie is the new win in 2010). Still, it sounded like the crowd liked it.*

*I wasn’t at Bonnaroo, but I got to check out this set thanks to NPR, who archived lots and lots of performances from the festival. So far, based on what I’ve heard Mumford & Sons’ show falls a close second to The Dead Weather.

Photo via Nashville Scene

My mission…

In my discussions with others gearing up for USA vs. ENG on Saturday, I’ve noticed that those who believe that the U.S. can win typically cite one or all of the following three points:

1. The U.S.A. won their qualifying group (which is nice)
2. The U.S.A. beat #1-ranked Spain last year (which is nice)
3. The U.S.A. beat England in the 1950 World Cup

The third has less to do with the current team’s chances, and more to do with being necessarily patriotic, obviously. If you’re not opposed to a little Nationalism, I suggest checking out ESPN’s Outside the Lines report on Joe Gaetjens, the sole goal scorer in that 1950 1-0 victory over the brits. Fair warning: the story takes a turn for the absolute worst after he scored what stands as the biggest goal in U.S. soccer history.

Source: MLive.com

So much better than Lugo. Scu Scu Scutaro

He could jump another few percentage points if the Collins original became his walk-up music.

Scutaro has been more than tolerable on the whole (.285 BA, leads the team in at-bats, second in hits) and on a tear recently (.485 BA in his last ten games). If you don’t agree, then you don’t know the Red Sox unremarkable shortstop history of recent times.

H/T to Jimmy Traina and Hot Clicks for posting today.

When I was growing up, lawn darts was the preferred leisure sports activity at most family events. Those 12-inch spears were a Hayes family institution. I think they took that game off the market, yeah? At some point during my childhood we moved from lawn darts to volleyball, with like 14 to a side.

With my friends, I spent many an afternoon perfecting the art of “hitting the chair” (strike-zone) while pitching a beyond inordinate amount of innings of whiffleball. I’m talking from the age of seven through college, 1991 through…actually, one of my buddies is trying to bring weekly whiffleball back, which I told him I’m in for.

Recently, I’ve also taken a liking to lasso golf (often called ladder golf or polish golf).

Barely competitive, barely athletic akin to sport sports are the best. John Madden and I have an understanding about this. Madden just held his 12th annual charity bocce tournament: the Madden-Mariucci Battle of the Bay Charity Bocce Tournament. Madden, Steve Mariucci, George Seifert, and presumably a bunch of other members of the Tommy Bahama Weekenders club were all in-attendance – starting to understand why I went with the pic of the anonymous Raider cheerleader?

Check out more pics at NESW Sports

Inman: John Madden, Steve Mariucci attract big hitters for charity bocce (Mercury-News)

It’s been awhile since I posted about roller derby. When I went searching for some goings-on earlier, I figured what would emerge as post-worthy would be maybe an update from my local team, the Gotham Girls Roller Derby (who I swear, one day I’ll go watch in person) or perhaps an update to Roller Derby’s Finest. Instead, we’re reporting off-track scam artistry meets airborne grand larceny!

COVINGTON, Ky. — A member and coach of the Cincinnati Rollergirls admitted in court Tuesday she illegally obtained 525 airline tickets for two years through her other job as an United Airlines employee at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.

Mercedes Stafford, who skates by the name of “Sadistic Sadie” pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud while in United States District Court in Covington on Tuesday.

According to documents, Stafford fraudulently bought “involuntary tickets” that airlines issue when a passenger’s flight is canceled or delayed. She then created fake ticket numbers that she would use to buy real tickets on United and other airlines.

According to WLWT.com, Stafford’s dealings cost United Airlines between $400K and $1 million dollars between May 2007 and October 2009. One could buy a lot of Pro-Tec knee and elbow pads with that sort of livelihood.

The statement of the facts notes that though she did at times purchase tickets for her team, the scam was entirely a solo mission by Sadistic. It appears that her teammates consider themselves far from pawns in her game, as they issued the following, highly supportive, statement themselves:

“The Cincinnati Rollergirls have been fortunate to have Sadistic Sadie as a teammate, coach and former president, and we were saddened to hear today’s news. While we do not condone her actions, of which the rest of the team had no knowledge, we wish her and her family the best as she takes responsibility for them and as her case works its way through the judicial system. We thank our fans for supporting our team since 2006 and we hope they will continue to support us during this difficult time.”

Stafford faces a max. punishment of 20-years in jail and a fine of $250K.

www.cincinnatirollergirls.com/

Last week, I put out the word that I was in the market for a good boxing book – despite the fact that my reading list is constantly beating me into submission. Great comments and emails followed from some of the most respected boxing voices online (Bill Dwyre (LA Times), Bryan Brennan (Bry Guy Boxing), Ryan from Fightlinker, and the guys from the fantastic No Mas). In the interest of not just moving on to the next one, I decided to post a follow-up and crowdsource the ultimate purchase decision.

I included all the suggestions that were put forth, plus W.C. Heinz’s The Professional because from what I hear it at least deserves to be in the final conversation. Hit the poll, and I will quite simply buy and read one of these tales from the ring.

The Great Prize Fight, by Alan Lloyd

Atlas: From the Streets to the Ring, by Teddy Atlas

Ghosts of Manila, by Mark Kram

The Harder They Fall, by Budd Schulberg