After last weeks horrendous miscarriage of justice court decision, Ferrari were told that they would not have a right to appeal. Thankfully though, they appear to have found a loophole.

Because only the McLaren team were allowed to present their case, Ferrari have claimed that they have not had a chance to present all of their own evidence. Which is fair enough really, I mean, nobody likes to be kicked out of a room where others are talking about them do they? As a result the court of appeals has now agreed to review the case along with Ferrari and any other teams input.

This is potentially catastrophic for McLaren as the previous court statement said (in plain English) 'If McLaren are found to have gained any advantage from this spying in the future, then they will be banned from the World Championship'. That statement was carefully constructed to not sound like McLaren were being let off scott-free for spying on their main rivals, but the FIA were not planning on the case reaching appeal.

Now the precedent has been set and if Ferrari can prove that McLaren did indeed, gain an advantage from having 780 pages of secret technical data (can we say: 'No Brainer'?) then the court will be forced to ban the McLaren team (which includes rookie Lewis Hamilton) from this years World Title race.

[BBC Sport]

A quick reminder about the rolling bohemuth that is Epic Carnival. We're two weeks in  now and it's going swell, so if you've got some time to kill (and you know you do) then head on over and take a look.

Come on now, you remember Ivan Lendl don't you? The Tennis star whose own country tried to stop him from playing?

Well it turns out that instead of becoming star tennis players, Lendls seeds have turned to a different (and far duller) sport. Three of his five daughters have become excellent junior golfers.

Marika, Isabelle and Daniela Lendel, 17, 15 and 14 respectively, regularly take on and beat their Pa over the greens and both Marika and Isabelle have competed on the Us Junior Championship circuit. Marika, the eldest of the three, has even made the Junior American Ryder Cup Team, which probably
sounds more impressive then it actually is.

Whilst Ivan tours the celebrity circuit, where he plays a 2 - handicap, his daughters all have an eye on turning pro. And with a handicap of 1 in their teenage years, it looks like they have every chance.

Understandably, Ferrari are feeling a tiny bit outraged at the complete lack of punishment the McLaren team received for spying on them.

"We are reflecting on what to do after the incomprehensible and grave decision made in Paris," 

...was the head of Ferrari, Jean Todt's comment after McLaren were let off scott-free. And he's right too; It's a bit like a kid who steals exam results and then claims that his grade is valid because he didn't 'use the information to his advantage'.  Just to clarify, McLaren were found guilty of spying but were not given any punishment because 'There was no evidence that the stolen information was used to gain an advantage'.

"It's difficult to understand that one who is deemed to be guilty goes unpunished," 

And this isn't some small over-blown incident either, McLaren's chief designer was caught with a 780 page dossier of Ferrari's technical information. I am a little less stunned then Ferrari about the lack of punishment here, as Formula-1 has regularly shown a bias against the Ferrari team. The biggest issue here though, is that it sets a dangerous precedent for other sports.  What the court has essentially said is that the act of espionage itself, is not a crime in the sporting world.

It would be fair to say that this is one of the worst judgements in sporting history and it is not going to go away quickly.

[BBC Sport]

Some of the best from around the Blogzone...

Just like every othe non-Cleveland dwelling football fan, I just love to laugh at the Browns [Epic Carnival]

After making one wild eyed predicition about the Yankees, twins takes a more rational angle toward the NL West in the Thursday Debate. [Complete Sports]

Hey, a water bottle can be a dangerous weapon in the arms of a... well anyone really. [Signal To Noise]

If you can say this guys name three times fast without screwing up I applaud you. [The Extrapolater]

There is help in time of need and [Babes Love Baseball] can show you where.

You know what the scary thing about this is? It's that it's all true. All of it. [Our Book of Scrap]

And finally...

Because these days, everything is a sport... [One More Dying Quail]