We are constantly fascinated by the depth and breadth of the commitment of Russia's sporting billionaires. It seem like every time we turn around, there's some oil or gas magnate oligarching his way to the top of some organized sporting event. From the obvious EPL-Chelsea connection to the less public champions league of ice hockey, everyone is trying to reclaim Soviet sporting glory with cold hard capitalism. Shabtai von Kalmonovic is no exception. With his awesome name and equally awesome fortune, he is building a women's basketball empire in the Moscow using offseason talent from the WNBA. Paying upwards of 10 times their usual salaries, Shabtai has WNBA stars like Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird wrecking havoc hoops-style across the Russian countryside. Meanwhile, he treats them like queens, spoiling them with every possible luxury and convenience from chauffeured Mercedes to world-class accommodations.
After reading his profile in the LA Times, we can now safely admit that no American sport is safe from the grips of Russian capitalism. They can take our WNBA, but we're pretty sure there's going to be some kind of revolt if any of those fat cat oligarchs start eying our NASCAR.
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Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 1)
1. First off, its good to see the WNBA stars get theirs. They get paid nothing compared to other sports league.
And no, nobody will be able to take Nascar away, since:
1. It's not as exciting as F1 racing
2. It's a racist sport, inside and out. Anybody who tells me any different is lying to themselves. Its roots are in the south, and we all know how different the NOrth and South are when it comes to race issues.
Posted at 3:46PM on Mar 26th 2008 by Moneymarl