The sporting world was rocked by the arrests of several high-ranking FIFA officials with plans to extradite them to the United States to face racketeering and corruption charges.

The allegations so far are limited to officials from governing bodies in North America (Concacaf) and South America (Conmebol). However, the breadth of the charges, if true, paint a picture of widespread and deeply rooted corruption that is present in FIFA in general.

Today, the investigation and the arrests are the story around the world and is seen on the front page of newspapers in most major cities around the globe.

Here is how it is being covered (translations via Google translate):

France: Liberation, "FIFA Nostra."

United States: The Miami Herald, "Soccer under siege."

United States: Los Angeles Times, "'World Cup of Fraud' rocks top soccer body."

United Kingdom: The Guardian, "The stench of corruption."

United Kingdom: The Times, "World Cup of Fraud."

Brazil: Gazeta do Povo, "World scandal puts leaders in prison and exposes the corruption in Brazilian football."

Brazil: Hoje Emdia, "A lesson for Brazil."

Brazil: Metro, "'Fifagate' cracks world football."

Brazil: Correio Braziliense, "End of the game for the top hats of Fifagate."

Germany: Der Tagesspiegel, "Scandal about Blatter."

Germany: Bild, "Get lost!"

Argentina: El Territorio, "FIFA GAME OVER."

Austria: Kleine Zeitung, "The corrupt game of old men."

Austria: Kurier, "Dirty Game."

Australia: Herald Sun, "Fraud Ball."

Colombia: El Espectador, "Pigs!"

Netherlands: Algemeen Dagblad, "This takes Blatter's head."

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In the wake of the arrest of nine current and former FIFA officials on corruption charges, the focus has shifted to longtime FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

People are asking two questions: 1) How in the world is this guy still in power? and 2) How in the world is this guy still going ahead with a FIFA presidential election two days after the DOJ blew a hole in the side of the organization he has controlled for two decades?

Before the arrests, Blatter was expected to win the election in a landslide. He was so confident in his candidacy that he didn't even bother presenting a manifesto to FIFA members.

The early-morning raids in Zurich certainly introduced some uncertainty into the election, but Blatter is still expected to win.

To understand why, look no further than this post from Inside World Football's Andrew Warshaw. In the post, Warshaw interviews Guinea-Bissau football association president Manuel Nascimento Lopes. 

Nascimento Lopes was incredulous that anyone would criticize Blatter for the corruption scandal, and said he was still going to vote for him on Friday.

"I'm a Christian and this is blasphemy," he said of the anti-Blatter rhetoric. He added this explanation:

"It's a state conspiracy. People are always trying to knock Blatter. Africa will vote for Mr. Blatter and I will follow that. I agree at some point there has to be change but let Blatter finish his mandate and see what he does. It's not all about the major European football countries. If you point three fingers at someone, there's is always one you point at yourself. Tomorrow we are going to vote for Blatter. How do we know anyone else would be any better?"

In the FIFA presidential election, all 209 member federations get one vote, and majority rules. That means Nascimento Lopes' vote on behalf of Guinea-Bissau is just as important as France's or England's or the United States' vote. So while UEFA — the governing body of European federations that contains the most powerful countries in world soccer — has turned on Blatter and backed his opponent Prince Ali bin al Hussein of Jordan, all Blatter needs to do is maintain a coalition of relatively small nations in the other regions.

Small nations like Guinea-Bissau support Blatter so vigorously because under his rule they've received a relatively equal share of developmental funding from FIFA. Carl Bialik of FiveThirtyEight found that FIFA money from its two developmental programs — Goal and the Football Assistance Program — is distributed pretty much evenly, regardless of a country's population of football pedigree. 90% of FIFA's 209 federations received between $1.8 million and $2.1 million in FAP funding from 2010 to 2014.

Under Blatter, Guinea-Bissau — a nation of 1.7 million that's ranked 132nd in the world — has received $2.1 million in FAP funding since 2010. China received $800,000 during that same period. For countries with vast football infrastructure like England, an extra million dollars form FIFA is nothing. But for the majority of the world, that funding is significant.

The president of the African football confederation, Issa Hayatou, said in April that all of Africa would vote for Blatter in the election. With 54 federations, that would cancel out Europe even if all 53 European federations voted for Ali. The Asian confederation is also still supporting Blatter is the wake of the scandal.

As long as Blatter controls the purse strings of FIFA funding to members and continues to deliver payments to small nations, those members will stand by him.

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At 9 years old, Cameron Keith is the youngest participant in the 2015 Scripps National Spelling Bee. He's also the most honest, according to Scripps digital producer Gavin Stern, who interviewed Keith at the bee. 

“I’m going to try my best. I studied a lot,” Keith said. “Some of it’s really boring and annoying when you do it."

The Scripps Spelling Bee allows kids aged 9 to 15 to compete in the annual event that takes place right outside Washington, D.C.

