Fans of the Nigeria national soccer team (also known as the Super Eagles) are known for bringing live chickens to games.
The chickens are seen as lucky mascots, but Russian officials are not allowing any poultry in motion for this year's World Cup. Chicken on plates, no problem. Like chickens inside the stadium, not so much.
"Fans from Nigeria asked if it's possible to go to the stadium with a chicken -- it's their symbol. We told them that it is not possible," Andrei Ermak, Kaliningrad's minister of culture, told the Interfax News Agency.
If Nigeria fans want to take their chickens elsewhere in the city to root on their Super Eagles, that shouldn't be too much of a problem, Ermak added.
"We will of course advise them where chickens can be taken," he said. "We are ready to satisfy the most eccentric inquiries."
Nigeria got a similar refusal at the 2010 World Cup, when the South African Press Association reported Nigerian fans were angered their chicken wasn't allowed into the stadium in Johannesburg.
SAPA said the chicken on that occasion was dyed in the team's colors and had its claws bound by black tape. The agency quoted fan John Okoro as calling the refusal "ridiculous."
Nigeria is scheduled to play Croatia in its opening match today.
Staggering discovery
Laurence Leavy, a lawyer better known as the orange-clad Miami Marlins Man, was defrauded of about $1.5 million from his personal and business accounts. The culprit: his trusted bookkeeper.
Maria Alonso, 59, created bogus vendor invoices and then used the law firm's computer system to generate checks to pay the invoices.
She would convert those checks into money orders and deposit them into her own personal bank account. Leavy said Alfonso used the Wells Fargo branch in the building that he owned and where his law firm operates.
According to a plea agreement, Alonso issued over 1,000 fake checks totaling over $1 million.
Alonso pleaded guilty this week to bank fraud and was sentenced in federal court to four years in prison, records show. She will be on supervised release for five years after her sentence. She is ordered to repay what she stole, $1.5 million.
Alonso worked for Leavy, who practices workers compensation law, for 17 years before he discovered the fraud during an audit in 2016. Court records show Alonso began embezzling money from her boss in 2009.
"As we dug more and more and more, it was staggering to me," Leavy said. "I felt professionally raped."
Leavy became known as Marlins Man about six years ago when he was noticed sitting behind home plate in his bright orange jersey. He travels the country in his signature uniform to various sporting events throughout the year. Marlins Man is also known for treating strangers to games and just requesting that they pay the good deed forward.
This season, Marlins Man is missing from his beloved team's games. Leavy had been a season-ticket holder since the Marlins debuted in 1993, but he squabbled with the team over prices, and now he's absent from the stands.
Sports on 06/16/2018