This World Cup inspired mural is the product of California artist and designer Mark Paul Deren (aka MADSTEEZ). Nike commissioned the artist to create something spectacular for the rooftop of the Ricardo Montalban Theater in Los Angeles. MADSTEEZ painted the enormous 80ft x 30 ft mural in 6 days and said it is his “one of his most proud pieces.”

Check out some shots of the process, the final product, and the genius himself.

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Story from Reuters

Napoli fans are planning to raise cash to make a bid to buy Diego Maradona’s earring, which was confiscated by Italian authorities in September as part payment for his tax arrears.

The piece of jewelry, taken while Maradona was in Italy at a weightloss clinic, will be put up for auction next week with a starting price of around 4,000 euros ($5,780) expected.

“Let’s have a collection,” Napoli fans, who adore the Argentina coach after he inspired the club as a player to Serie A titles in 1987 and 1990, have written on a supporter website (www.tifosidelnapoli.it).

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At halftime of the Xerez v Barcelona match on Wednesday, a man named Miguel Ramon Rubio won $715,000 for scoring a goal from midfield. And holy crap was he lucky to score — that sucker looked like it was going to die well before it reached the line but it somehow just kept going and made Mr. Rubio a sweet chunk of recession money.

Not one but two other guys hit the post, which really has to make you want to cry. Anyway, congrats to Miguel. There really is nothing quite like a chubby guy in a football kit winning a buttload of money.

via Dirty Tackle

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I often meander through the interweb looking for cheeky content for 10Shirt and every so often I stumble upon a video renders me speechless. Today’s your lucky day because I found two videos that stunned me; both feature awkward white guys dancing.

The first is of a (drunk?) man at a University of Kentucky throwball game. I don’t know which is more awkward, the dancing or the looks of the people around him.

The second video is almost enough to make me ashamed to be an American. It features a man at University of Arkansas (go figure, right?) sporting events. Unfortunately, when the rest of the world thinks of Americans, they think of this guy…

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Now that the 2010 World Cup draw has taken place, it is time for the competing nations to release ads promoting their squads. I absolutely love this sort of nationalistic football propaganda and look forward to each nation’s ad campaign.

It seems the Dutch are setting the mark with an ad titled “The Dutch Strike First,” which was released on the day of the draw. For the ad, Nike performed an overnight ‘tape attack’ to “rise the orange feeling.” Under the tag-line ‘The Dutch strike first,’ a group used approximately 6,000 yards of tape to create a huge tournament bracket on the square in the heart of the Amsterdam. The path of the Dutch team is colored orange, all the way from the group stage to the cup. To ‘reserve’ the World Cup for Holland, they wrote ‘bezet’ next to the scheme, which means ‘occupied’, or ‘taken’.

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10Shirt was one of the first sites to introduce the world the Jabulani, Adidas’ new ball for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Now we present to you two videos from Adidas on how the ball was created, constructed, and how much effort went into perfecting this ball’s flight. The first video also includes appearances by Karim Benzema and Michael Ballack, two stars who hope to have strong appearances in next summer’s tournament.

This video shows how the ball is manufactured from start to the center circle.

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A proposal to bless South Africa’s World Cup stadiums by slaughtering a cow in each one has caused concern among animal rights activists…

Story and Image via BBC

“The Makhonya Royal Trust, which put forward the idea, described the cattle killing ritual as a “true African” way of blessing the 2010 tournament.

Government minister Sicelo Shiceka has promised to lobby football’s governing body, Fifa, in support of the plan.

But animal rights groups have demanded to be consulted over the plans.

The National Council for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) has written to Fifa over the issue.

The BBC’s Mohammed Allie in Cape Town says the NSPCA does not object to the ritual slaughter of animals.

But the group wants to ensure it is done in a humane way and wants to be involved in the process to ensure the welfare of the cattle, our correspondent adds.

The Makhonya Royal Trust, which co-ordinates African cultural activities, said the sacrifice was an important way of ensuring a successful World Cup.

“We must have a cultural ceremony of some sort, where we are going to slaughter a beast,” trust chairman Zolani Mkiva told Reuters news agency.

“We sacrifice the cow for this great achievement and we call on our ancestors to bless, to grace, to ensure that all goes well.”

Mr Shiceka, the co-operative governance and traditional affairs minister, was quoted in South African media as giving his support to the plan.

“The World Cup will be on the African continent and we will make sure that African values and cultures are felt by the visitors,” the Citizen newspaper quoted him as saying.

The row comes amid attempts by activists to stop a traditional Zulu bull-killing ceremony due to take place on 5 December.

Activists have brought a legal challenge in an attempt to stop the ritual, known as Ukweshwama, when a crowd of young men kill a bull with their hands. “

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In honor of the MESSIah being awarded the 2009 Ballon D’Or, I give you a compilation of some of the Argentine wonderkids’ best moments from this year.

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On Sunday, St. Truiden beat Standard Liege 2-0, but the real talking point of the game was Wim Mennes’ elastic ankles. The St. Truiden player somehow avoided a career-threatening injury after an absolutely nasty challenge from Stanard’s Reginal Goreux.

Somehow Mennes was able to walk away from this challenge and found his way back into the dressing room. Eduardo needs to take notes from this guy and do whatever he is doing to strengthen those ankles.

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A few weeks ago Galatasaray (my favorite Turkish side) played against Fenerbahce in one of the most exciting rivalries in Turkish football. In my opinion, Turkish fans are some of the most passionate in the world, with their loud chants, flares, and tendency to bombard the opposition with missiles.

The Fenerbahce players learned this first hand when trying to take a corner. Take a look.

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