The Beer Won’t Run Out During World Cup

World Cup fans need not fret, South Africa will not run out of beer during the month-long tournament, its biggest brewer says.

“There’s no need to worry, guys. There will be plenty of our beer for all the fans during this period,” said Norman Adami, managing director of South African Breweries, the local arm of global drinks giant SABMiller.

The company, which produces roughly nine of every ten bottles of beer drunk in South Africa, is predicting a 5 percent increase in sales during the tournament starting on June 11.

However, it will be able to meet the extra demand — equivalent to 30 million bottles — because the southern hemisphere winter is normally its slowest sales period, Adami said.

Denard Span Hits His Mom With With A Foul Ball

Denard Span’s mother settled into her box seat, surrounded by 20 family members and friends, to watch her son lead off for the Minnesota Twins.

Uh oh. Look out!

In a shocking split-second, Span hit a hard foul ball that struck his mom in the upper chest Wednesday. She was treated by paramedics and back in the stands minutes later.

“Tell everyone that I’m all right,” Wanda Wilson told The Associated Press hours later by telephone. “Everyone was so worried, he was so worried. But I’m all right.”

“We had just gotten there. It happened so fast, you couldn’t do anything,” she said. “I was kind of in awe. But God is good, I’m OK.”

Wilson was wearing a Span jersey and sitting a few rows off the field, near the Twins’ third-base dugout. In the first inning against the New York Yankees, Span took a late swing on the sixth pitch of the game and sent a line drive that hit his mother near the shoulder.

“As the ball was in the air, I realized that it was going after my mom,” Span said after arriving back at Twins’ headquarters in Fort Myers. “When I saw her go down, I just couldn’t do nothing but go after her.”

Indians Told To Brush Up On Etiquette

India has compiled a list of do’s and don’ts for its citizens at this year’s Commonwealth Games to help showcase New Delhi’s charms.

“We want to tell them don’t urinate in public, don’t spit, keep your houses and shops clean, keep public transport safe and such things,” Delhi tourism chief Rina Ray told the Hindustan Times.

“This will tell every Delhiite that instead of being on the sidelines as a spectator, he or she can contribute to a better games.”

New Delhi is preparing to host more than 100,000 foreign visitors during the October 3-14 event and the Indian capital hopes to use to games to show itself off as a truly global city.

“We don’t want to start (the campaign) too early lest it fizzles out,” Ray said.

Obama Pays Off Bet To Harper

A US envoy delivered two cases of beers to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to settle a bet US President Barack Obama lost when Canada beat the United States for Olympic ice hockey gold.

David Jacobson, the US ambassador to Ottawa, delivered a case of Molson Canadian and an extra case of Obama’s brew of choice, Yuengling from America’s oldest brewery in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, to the doorstep of the prime minister’s official residence at 24 Sussex Drive — just in time for breakfast.

Canada beat the US squad three to two in overtime in a thrilling match-up on February 28 to become the first Olympic host nation to capture men’s hockey gold in 30 years.

Under the terms of the friendly wager, if the United States had won the match, Obama would have received a case of 24 beers from Harper.

Harper’s spokesman Dimitri Soudas said both cases of beer would be sent to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto for display.

Bullfighting Protesters Get Naked

About 30 people have stripped naked to protest a move to declare bullfighting part of the world’s cultural heritage.

The nude protestors lay down in a Madrid square to form the acronym SOS, with some holding traditional bullfighting weapons; ‘banderillas’.

Other activists poured fake blood over their bodies.

The premier of Madrid’s regional government recently declared bullfighting an ‘art’.

He wants UNESCO to declare it part of the world’s cultural heritage.

Man Credits Green Bay Packers Loyalty For Saving Life

A Wisconsin man who says his Green Bay Packers loyalties helped save his life has been voted into the team’s Fan Hall of Fame.

The team announced the honor for 79-year-old Jim Becker. He attended Packers games for 56 years.

Becker says his passion for his team helped save his life. He and his wife raised 11 kids, so money was tight. To afford his season tickets without taking money from his family, he began selling his blood for $15 per pint.

His doctor later found that Becker’s father died at age 43 of a condition in which the blood retains too much iron. The only treatment is to remove the iron by giving blood.