The third-grader has a penchant for spelling long words with funny definitions and has already correctly spelled both words he was given. His first word was kabuki, which is a form of traditional Japanese drama, and his second word was odontiasis, which is the cutting of the teeth. 

If those words seem impossible for a third-grader to spell correctly, it may be thanks to his nearly photographic memory, his mom told Stern. “He remembers most of the words he sees,” she said.

Keith lives near Boulder, Colorado on a farm and is a fantasy fiction fanatic. The Scripps National Spelling Bee noted his love of fantasy fiction with a tweet about his future career aspirations.

Unfortunately, Keith's spelling bee run has come to an end. While he spelled both of his words correct, Cameron didn't score high enough on the preliminary tests to advance to the Spelling Bee finals, according to Stern.

But the 9-year-old is remaining upbeat. "If you get the words right, you get to stay in the Bee," Cameron told the Denver Channel. "And if you don’t, you get an awesome vacation in D.C." 

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Despite the current corruption scandal in FIFA that saw nine current and former officials on bribery and corruption charges, Sepp Blatter will continue to run for reelection as FIFA president.

According to The Guardian, Blatter called an emergency meeting in wake of the arrests, and Michel Platini, president of UEFA, the governing body of European soccer, asked Blatter to resign.

Blatter reportedly refused to, with Platini saying, "I asked him to resign: enough is enough, Sepp. He listened to me but he told me it is too late."

The Guardian reported that Platini added, "Enough is enough. Too much is too much. In terms of our image it’s not good at all. I am the first one to be disgusted by this. I am saying this with sadness, with tears in my eyes. There have been too many scandals that have shaken the world of football."

According to the Guardian, a UEFA source said when Platini asked Blatter to resign, Blatter said he would have considered it if he'd been asked to earlier.

The UEFA is reportedly united in their opposition to Blatter. Platini has said that a majority of the UEFA will vote for Blatter's competition, Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, though it likely won't be a unanimous vote. Manchester United chief executive David Gill reportedly won't take seat as vice president of FIFA that he's supposed to inherit if Blatter wins his reelection.

Platini wouldn't rule out a European boycott of the World Cup, but Gill said that wouldn't help the cause, stating, "The fans like the World Cup, the fans like the big games so that’s to me a measure of last resort and I don’t think we will get there. We should ensure the World Cup goes on."

The FIFA presidential election is supposed to be held on Friday, though Europe's soccer chief Gianni Infantino called for a postponement on the election. Despite European opposition, Blatter is widely considered the favorite to win the election.

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The sporting world was rocked by the arrests of several high-ranking FIFA officials with plans to extradite them to the United States to face racketeering and corruption charges.

While the allegations against the FIFA officials is about rich people in power doing illegal things to make themselves even wealthier, there is also a belief that the corruption is indirectly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of workers.

In a column titled "The human toll of FIFA's corruption" for the Washington Post's Wonkblog, Christopher Ingraham pulled together the number of worker deaths associated with several recent World Cups and Olympic Games and compared that to the number of migrant worker deaths in Qatar. One estimate puts the death toll of migrant workers in Qatar since the country was awarded the 2022 World Cup at 1,200 workers. While no charges have been directly linked to Qatar's World Cup bid — Switzerland is still investigating the bid— the awarding of the tournament to a small country with little soccer history and weather not suited for the games has been mired in allegations of bribery.

The Qatari World Cup organizing committee strongly denied the validity of the numbers, and it is unclear how many of the migrant worker deaths are directly linked to the building of the World Cup infrastructure. But even if it is just a small percentage, the total is staggering.

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The Chicago Bulls have fired coach Tom Thibodeau.

The split was expected, as there have been rumblings about Thibodeau's rocky relationship with the Bulls front office throughout the year.

On Wednesday night, the Chicago Tribune's K.C. Johnson reported new details on how tumultuous the Bulls' relationship with Thibodeau had become.

According to Johnson, multiple sources said players endorsed moving on from Thibodeau during their exit interviews. Players also were reportedly working out in a different gym to avoid running into Thibodeau, who "rarely leaves the practice facility."

Additionally, Johnson reports that while Thibodeau and GM Gar Forman saw each other during Forman's "occasional forays" into Thibodeau's office, Thibodeau and John Paxson, the executive vice president of basketball operations, haven't talked since January. The last time they spoke was when Paxson suggested Thibodeau cancel practice to have an open meeting with players to discuss a slump in which the team was mired.

Johnson adds, "Thibodeau's isolation has grown so acute that he typically spends all day behind his closed office door, sources said."

While everyone thought Thibodeau would leave Chicago this summer, it is surprising that the Bulls fired him. After the season ended, it seemed the Bulls and Thibodeau would engage in a staring contest as Chicago didn't want to spend the money to fire Thibodeau, who reportedly wanted the $9 million remaining on his contract.

