English athletes lose more than their pride

While many bettors figuratively lost their shirts wagering on England in the World Cup, members of the English soccer team literally lost theirs, along with their underwear and other personal items.

Five housekeepers at South Africa's Royal Bafokeng Sports Campus, a five-star hotel, have each been sentenced to three years in prison after stealing items worth more than $10,000 from England's players.

The members of the hotel's cleaning staff rifled through the players' bedrooms and took items including underwear, a FIFA gold medal, cash, team jerseys and several USA team uniforms that England's players were given after their 1-1 tie with the Americans in their World Cup-opening match.

A police spokeswoman said all the stolen items were discovered in the homes of the five suspects, who had access to the England players' hotel rooms and were arrested Sunday and convicted of theft.

The suspects were each sentenced to pay about $777 in fines or serve three years in prison. Apparently not the smartest thieves, none of them could afford to pay the fine, so they were taken to jail.

Missing from the report is where the gold medal came from.

England didn't win one, so it sounds as if there could be another robbery to investigate.

■ WAYNE GETS WAXED -- The aforementioned thefts couldn't account for the disappearance of English striker Wayne Rooney's facial and chest hair.

Following the lead of teammate Frank Lampard, who was infamously pictured during a 2004 vacation with a waxed chest and armpits, Rooney opted for a close shave and also had his previously hairy chest waxed before Sunday's game against Germany.

But Rooney's new grooming habits didn't help him or his team, as England got waxed by the Germans, 4-1.

■ GERMAN COACH PICKS WINNER -- There's a funny scene in "Caddyshack" -- then again, they all are except for the ones centering on Danny Noonan's relationship with his girlfriend, Maggie -- where $50 wagers are made on whether Spaulding Smails will pick his nose and eat it.

Those were the two surest bets in the movie, aside from taking Ty Webb and Noonan -- who filled in for Rodney Dangerfield's character Al Czervik -- to win their high-stakes match over Judge Smails and Doctor Beeper.

But we digress.

Watching the reprise of Spaulding's aforementioned scene in real life take place during Germany's 4-1 win over England on Sunday wasn't the least bit funny.

In one of the few drawbacks to high-definition television, Germany coach Joachim Loew was caught on camera picking his nose, then licking his finger.

While some hard-luck bettors have been known to lament, "I can't pick my nose," Loew certainly can.

Watch the clip on YouTube at your own peril.

COMPILED BY TODD DEWEY
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL