Eight years ago football Italian football player Fabio Cannavaro was busy captaining his country to a World Cup trophy, but now he’s known as a criminal in his homeland for taking a dip in his own swimming pool. It may sound a little odd, but local authorities believe he deserved a 10-month jail sentence for his actions since he ignored their direct orders which were to stay away from his property in the city of Napoli.

Prosecutors banned Cannavaro from his home and property after they realized he had been building additions on the land without applying for the required permits. It appears the former player just went ahead and erected the pool and a few other things on his own without bothering to pay the permit fees etc. Once the authorities caught wind of the situation they seized the property and told Cannavaro that he’d be charged with trespassing until everything was sorted out to their satisfaction. In addition to Cannavaro’s 10-month sentence, his brother and wife were also given jail time.

North Americas’ Major League Soccer (MLS) kicked off as scheduled on March 7th after the players’ union and league came to an agreement on a new five-year collective bargaining deal. The players’ union had voted to strike just four days earlier, but a deal was reached about 24hours later. The league was pushing for an eight-year contract while the players wanted a five-year deal at the most, and eventually got their way regarding that issue.

The players’ union had given warning of a strike several weeks earlier, but nothing became of the threat until just a few days before the season began. There were several major issues which were being argued about with the most pressing ones being the minimum wage, salary caps, and free agency. The two sides were aided in negotiations by a federal mediator and it was apparent that neither the players nor the league really wanted a work stoppage.

Starting pitcher CC Sabathia of the New York Yankees showed up to the Major League Baseball club’s spring training facility in Tampa, Florida this year weighing 305 lbs. This comes after two consecutive years of shedding excess weight before the ball season. The odd thing about the huge weight gain is that the pitcher claimed he actually gained the extra pounds on purpose for health reasons.

Also, Sabathia said baseball scouts felt he should be heavier to be a more effective pitcher even though he was concerned about his weight because of a family member who had health problems. Sabathia was relatively slim and trim last year, at least for him, but he struggled all season long. He suffered from a degenerative knee problem and only managed to start in eight games and didn’t do very well at all.

Germany


It seems that soccer is associated with the majority of weird sports stories that come across the newswire and this week was no exception. Last week we saw German Bundesliga team Borussia Dortmund temporarily close their stadium because of a bomb scare. However, this wasn’t your typical bomb scare where an opposing fan makes a phone call and claims there’s a bomb in the ground. This one was a bit different as authorities found a 550 lb. World War II bomb close to the arena and it hadn’t been exploded yet.

The local area had to be evacuated while crews tried to disarm the contraption and the team had to move its operations somewhere else for the time being. The bomb was reported to have been British and it was discovered at a construction site close to the football stadium. It was eventually defused on Feb. 26 and things were back to normal for the time being.