It looked like the most likely outcome would be to trade Thibodeau to a team with a coaching vacancy for a draft pick or cash. Knowing the Bulls wanted to separate from Thibodeau, however, teams presumably didn't want to give up assets for a coach they could get for nothing if he was fired.

The Bulls released a less-than-flattering press release to announce Thibodeau's firing, in which they seem to hint at a lack of communication and disagreements over game strategies and players' minutes, widely regarded as Thibodeau's biggest flaw:

"While the head of each department of the organization must be free to make final decisions regarding his department, there must be free and open interdepartmental discussion and consideration of everyone's ideas and opinions. These internal discussions must not be considered an invasion of turf, and must remain private. Teams that consistently perform at the highest levels are able to come together and be unified across the organization - staff, players, coaches, management and ownership. When everyone is on the same page, trust develops and teams can grow and succeed together. Unfortunately, there has been a departure from this culture. To ensure that the Chicago Bulls can continue to grow and succeed, we have decided that a change in the head coaching position is required."

Thibodeau will now become one of the most coveted head coaches in the NBA. Though his tendency to overwork players may scare some teams, his Bulls teams were consistently one of the best defensive units in the NBA. He also has a reputation for getting the most out of a team, even with Chicago's slew of injuries in recent seasons.

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Almost 10 years after winning the Scripps National Spelling Bee, Katharine Close still seems shocked by the experience that took her from her eighth-grade classroom to nationally broadcast TV, talk shows, and the White House.

"I really couldn't believe it, it actually happening was totally surreal," Close, who goes by "Kerry," told Business Insider. "It's really surreal even now to think that all that stuff happened to me."

Close first went to the National Spelling Bee competition as a 9-year-old, after winning her fourth-grade spelling bee "almost by accident," she said. The New Jersey native was then given a list of 3,000 words to prep for the regional bee, which she also won, sending her to the national championship to compete against spellers from around the US.

Once Close got to Washington, DC, though, the "blind luck" that propelled her through the earlier competitions ran out, as she left the national bee in the second round.

"I had come in really confident after winning all these local competitions, and then got blown away by all these intimidating 13-year-olds," she said.

However, she explained, after losing that first year, "I just wanted to come back and do better and better."

Close would return to the national bee for the next four years, doing better and better each time. Every competition, Close said, she would come back with a broader knowledge base, from both studying on her own time and seeing what kinds of words came up during the bee itself.

"From studying, you learn if it's a noun or an adjective it will be spelled a certain way, or if it's from Greek or from Latin it will be spelled a certain way," Close said. "My final year, I just decided to go all out and studied the entire dictionary for six months."

It paid off. Close won in 2006 — her last year of eligibility and the first year the bee was nationally broadcast — by correctly spelling "ursprache," a German word meaning a parent language.

Speaking to ABC moments after she was crowned winner in the 2006 bee, Close said, "I couldn't believe it, I knew how to spell the word and I was just in shock ... I couldn't believe I would win."

As The New York Times pointed out when Close won, she was a notable contestant for "'being a regular kid" who knows "there's more to life than spelling."

Close told Business Insider that, surprisingly, the bee does not have a competitive atmosphere. She remembers how one person told her, "you're really competing against the dictionary and not the other kids."

The difference in who moves forward in the competition, according to Close, often comes down to luck.

"When you get to the top 10-15 kids or even the National Spelling Bee in general, I don't think any one person is better at it then another," she said. Sometimes, though, spellers will get words they don't even know how to approach.

Close got such a word the year before she won, getting knocked out of the final round after failing to spell "laetrile," a cancer drug that was used in Mexico during the 1980s.

"I'm not even sure now if I could pull it together," she said.

Almost a decade removed from the competition, Close is still influenced by her time on the spelling circuit — from her work ethic to the fact that she never needs to use spell check.

"It definitely taught me to how to set goals and work incrementally towards them," Close said. Working through the dictionary, for example, was "taking a large goal and breaking it down into little pieces."

Although it took her several attempts to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee, Close said she took a lot from the entire experience.

"Even as I was disappointed, I learned that if you put in effort you can see tangible results for your work, and that was really invaluable to me as a child," she said.

Kerry Close graduated from Cornell University in 2014, and she is pursuing a journalism master's degree in Business and Economic Reporting at New York University.

[Author's note: Kerry and I worked together at the Cornell student newspaper, The Cornell Daily Sun.]

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A year-and-a-half ago New York Yankees designated hitter Alex Rodriguez was embroiled in the aftermath of the Biogenesis scandal. Now, the 39-year-old has quietly become one of the team's most reliable hitters.

Rodriguez is among the AL leaders in home runs (5th) and slugging percentage (8th). He has as many homers as the last two league MVPs, Mike Trout and Miguel Cabrera. 

Compared to his last season with the Yankees, in 2013, Rodriguez has also improved his patience at the plate, increasing his walks through 44 games from 19 to 26, and increasing his average from .244 to .276. Even as early as the end of March, Yankees manager Joe Giradi told New York Daily News' Mark Feinsand he saw a difference.

