FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

Finally returning from our long immersion in the dark depths of American soccer, Das FanHaus returns to tell the stories no one seems to be telling. Case in point: the French won something. Francis Joyon, a 51-year old trimaran skipper, circumnavigated the globe in 57 days, 13 hours, 34 minutes, and 6 seconds, destroying the previous record by a full two weeks. The previous record stood for almost 5 years, having broken Joyon's original record by 1 day in 2003. Sailing all alone for two months, the captain had to brave fierce winds, wild temperature swings, and repair his 105 foot mast all by his lonesome. Along the way, he broke several smaller records, crossing each of the various oceans in record time. Joyon's success can be attributed to his super light trimaran and its green energy, focused on wind turbines and solar power to lighten the load.

(HT: AP and MSNBC)

The America's Cup finished its slow, graceful, and untelegenic competition today, resulting in a 5-2 victory for the Alinghi team from Switzerland. When you think of rough seas and steady hands on the tiller, you should now think of landlocked, mountainous, and chocolate-craving Switzerland. Geneva: a sailor's paradise!

You can thank the Alinghi syndicate, a multinational corporation based in Switzerland, for the yachting victory. The "Swiss" team is less a concerted national effort and more of an independent one flying under the Swiss flag. Look no further than the crew of the Swiss boat: 27 out of 30 crewmembers are well-paid Kiwis working for the Swiss team, a fact that scandalized the New Zealand media.

International identity politics aside, the race came down to a sizzling conclusion. We just said that: a sailing race came down to a nail-biting, win by a nose victory thanks to a penalty the Kiwi team had to take just shy of the finish line and some unfortunate tactical errors someone who knows something about sailing would have to tell you about. From the video, we can tell that at one point the the Kiwis had their sail in the water, which we're going to guess is really, really not good.

As the pace of globalization increases, international sports and immigration meet with increasing frequency. The Olympics always have their share of defections, and Cuban baseball players often use playing games abroad to hop fence and ask for asylum at the nearest warm embassy, often running directly into the arms of waiting sports agents.

There's even a potential for real sport here, as demonstrated by the fence-jumping skills of the immigrants in the background of this video. (Yes, we know it's fake. But even fake still = funny.)


Sadly, not all of the interactions between international sports and illegal immigration are so comic.

Four refugees tried to illegally enter Europe by hiding inside the hull of Norwegian industrial designer Bård Eker's offshore racing boat. One died along the way.

The Aftenposten has the translation a bit off here--they were technically immigrants of the illegal variety. The stowaways were discovered when a trailer driver noticed noises coming from the hull. Police discovred four men Inside: one man was already dead, and another had passed out due to the combination of the warmth of the hull and the gas fumes inside.

The boat's owner called the incident "sad and disturbing." Concurred.