'Witchcraft' claim sparked deadly soccer riot

from CNN.com:

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) -- Accusations that a soccer player was using witchcraft during a match in eastern Congo sparked a riot that killed 13 people, a U.N.-funded radio station reported Monday.

Most of the victims were between the ages of 11 and 16, Radio Okapi said. They were suffocated as panicked crowds ran for the exits during the mayhem Sunday in Butembo in eastern Congo's North Kivu province.

Radio Okapi said police tried to control the violence at Matokeo stadium by firing into the air to protect their commander, who was hit in the head and wounded by fans.

The two local clubs involved were Socozaki and Nyuki System, the radio said.

Dozens of teenagers marched through Butembo's dirt streets Monday in protest, and the regional governor, Julien Mpaluku, paid a visit to the hospital.

Mpaluku said the government was investigating.

He made no mention of witchcraft, but confirmed that soldiers had fired into the air to calm angry crowds. The shooting prompted panic instead, which became fatal "when the crowds all tried to leave at the same time."

"Most of the dead were children, only two or three were adults," Mpaluku said.

North Kivu has been the epicenter of violence between Congo's army and rebels over the last year which has displaced hundreds of thousands of people.

Monson: RM debate only crops up when BYU wins

Interesting take on the debate over whether being returned missionaries is an unfair advantage for BYU football players.

read more | digg story

Another One

http://www.cougarfan.com/article.asp?ArtID=48813&URL=http://bleacherreport.com/articles/57903-bringham-young-and-the-mountain-west-conference-deserve-national-attention

BYU and MWC

Podcast about BYU and the MWC

Conference Rankings

http://realtimerpi.com/football/ncaaf_conf_Men.html

This website's stats backup my earlier post.

Kirk Hops on the Bandwagon...Sort of

MWC > PAC10

This weekend was a huge weekend for the MWC. At least it should have been, but of course all the ESPN losers will completely overlook this interesting fact.

The MWC played 4 games against the Pac 10, and guess what, the MWC won all 4 games. And on the entire season, the MWC has played 5 games against the Pac 10 and won all 5 games.

Washington, Stanford, UCLA, Arizona State, and Arizona were the victims. They may not be the powerhouse of the Pac 10, but neither are UNLV and New Mexico.

Later in the season a MWC team will also play Oregon State. But regardless, by my count the MWC dominated play against the Pac 10.

The BCS is weak, and this proves it. So someone again try and tell me either how the WAC is better than the MWC, when our conference won more games against BCS opponents this weekend than the WAC did in all of last year, or that the MWC is an inferrior conference to the Pac 10.