"I definitely think he’s swung the bat pretty good," he said. "I just think his at-bats are more consistent; his timing is more consistent."

At a time when many thought they were in decline, Rodriguez and first baseman Mark Teixeira are the Yankees' two best power-hitters. The duo have produced 25 of the team's 58 home runs this season, and are the only two Yankees with a slugging percentage above .500 (with at least 10 games played).

After the Yankees' 5-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals Tuesday, Teixeira told New York Post's Ken Davidoff the key was for him and Rodriguez to just get healthy:

"Alex and I have enjoyed a lot of success together. The last few years, not as much. But when we’re healthy in the lineup, we can do some damage. We’re showing that right now."

While Teixeira's resurgence is still surprising, he was at least able to play baseball last year to keep fresh. Rodriguez was forced to sit all of last season as a result of his role in the Biogenesis scandal and a hip surgery — which makes his stellar production thus far even that much more remarkable.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, the man who suspended Rodriguez, even praised the Yankees designated hitter's performance at a press conference following the owners meetings last week:

"Look, I think Alex has done a great job re-entering a difficult situation. Whenever a player is suspended, it's difficult to return to the field, and he's played well. Good for him. I'm pleased for him."

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The Scripps National Spelling Bee finals air Thursday night on ESPN, and the winning word could be one you've never even heard, let alone know how to spell.

In a rare tie last year, Texas teenager Ansun Sujoe gave up on trying to pronounce the winning word, just saying "whatever" and proceeding to spell it.

That word was feuilleton, a section of a European periodical designated for gossip and other topics that would appeal to the general reader (sort of like the New York Times' style section).

The other winning word, stichomythia, means a dispute delivered by actors in alternating lines, like in classical Greek drama.

The winning words weren't always this arcane or difficult to spell. In 1932, for example, the winning word was knack. The word interning won in 1936, and therapy took the prize four years later. Since the 1950s, though, the Bee has featured words like cymotrichous that might have educated people scratching their heads.

We looked back at some of the biggest head-scratchers that won the Bee:

2011: cymotrichous (adj.) — having wavy hair

Spelled by Sukanya Roy.

2009: Laodician (adj.) — lukewarm or indifferent in religion or politics

Spelled by Kavya Shivashankar.

2004: autochthonous (adj.) — formed or originating in the place where found, native

Spelled by David Tidmarsh.

2002: prospicience (noun) — the act of looking forward, foresight

Spelled by Pratyush Buddiga.

1999: logorrhea (adj.) — excessive and often incoherent talkativeness or wordiness

Spelled by Nupur Lala.

1997: euonym (noun) — a name well suited to the person, place, or thing named

Spelled by Rebecca Sealfon.

1996: vivisepulture (noun) — the act or practice of burying alive

Spelled by Wendy Guey.

1986: odontalgia (noun)— toothache

Spelled by Jon Pennington.

1980: elucubrate (verb) — to solve, write or compose by working studiously at night.

Spelled by Jacques Bailly. 

1962: esquamulose (adj.) — Not covered in scales, or of scale like objects, a smooth skin

Spelled by Nettie Crawford and Michael Day.

1961: smaragdine (adj.) — Of or relating to emeralds, having the color of emeralds. 

Spelled by John Capehart.  

1960: eudaemonic (adj.) — producing happiness, based on the idea of happiness as the proper end of conduct 

Spelled by Henry Feldman.

Walter Hickey wrote the original version of this post. 

See also A huge spelling bee is getting ugly on social media

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Golden State Warriors general manager Larry Riley was demoted by new owner Joe Lacob in April of 2012.

Two months before, Lacob was loudly booed by his own fans at a jersey retirement ceremony after Riley traded Monta Ellis to the Milwaukee Bucks for the oft-injured Andrew Bogut at the deadline.

After the season Lacob promoted Bob Myers to GM, and demoted Riley to director of scouting.

After being told of the move, Riley admitted to the San Francisco Chronicle's Rusty Simmons he was disappointed with the switch:

"I'd be disingenuous if I said anything other than there is some real disappointment about not being the general manager anymore. I think the team is set to be pretty good. It took a lot of work to get it to this point, and I'd like to be in the position to enjoy the success."

Three years later, the success has certainly come. While Myers won Executive of the Year in 2015, it's Riley who has arguably had the greater impact on the team. Warriors fans who once ridiculed Riley and his decisions now cheer for a team composed of players primarily brought in by Riley.

While drafting Stephen Curry 7th-overall in 2009 was by far Riley's most successful move as general manager, it wasn't the only one. The shooting guard tasked to replace fan-favorite Monta Ellis? All-star Klay Thompson, who Riley drafted 11th-overall in 2011. The injury-prone center the Warriors acquired in the Ellis trade? Rebounding machine Andrew Bogut.