By that time Becker had sold 145 pints to pay for his season tickets. He says if he hadn’t, he too may have died young.

A First: Hockey Game Delayed Air Canada Flight

Canada’s largest airline has learned it sometimes has to take a back seat to the country’s biggest sporting passion, ice hockey, the head of Air Canada said on Tuesday.

The airline was forced to delay a flight from Vancouver during the 2010 Winter Olympic Games because passengers watching the end of gold medal final on airport televisions ignored repeated calls to board.

“We incurred a flight delay for a reason Air Canada had not yet encountered in over 72 years of existence,” chief executive Calin Rovinescu told a business gathering.

The Canadian fans were rewarded for their delay, as the nail-biting end to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics saw Canada beat arch-rival United States 3-2 in overtime.

10,000 Spectators At Naked Tobogganing Race

A naked tobogganing race attracted around 10,000 people to an eastern German town in the Harz mountains.

Car parks were overflowing ahead of the popular event in the town of Braunlage, one spokesman said, while police confirmed that roughly 10,000 spectators had gathered to watch the event.

Around 30 scantily clad male and female teams had registered to compete on the 100-metre-long track.

Earlier this month, a row erupted in another winter resort, in eastern Germany, over plans to hold a topless tobogganing event.

Sumann Goes From Potty To Podium

Austria’s Christoph Sumann took an unlikely route to his first Olympic silver medal on Tuesday, going straight from the potty to the course before claiming a silver medal in the men’s 12.5km pursuit.

The 34-year-old border guard based in Frojach had been suffering for several days before the event but was mightily relieved he did not have to make any further detours while competing.

“I had some problems with my belly and I went straight from the toilet to the track this morning,” the Austrian told reporters after finishing 16.5 seconds behind Bjorn Ferry of Sweden at Whistler Olympic Park.

“I didn’t feel very well yesterday and also in the morning but I could focus on my skiing today. I didn’t have problems during the race and hopefully it will get better from now on.”

Sumann, whose previous best finish at a Winter Olympics was seventh in the 12.5km pursuit in Turin four years ago, improved 10 places from Sunday’s 10km sprint.

“The expectation for today was not that big because I was one-and-a-half minutes behind on the leaderboard,” he said. “But I tried to be calm … and we had really, really good skis today.

“And my shooting was good,” he said after missing only two targets, one in each of the two standing shooting rounds. “I felt good on this range.”

Birth Month May Influence Athletic Success

Could you be the next David Beckham or Michael Jordan?

An Australian researcher has found your chances of becoming a professional sportsperson could depend on your birthday.

Senior research fellow Adrian Barnett from Queensland University of Technology’s Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation found that a person’s birth month could determine their health and fitness.

The results of the study are published in a book, “Analysing Seasonal Health Data,” which Barnett co-authored with researcher Annette Dobson from the University of Queensland.

Barnett analysed the birthdays of professional Australian Football League (AFL) players and found a disproportionate number had their birthdays in the early months of the year, while a fewer number were born in the later months, especially December.

The Australian school year begins in January.

“Children who are taller have an obvious advantage when playing the football code of AFL,” Barnett said in a statement issued by the book’s publishers, Springer.

“If you were born in January, you have almost 12 months’ growth ahead of your classmates born late in the year, so whether you were born on December 31st or January 1st could have a huge effect on your life.”

Barnett found there were 33 percent more professional AFL players than expected with birthdays in January and 25 percent fewer in December.

He said the results mirrored other international studies which found a link between being born near the start of school year and the chances of becoming a professional player in the sports of ice hockey, football, volleyball and basketball.

“Research in the UK shows those born at the start of the school year also do better academically and have more confidence,” he said.

“And with physical activity being so important, it could also mean smaller children get disheartened and play less sport. If smaller children are missing out on sporting activity then this has potentially serious consequences for their health in adulthood.”

Barnett said this seasonal pattern could also result in wasted talent, with potential sports stars not being identified because they were competing against children who were much more physically advanced than them.

He said a possible solution was for one of the sporting codes in Australia to change the team entry date from January 1 to July 1.