Sad day for Brasilian and World Football

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The Brazilian soccer team aboard the plane that crashed in Colombia was gaining respect and support from across Brazil even though it was a small club with a short history.

Chapecoense, founded in 1973, was preparing to play in the Copa Sudamericana final, South America’s second biggest club competition after the Copa Libertadores. The team was flying to Medellin to face Atletico Nacional on Wednesday in the first leg of the final.

Members of the Chapecoense team were among the 81 people on board the chartered aircraft that crashed on its way to Medellin’s international airport. Colombian police said there were some survivors.

“This is a very, very sad day for football,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in a statement. “At this difficult time our thoughts are with the victims, their families and friends. FIFA would like to extend its most heartfelt condolences to the fans of Chapecoense, the football community and media organizations concerned in Brazil.”

Chapecoense reached Brazil’s first division in 2014 and was in ninth place ahead of this weekend’s last round of games. On its way to the continental final, the team known as Chape beat major clubs such as Argentina’s San Lorenzo and Independiente.

Chape strikers Bruno Rangel and Kempes, both 34 years old, are among the top scorers in the Brazilian league, with 10 and nine goals, respectively. One of the team’s top players is 35-year-old midfielder Cleber Santana, who played for Atletico Madrid from 2007-10.

Another team leader was defender Helio Hermito Zampier Neto — commonly known as Net.
Among the passengers on the flight was Mario Sergio Pontes de Paiva, a former soccer player who worked as commentator for Fox Sports.

Known as Mario Sergio, he played briefly for Brazil’s national team in the early 1980s and had a long career as a midfielder and coach with many Brazilian clubs. He last coached Brazilian club Internacional in 2009 and Ceara in 2010.

In the wake of the crash, the Brazilian Football Confederation called off the Brazilian Cup final between Gremio and Atletico Mineiro, which set for Wednesday. A new date has not been set.

Chapecoense is based in Chapeco, a city of about 200,000 that is known for its poultry industry and is located about 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) south of Rio de Janeiro.

 

The club, which doesn’t have any players in Brazil’s national team or in the under-20 team, plays its home matches at the 22,000-seat Arena Conda. But it had been scheduled to play the second leg of the Copa Sudamericana final at the Couto Pereira Stadium, a 40,000-seat venue in Curitiba, a city 300 miles (480 kilometers) north of Chapeco.

A group of rival fans, however, became so impressed with Chapecoense’s amazing run in the competition that they started a campaign on social media to move the final to the iconic Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.

Twitter | @kaka

Kaka on Twitter

Chape had its best season ever in 2016, earning 52 points from 37 matches. On Sunday, the team lost at Palmeiras 1-0, a result which clinched the Brazilian league title for the host team.

The team was due to host fourth-place Atletico Mineiro at the Arena Conda on Sunday and then face Atletico Nacional in the second leg of the Copa Sudamericana final on Tuesday.
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Source: USATODAY

Obama’s final medals and the ‘Michael Jordan of Greatness’

President Barack Obama awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to National Basketball Association Hall of Fame member and legendary athlete Michael Jordan during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House November 22, 2016 in Washington, DC.(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON – In this season of “lasts” in President Barack Obama’s White House, Tuesday marked an extraordinary gathering of 21 people – superstars all– who received Obama’s final batch of Presidential Medals of Freedom.

“We’ve got innovators and artists. Public servants, rabble rousers, athletes, renowned character actors — like the guy from Space Jam,” said Obama, taking an affectionate poke at Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan.

“I am the President, he is the Boss,” said Obama, hanging a medal around the neck of rocker Bruce Springsteen, who closed out Obama’s 2008 and 2012 presidential campaign rallies.

Jordan, who owns the Charlotte Hornets was teary; so was Ellen Degeneres when they got their medals. Obama, pretty tall himself, had to stretch to attach the medal to another NBA giant, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

OPINION

Obama kidded a former University of Chicago physicist, Dick Garwin, who helped create the hydrogen bomb – and then worked to reduce the nuclear threat – for also getting a patent on a “mussel washer” for shellfish.

Chicago’s Newton Minow, hugged the president — who he met as a young law student — as his wife, Jo, and three adult daughters beamed. Everyone laughed when Obama had to call Robert DeNiro twice to the podium. Tom Hanks turned towards the announcer to give an approving nod when he said, “Reach for the sky,” with relish, Hank’s signature line from “Toy Story.”



First lady Michelle Obama was in an aisle seat in the front row, sitting next to Vice President Joe Biden. The row included senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former AG Eric Holder. Mrs. Obama’s chief of staff Tina Tchen greeted Secretary of State John Kerry with a hug. National Security Advisor Susan Rice, an early 2008 Obama backer, was in the House.

In a few weeks, they will all be gone.

Donald Trump will be the president.

Obama did not say Trump’s name when he rebuked his divisive campaign and his “make America great again” slogan.

Ending “on a personal note,” Obama said, “it’s useful when you think about this incredible collection of people to realize that this is what makes us the greatest nation on Earth. … Not because of our differences, but because, in our difference, we find something common to share. And what a glorious thing that is. What a great gift that is to America.”

THE MICHAEL JORDAN OF GREATNESS

Jordan, said Obama, a basketball fanatic, is “more than just the best player on the two greatest teams of all time — the Dream Team and the Chicago ’96 Bulls. He’s more than a logo, more than just an Internet meme. More than just a charitable donor or a business owner committed to diversity.

“There is a reason you call someone ‘the Michael Jordan of’ — Michael Jordan of neurosurgery, or the Michael Jordan of rabbis, or the Michael Jordan of outrigger canoeing — and they know what you’re talking about. Because Michael Jordan is the Michael Jordan of greatness. He is the definition of somebody so good at what they do that everybody recognizes them. That’s pretty rare.”

NEWT MINOW AND THE PUBLIC INTEREST

Minow’s ‘vast wasteland’ line from his 1961 speech about television is famous; Obama of course used it. Obama added, the “public interest” has been “the heartbeat” of Minow’s life’s work, “advocating for residents of public housing, advising a governor and Supreme Court justice, cementing presidential debates as our national institution, leading the FCC.

“…As far as I know, he’s the only one of today’s honorees who was present on my first date with Michelle. Imagine our surprise when we saw Newt, one of our bosses that summer, at the movie theater – “Do the Right Thing.” So he’s been vital to my personal interests.’’


COURAGE

Said Obama about Ellen DeGeneres, “It’s easy to forget now, when we’ve come so far, where now marriage is equal under the law — just how much courage was required for Ellen to come out on the most public of stages almost 20 years ago.”

Comedian and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres wipes tears during a Presidential Medal of Freedom presentation ceremony at the White House November 22, 2016 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Obama said the NCAA likely banned the dunk because of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, honored Tuesday for more than hoops: “He stood up for his Muslim faith when it wasn’t easy and it wasn’t popular. … Kareem is one-of-a-kind — an American who illuminates both our most basic freedoms and our highest aspirations.”

President Barack Obama (C) pretends to ‘skyhook’ over National Basketball Association all-time leading scorer and social justice advocate Kareem Abdul-Jabbar before awarding him the Presidential Medal of Freedom to during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House November 22, 2016 in Washington, DC.(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

ALSO HONORED …

Microsoft’s Bill and Melinda Gates; architects Maya Lin and Frank Gehry; Saturday Night Live founder Lorne Michaels; software engine pioneer Margaret Heafield Hamilton; actor Robert Redford; sports announcer Vin Scully, actress Cicely Tyson; educator Eduardo J. Padrón.
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Source: Chicago Suntimes