All three were instrumental in the Warriors' series-clinching Game 5 win over the Houston Rockets. Curry and Thompson combined for 56 points, and Bogut led the team with 14 rebounds.

After being demoted, Riley has still played a pivotal role in building the Warriors. As director of scouting, he had a hand in the wildly successful 2012 draft that brought the team Harrison Barnes, Festus Ezeli, and Draymond Green.

Out of the Warriors eight key contributors this postseason — Curry, Thompson, Barnes, Green, Bogut, Ezeli, Andre Iguodala, and Shaun Livingston — Iguodala and Livingston are the only two that Riley didn't play a major role in acquiring.

During Curry's MVP acceptance speech he made a point to mention Riley, and thank him for everything he's done:

"He's the reason I'm here. He drafted me. He saw potential in me coming out of college, along with [former Warriors coach] Don Nelson, making those decisions. You're a big reason why I'm here, taking a chance on a little scrawny kid from a mid-major school. So just wanted to say thank you for believing in me. Crazy how far we've come in six years. But thank you, man. I can't thank you enough for that decision."

Three years after fans booed one of his moves in an ugly scene, he deserves a ton of credit for getting the team to the finals.

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Teenagers and pre-teens who win the intensely competitive Scripps National Spelling Bee have brains, passion, and dedication.

For the most part, this work ethic leads to success in college and beyond. Among the decades of past winners, there are lots of graduates of top schools and many brainy professionals — such as doctors and lawyers.

There are some pretty unusual career choices too, from a professional poker player to a voiceover actor.

Many former winners have also stayed involved with the bee itself, making up the administration of the organization.

Max Nisen created an earlier version of this feature.

1992 winner Amanda Goad went to Harvard Law School and became a staff lawyer on the ACLU's LGBT and HIV rights project.

Sources: Time, LinkedIn

1981 winner Paige Pipkin Kimble, right, was runner-up in 1980 to Jacques Bailly, left. She couldn't shake the spelling bee; she serves as its executive director.

Source: Slate

Bailly, the 1980 winner, is an associate professor of classics at the University of Vermont and the bee's official pronouncer.

Source: Time

It has been two weeks since the Miami Marlins shocked the baseball world by firing their manager and replacing him with their current general manager, Dan Jennings. So far, it has been the disaster that other managers may have secretly been rooting for.

The move was shocking because unlike other sports, there is typically a very clear line between the manager and the front office in Major League Baseball. Rarely does one person try to be both the coach and the person in charge of player personnel.

The last team to attempt the move was the Atlanta Braves in 1990 with Bobby Cox who had previous managerial experience. Jennings' previous coaching experience came 30 years ago with a high school team.

Through 10 games, the Marlins are just 2-8 under Jennings and have fallen from 6.0 games back in the National League East to 10.5 games back through Wednesday's games.

During that time, Jennings has demoted one of his coaches, a rare in-season move, and according to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, players are growing frustrated.

But more importantly for the sport of baseball, Jennings' performance has become a referendum on the managerial position in general, and a lot of people are watching very closely.

There is an old theory that of the head coaches in the four major sports (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL), the baseball manager that is the least important and that only a select few can actually have a positive impact on a team. This is a theory that has gained more steam in recent years with the use of advanced metrics, where many decisions can be mapped out ahead of time based on simple probability of what the most likely outcome will be.

Buster Olney of ESPN explained the thinking in a recent column:

"For [team executives], there is a recognition that [Bruce] Bochy has distinguished himself in his work with the Giants, as had Buck Showalter and Terry Francona. But there is also the belief that the majority of managers are like mediocre starting pitchers — you can always find somebody to do that job, to implement the strategy generated and laid out by front offices that are increasingly filled with really smart people who understand the chances and odds built into each decision better than the manager. A lot of folks in the front offices just hope that the guy in the manager’s chair doesn’t screw up — by doing something stupid and ad-libbing off the script honed by the staff above them, by failing to be direct in presenting a decision, in saying something really dumb on camera or into a microphone. As written here early last year, a lot of folks in front offices look at the manager perhaps in the same way that Barack Obama views his press secretary: Stay on message, please."

By moving Jennings from the front office to the dugout, the Marlins, intentionally or not, are testing this theory. According to Olney, other managers are "appalled and believe it to be an insult to the profession."

One coach told Olney that Jennings would be terrible.

"He won’t know how to react," the coach said. "I kind of feel bad for him."

Other managers have been openly critical of Jennings' in-game decisions, something unheard of among MLB managers. Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald chronicled a couple of examples.

• After one recent game, Arizona Diamondbacks manager Chip Hale, who had previously called the hiring of Jennings "frustrating," pointed out that his team beat the Marlins in large part because Jennings did not have a right-handed reliever ready when Hale brought in a pinch-hitter who eventually hit a game-deciding two-run home run.
• After a loss to the Marlins, Orioles manager Buck Showalter was critical of Jennings for overusing his bullpen, saying, "They used what, three guys three days in a row out of the bullpen to get it done? We’ll see how that works down the road."

