Date: Mercredi 19 mai 2010

Heure: 16h30 à 18h00

Lieu: Centre International d’étude du Sport (CIES), avenue Du Peyrou 1, 2000 Neuchâtel

Drivers in Switzerland who spot a winged man dressed in white at the side of the road shouldn’t be alarmed – it’s not a vision, it’s a guardian angel. Police in the state of Fribourg have hired the professional actor to deter motorists from speeding.

The ‘road angel’, who forms part of a safe-driving campaign, will wave and flap his wings at motorists travelling too fast.

Bearded angel: Police in Switzerland have hired a winged ‘vision’ to stand at the side of the road, discouraging drivers from speeding

Slow down: The road safety angel gets to work in Fribourg, waving at motorists who are travelling too fast

He’s the real-life version of an angel that features in the initiative’s TV commercials who is hit by a young motorist as he hurriedly drives out of his garage. The advert advises heavy-footed drivers to ‘Slow Down. Take It Easy’.

‘The idea is to provide a sort of concrete protection, to have a real angel telling drivers to be responsible,’ Benoît Dumas, a Fribourg police spokesman, said. ‘To have a physical presence like that makes the message more visible, and it’s out of the ordinary.’

The actor, whose identity has not been released for privacy reasons, works 20 hours per week and will ‘appear’ in different parts of the 670-square-mile region of western Switzerland.

‘The initiative will go on until at least end of October, but it could be prolonged. After all, you know, angels are eternal,’ Dumas said. Drivers who spot the angel are being encouraged to e-mail the police – they will then be entered into a lottery for a driving lesson. Officers say it’s too early to tell if the ‘guardian angel’ has discouraged speeding in the mountainous country, where speed limits vary from 75mph to 31mph.

1. Complete my research on international transfers of under-18 soccer players.  Lead a 90-minute presentation and discussion in French on this topic for my colleagues at CIES. Fingers crossed, the 10,000-word article I have written on the subject will be accepted for publication in the Fall 2010 Entertainment and Sports Law Journal. On July 1, I’ll be a panelist at the Sport & EU Conference in Ghent, Belgium to present this work.

2. Guided visit to the Lausanne Anti-Doping Laboratory.

3. Group presentation on the economics and financing of the Super Bowl.

4. Group presentation on recruitment strategies of five French Ligue 1 soccer teams for a class called Globalization and Sport.

5.. Three exams in Sociology of Sport, Doping and the Law, Economic and Sports Law.

Last Sunday, Sarah and I visited the Neuchâtel branch of the Swiss Humane Society to volunteer walking shelter dogs.  Just a few kilometers away, the Société des Animaux is surrounded by many nice trails and farms.  You just walk in, pick up a dog, and be on your way!  The nice receptionist greeted us with a choice of “Gros ou petit?” and told us she had two German shepherd mixes if we were keen on handling a more “rowdy” pair.  Potentially mentally unstable German shepherds…In my head, this translated to would I like to walk a stick of dynamite on the end of a leash.  Actually, Camilla and Attica were really sweet during the whole two hour walk, even if they were pretty strong leash-tuggers.   The experience left Sarah and I feeling happy and helped us to forget about the f*!)%?ing volcano ruining Sarah’s travel plans.  Dogwalks+sunshine=major seratonin boost.

It seems unfair that I should spend all this time researching European football and not attend at least one elite-level match.  (Sorry Neuchâtel Xamax, but you don’t count as elite- level.)  That changed when I got the chance to go to the semifinals of the Women’s Champions League tourney in Lyon with Natalie, a Pomona ’06 grad completing the FIFA Masters program here in Neuchâtel.  Imagine TWO Sagehens in this fairly tiny Swiss town! CHIRP!  She has a ton of experience in women’s soccer and is finishing a project on the professionalization of European women’s leagues.  Given that she had more observations from Lyon, I’m taking the liberty of borrowing from her blog.  (Thanks Natalie!)  You can read the complete rundown here, with some incisive comments on Olympique Lyonnais and the state of “le football féminin.”

“Despite strikes on the French railway system, I managed to get to the Olympique Lyonnais in time for the semi-final matchup against Umea IK on April 10th. I was fortunate to receive comp (free) tickets to the match, but for the average person it was only 5 Euros. The security treated this very similar to any other OL match at the famed Stade de Gerland.  The women rarely play in the men’s stadium, but put it in perspective. It may be the only women’s team to play a non-final match in a men’s Champions League team stadium. Ever. We walked up into the reserved section…

Arriving at the stadium club, we were greeted by daper-looking attendants checking our tickets. Once in, a wide-variety of delicious food and beverages waited to be eaten. In true Lyonnais fashion, they had pulled out all the stops. food is an art if France; even at a women’s football match.

Sitting down in one of the most famous stadium in Europe, it still seemed full of fans. I guessed correctly, almost 5,000 OL supporters had come to watch the exciting game. It was a mix of families, young adults (both men and women), and official-looking OL senior citizens. But the biggest point of interest, everyone watched the match the whole time. Whistled for bad offsides calls or missed fouls. Cheered for goals or good dribbling skills.  OL dominated but only came away with a 3-2 win.

Olympique Lyonnais men and women made it to the semi-finals of their respective UEFA Champions league. Will one of them or both hold up the trophies this year?”

The next day Sarah and I headed to London to take advantage of a free room in her sister’s house.  With the sun obliging, we first stopped off in Camden Market.  Holy Doc Martens, Batman!  Camden is famous for being a center of punk culture, but there were now plenty of tourists and food stalls filling the streets.  Afterwards, in Soho, we feasted on dim sum, some of the first Asian food I had had in months.

Fearing there would be nothing to do on Easter Sunday, we were thrilled to make our way to Spitalfields Market and Brick Lane to find dozens of international food vendors and vintage shops teeming with skinny-jeaned, oversize-sweater sporting East Enders.  Look at this flipping hipster.  One store even had a line stretching half a city block policed by security.  Maybe the bobbies had closed down the store so Kate Moss could come search for the perfect vintage fedora?

The only thing better than the skiing was the company…I came away with some awesome friends that I hope to visit in Geneva and elsewhere before leaving Switzerland in June.  Other awesome memories: All the merriment at Yucatan happy hours, and our epic dance parties until four am at the chalet.  Then up three hours later to hit the slopes!  If anything from my year deserves the “once-in-a-lifetime” tag, Camp Engelberg was it.  You’ll get better quality if you visit Facebook, but in any case here are some of the best shots from the slopes!

A Swiss watchmaker is hoping to raise a stink with an expensive timepiece that eschews the trade’s standard gold, diamond or titanium fittings for a more earthy substance — dinosaur dung. Vesenaz, Switzerland-based company Artya says the watch set in fossilized feces will sell for 12,000 ($11,290) and comes with a strap made with skin from an American cane toad.  Designer Yvan Arpa said Monday the coprolite came from a plant-eater that died about 100 million years ago in what is now the U.S. –NY Times (March 15, 2010)

The Geneva Motor Show…where all the Swiss I-bankers, hedge fund managers and titans of industry come to scope out siick cars.  My inner golddigger tells me I should consider going…

What’s that you say?  I don’t even know how to jumpstart a car?  Or drive a stickshift?  Ok, so maybe I can’t always tell a Benz from a Bugatti, but I can say “Damn, that’s one badass-looking car.”  And the Geneva Motor Show is a LOT of badass-looking cars, all in one place.  It’s not every day a premier auto show stops by your neighborhood.  Ah well, guess I’ll just be content to check out these media photos.

JT was there!!!!! And I wasn't. Waaa waaa