Meanwhile, the players have been put in a tough position. Under the traditional system, there is a buffer between the players and the one person who typically has the most say in how much they make and whether or not they keep their job. The Marlins players are now in a spot where there may be added tension and pressure that players on other teams don't face.

It has only been two weeks and there is still plenty of time for Jennings to settle into this job and right the ship. But so far it is playing out exactly as many feared and some hoped.

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A very strange event unfolded during a Phillipines Basketball Association game Wednesday when Barako Bull forward Rico Maierhofer lost his shoe on a driving layup. Rather than quickly putting it back on, or ask for a stoppage in play, Maierhofer proceeded to hustle back on defense and use his shoe to try to block San Miguel Beer player Gabby Espinas' layup — missing, but ultimately causing a turnover.

Maierhofer initially loses his shoe here (h/t Bleacher Report):

After running back on defense and seeing Espinas about to get an easy layup, Maierhofer jumped up and used his shoe to try to swat his shot away:

PBA operations director Rickie B. Santos told SPIN's Richard Dy that officials most likely have never seen such a play occur in the league's 40-year history, but said a technical foul still should have been called on Maierhofer since he was using a "foreign object" to help defend the shot.

Maierhofer has been summoned to the league office for a disciplinary meeting on Friday.

The full video:

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Sepp Blatter is expected to be re-elected president of FIFA on Friday. In his speech to the FIFA congress on before the election, he was as defiant as ever as more people call for his resignation in the wake of the arrests of several high-ranking FIFA officials earlier this week.

After the scandal broke, the most prominent voice calling for Blatter's resignation came from UEFA president Michel Platini.

Blatter refused and on Friday during his address to the FIFA congress he came to his own defense with a rambling 15-minute explanation for why he can't be held responsible for the corruption within FIFA's ranks.

His defense can be summed as thus: He can't be responsible for everybody because "it's impossible."

"I am willing to accept that the president of FIFA is responsible for everything but I would like to share that responsibility with you or at the very least the executive committee here to my left. It's your government, it's our government ... we are at a turning point. We need to pull together and move forward. We cannot constantly supervise everybody that is in football. In football we have 209 member associations under six confederations, but we have more than 300 million active participants, men and women, and with their family and friends we reach a figure of 1.6 billion people that are directly or indirectly touched by our game ... we are popular, but popularity is not enough. With popularity comes responsibility. But how can everybody be responsible? That's impossible ... That is why we have a pyramid at FIFA and everything needs to trickle down to the national associations. But in the middle it needs to stop at the level of the confederations ... the [disciplinary committees] cannot cover 300 million and all the fans throughout the world. That is impossible. In no country in the world is there a single court. We are talking about over a billion people. How can a single entity do all that? This needs to be understood. I need to make it be understood ... You can't just ask everybody to behave ethically just like that in the world in which we live."

Of course, nobody is asking Blatter to be responsible for all the friends and family of anybody associated with the game of soccer or with FIFA. Rather, the people charged in this scandal include several high-ranking FIFA executives, including the current and former vice presidents.

In addition, the charges, if true, paint a picture of widespread and deeply rooted corruption that is present in FIFA in general and the one person sitting atop FIFA's iron throne is Blatter.

Based on Blatter's comments, not only is he not responsible, but nobody in FIFA should be held responsible.

Meanwhile, Swiss authorities continue to investigate the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar, respectively.

Blatter went on to question the timing of the investigation, coming two days before the presidential election.

"I am not going to use the word 'coincidence,'" said Blatter. "But I do have a small question mark."

You can see Blatter's entire speech at the 1:00.00 mark in the video below.

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For the second year in a row, the Scripps National Spelling Bee ended in a tie, as 14-year-old Gokul Venkatachalam and 13-year-old Vanya Shivashankar both got to take home a trophy.

The two were crowned co-champions after the list of 25 final round words was exhausted. The eighth graders went head-to-head for 10 rounds before nailing their final words, according to the Associated Press.

Shivashankar's final word was "scherenschnitte," a German word meaning the art of paper cutting design. Other words she spelled in the head-to-head round include zimocca, Bruxellois, and myrmotherine.

Going last, Venkatachalam spelled the word "nunatak" — which is derived from Inuit and means a hill completely surrounded, but not covered, by glacial ice. He had previously tackled words such as paroemiology, nixtamal, and pyrrhuloxia in the championship round.

SEE ALSO: WHERE ARE THEY NOW? The successful lives of past National Spelling Bee champions

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The FIFA bribery scandal has entangled many individuals in its web. Now it looks like Nike may have been dragged into the alleged "rampant, systemic, and deep-rooted corruption" that US Attorney General Loretta Lynch says has sullied world football for decades.

Nike is not named in the US Department of Justice indictments charging 14 people with racketeering, wire fraud, and money laundering conspiracies. The charges allege those indicted participated in a "24-year scheme to enrich themselves through the corruption of international soccer." Nike has said it has not been accused of wrongdoing.

The Financial Times and Bloomberg have linked Nike with the unidentified "Sportswear Company A" and "Sportswear Company E," who are listed in the indictments. (The nomenclature is confusing but text of the two separate indictments describes A and E as if they were the same company.)

Those indictments claim the sportswear company, with the help of a mediator — Brazil-based sports marketing company Traffic Group  — signed a 10-year, $160 million deal in 1996 with Brazil's national football federation CBF to sponsor the Brazilian national football team. Nike signed its long-running partnership with the Brazilian football team in the same year.

Traffic Group has not yet responded to a request for comment from Business Insider.

The indictment says a high-ranking official from CBF and Traffic Group siphoned off millions of dollars from the deal for themselves in bribes and kickbacks.

It also alleges the sportswear company paid $40 million to Traffic via an affiliate with a Swiss bank account. That, on the surface of it, seems strange. Why pay into an off-shore account — especially in Switzerland, where banks do not share customer information with governments of other countries?

Again, there's nothing to suggest any wrongdoing on the sportswear company's behalf. But it is odd.

The indictment doesn't name Nike. Nor does it accuse Nike of any wrongdoing.

However, worryingly for executives at the sportswear company's headquarters in Oregon, it does pull Nike into the ever-changing, murky FIFA scandal.

Nike has not responded to a request for comment from Business Insider. However, the company told The Financial Times: "The charging documents unsealed yesterday in Brooklyn do not allege that Nike engaged in criminal conduct. There is no allegation in the charging documents that any Nike employee was aware of or knowingly participated in any bribery or kickback scheme."

Here's what happened, according to the indictment:

• 1994: The Brazilian national football team lifts the World Cup in the USA. At around the same time, a representative from Sportswear Company E approaches CBF to see if it would be interested in sponsorship. At the time, the Brazilian team was sponsored by Umbro.
• An unidentified high-ranking CONMEBOL (the South American Football Federation) and CBF official, and the founder of Traffic Group José Hawilla (who in December of last year waived indictment and pleaded guilty to charges of racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, and obstruction of justice), began negotiations with Sportswear Company E.
• 1996: Discussions finally closed in New York. On July 11, a contract for a $160 million, 10-year deal was signed between the high-ranking CBF official, Hawilla on behalf of Traffic Brazil, and four members of Sportswear Company E. The sportswear company became a co-sponsor and exclusive footwear apparel, accessories, and equipment supplier.
• As part of the agreement CBF remitted a percentage of the value of the payments it received from the sportswear company to Traffic Brazil.
• Sportswear Company E also agreed to pay an affiliate of Traffic with a Swiss bank account an additional $40 million in compensation, on top of the $160 million it was obligated to pay to CBF.
• 1996-1999 Over this period, Traffic invoiced the sportswear company directly for $30 million in payments.
• An executive from Traffic "agreed to pay and did pay" the high-ranking official from CBF half of the money he made from the sponsorship deal, "totaling in the millions of dollars, as a bribe and kickback."
• 2002 The parties terminated the agreement before the end of the 10-year term.

The two separate criminal investigations — by the Swiss Attorney General and the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York — into the alleged corruption surrounding FIFA, national football governing bodies, and sports marketing agencies are ongoing.

SEE ALSO: Inside Traffic Group, the little-known company entangled right at the heart of the FIFA corruption scandal

SEE ALSO: World Cup sponsor Visa warns FIFA it could jump ship

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There is a "sizable gap" between Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat in contract negotiations for a future deal, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.

Wade is reportedly trying to make up some of the $41.6 million he gave up last summer when he opted out of the last two years of his deal to help the Heat re-sign LeBron James and retool the roster. 

While James went back to Cleveland and Chris Bosh re-signed on a max deal, Wade settled for a two-year, $31 million deal with Miami, with a $16.1 million player option this summer.

As Jackson reports, the original belief was that Wade would opt into that player deal this summer so he could explore free agency in 2016 when the salary cap jumps to $88 million. But instead, he may seek a more lucrative long-term deal this summer that would pay him through age 36.

Jackson reports that while Wade's preference is to stay in Miami, he's open to going to other teams if he and the Heat can't agree on a number.

Miami's hesitancy to give Wade more money has to boil down to Wade's age and injuries. Wade will turn 34 next season and hasn't played over 70 games since the 2010-11 season. In the last two seasons, he's missed a combined 48 games. Though Wade is still a top guard in the NBA when healthy, he struggles to actually stay on the court.

Jackson notes that Heat president Pat Riley commented on Wade's health earlier this offseason, suggesting that Wade needs to take better care of his body:

"He's got to change the narrative himself about his body and about his injuries and about his missing games. And we had a discussion about this. But he always has to answer those questions, and I know those questions are legitimate because they're real. So night in and night out, there's always the question of whether or not he can or he can't. And so I'd like to have him try to get past that first hurdle mentally and do whatever he has to do to get himself ready to practice and himself ready to play, each and every night."

That Wade would suddenly want to turn down $16 million and become a free agent this summer before the huge salary cap jump next summer suggests he's aware of his own physical limitations. Though he missed 20 games this past year, he still averaged 21 points on 47% shooting with nearly five assists per game. Wade and his agent may be hoping to cash in on a solid season with a long-term deal, rather than risk a lesser 2015-16 season with more injuries.

Unfortunately for Wade, even if he decides to leave Miami, other teams are aware of his age and injury history, too. It's possible that Wade could find a team willing to pay him more than that $16 million number, but there would likely be some hesitancy. Even with the cap jump, paying an aging, injury-riddled, ball-dominant guard a near-max contract would be risky, and teams would probably want to keep the contract short in length or not guarantee all of the money.

Unfortunately for Wade, it's unlikely that he'll make up the $42 million he gave up last summer. Though he still has plenty of value in the league, teams are too wary of investing a lot of money in a player with Wade's age and injury history.

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FIFA President Sepp Blatter speaks in Zurich, Switzerland and addresses the recent arrests of FIFA officals on corruption and racketeering charges. 

Produced by Jason Gaines. Video courtesy of Associated Press and SNTV.

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It's been six months since Ray Rice won his appeal and had his suspension lifted. Yet the 28-year-old free-agent running back remains unsigned. Not only has no team offered him a contract — none of the 32 franchises have even called him in for a workout.

Several people who work for NFL teams at various levels told Sports Illustrated's Don Banks that due to the backlash the Chicago Bears received after signing Ray McDonald — who had a history of alleged domestic violence before getting arrested twice after joining the team— Rice may never get another opportunity to play in the NFL.

A front-office executive with 20 years of NFL experience told Banks he agrees with that sentiment:

“It’s a tough one, especially after Ray McDonald, but I think he’s probably done. He was declining and he plays a replaceable position. I think he would have been signed by now if it was going to happen.”

A veteran NFL assistant coach also agrees:

“I feel he should get a chance, but people have that vision of him hitting his now-wife in the head, and that will not go away. Whoever takes him will face scrutiny, and I don’t know if anybody wants that headache. For me, I would have a tough time with it. If that was my daughter he hit, he wouldn’t be playing football again.”

This has led NFL Players' Union head DeMaurice Smith to publicly claim NFL teams are "blackballing" Rice:

“This, unfortunately, is a league that has a history of blackballing players. I find it hard to believe that a player of Mr. Rice’s caliber hasn’t at least gotten one offer from a team to come work out.”

While, even recently, controversy hasn't stopped NFL teams from signing or retaining players with plenty of baggage — such as the Minnesota Vikings refusing to trade Adrian Peterson, the Dallas Cowboys signing Greg Hardy, and the Seattle Seahawks drafting Frank Clark — all of those players are coming off of successful seasons and are still playing at a high level.

The last time Rice played in an NFL regular-season game was 17 months ago where he ran the ball six times for a paltry 15 yards. Rice finished the 2013 season with just 660 rushing yards on 3.1 yards per carry. The majority of NFL personnel who believe Rice will never play again see his declining play as a major factor. A front-office person told Banks:

"Ray McDonald did Ray Rice absolutely no favors, because every time domestic violence is in the headlines, that brings Rice back onto the radar for the wrong reason. Now, if he had rushed for 1,200 yards with a 4.5 yard average the last time he played, that might be different. If he was the Ray Rice of 2008-12. But the last time we saw him he ran for 660 yards and a 3.1 average carry."

By the fall Rice will approaching 29 years old and will have been out of football for a full year.

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[Update] The PGA has reversed their position and has now decided to play the hole as a par-3. The Tour's VP of rules and competitions cited the impact having a such a short par-4 would have on statistical record-keeping.

[Earlier] The PGA Tour had to take some drastic measures for the second round of the Byron Nelson Championship after overnight storms dropped 4.5 inches of rain on the TPC Las Colinas course in Dallas.

The PGA announced prior to the second round that the 14th hole will be shortened to just 104 yards after the fairway was deemed unplayable. But to make matters even more strange, the tour also announced that the hole will remain a par-4 which means the hole should see plenty of birdies and eagles in the second round.

Here is a graphic produced by the PGA that shows where the tee box is typically located (1) and where it will be found on Friday (2), shortening the length of the hole by 302 yards.

Here is the view from the new tee area.

This second shot by Justin Thomas on the 14th hole during the first round was from 126 yards and on Friday players will be teeing off from 20 yards closer.

The PGA explained that the hole will remain a par-4 for "logistical concerns, i.e. changing scorecards and leaderboards" and that it could return to its normal distance on Saturday and Sunday.

Early in the second round there was already one hole-in-one from Gary Woodland.

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