Breaking News: Televisión Española is reporting that Jesús Gil, flamboyant multimillionaire owner of the Atlético de Madrid soccer team and former mayor of the Eurotrash resort town of Marbella, has been sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison for embezzlement and fraud in the "caso Atlético". Two of Gil's co-conspirators received prison sentences as well. Gil and his minions apparently squeezed the club dry after he assumed the club's presidency in 1992. Among other shenanigans, Gil, as mayor of Marbella, made a deal with himself, president of the Atlético de Madrid soccer club, that the town of Marbella would pay the Atlético de Madrid in exchange for the players' wearing an advertisement promoting Marbella on their shirts. God knows how much money got suctioned out of various people's pockets as part of that deal. In the early '90s, Gil also conspired with his players to pay them large sums of money "tax-free" under the table. I can't believe that none of the players went to jail--hell, one of them, Paolo Futre, is now the general manager of the team (director deportivo). Futre was famous as one of the few players who smoked; another was Prosinecki. Another thing he did that was illegal was to buy 95% of the club's shares in exchange for assuming its enormous debt, which he never paid a penny of. Part of the sentence against Gil is that he has to give up his shares, which he will be free to bid for when they are sold, and another part is that he will actually have to pay the debt he promised he would. It's really a pretty harsh sentence. The problem, of course, is that Gil is going to appeal it. The case has been going on since 1999, and this sentence will not go into effect until Gil's appeal gets turned down, assuming that the often horribly incompetent and occasionally corrupt Spanish judiciary turns it down.

For the first time ever, I am going to try to launch an Internet campaign. I would like my esteemed co-blogger "Jesús Gil" from Ibidem to change his web handle. He is a loyal fan of Atlético de Madrid, which he has every right to be, but he could find a more socially responsible fellow than Jesús Gil to name himself after. Not one to criticize without proposing remedies, I suggest former Atlético player and current coach Luis Aragonés, admired by everyone in the world of Spanish soccer and beloved by Atlético fans, as a worthy replacement. Luis Aragonés is someone like Yogi Berra or Phil Rizzuto with the Yankees, a real lifetime supporter of his team. Jesús Gil is like a combination of George Steinbrenner and Marc Cuban and Jerry Jones, squared. Come on, people, make your voices known on this critical issue.

The system under which Spanish soccer clubs operate is actually a great deal more free-market than the American sports systems. Some of the most important differences are:

1) Spanish clubs are historically nonprofit, social organizations. They have historically been governed by their members, who vote to elect the club president, who in turn hires the general manager and coach and is the boss. Club presidents are known for interfering with the professionals and especially for firing coaches left and right. One year Atlético had something like five coaches. Last year Español had three coaches and this year they're on their second. Anyway, early in the '90s all the clubs got way over their heads in debt, and only Real Madrid, Barcelona, Athletic Bilbao, and Osasuna of Pamplona were able to clean up their finances and maintain the old regime. All the others had to go private, selling to owners, who now function as club presidents. They all hold absolute power over their clubs, and some, like the guy who used to run Sevilla (González de Caldas?), have abused their power. The Sevilla guy used club money to spend on his model girlfriend (= high-priced prostitute) Sofia Mazagatos while the team was sliding toward Second Division.

2) There is no salary cap. Teams are free to wheel and deal with players' contracts, and they do. Players are bought and sold for cash. There is no draft. Clubs are divided into various divisions, in Spain First (20 teams), Second A (22 teams), Second B (80 teams), and Third (a lot of teams, at least a couple of hundred). First Division clubs range in size, wealth, and power from FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, as big and rich and tradition-packed as major US franchises as the Yankees or Cowboys or Niners or whatever, to several clubs at the bottom that operate at a Triple A level or so. In Spain, at the end of every season, the bottom three teams in First drop down to Second, and the top three teams in Second go up to First. This makes the season exciting down to the wire. The lower-division clubs are not controlled by the First Division clubs in an American-style farm system; they are independent units, and they hope to win their division and to move up.

3) The teams play in two different competitions. One is the League, in which every First Division team plays each other one home and away and whoever comes in first wins, no playoffs or anything. The top six teams, in Spain, go on to play in Europe-wide competitions the next year. Teams that play in Europe receive lots of TV money that they keep for themselves. The second is the Cup, in which teams from First, Second, and Second B play a knockout, playoff-style competition. The Cup winner also plays in Europe the next year.

4) There's advertising all over the place. Barça makes a big deal about how they haven't cheapened themselves by selling advertising on their shirts. Everybody else does, and Barça's stupid pride is costing them ten million euros or so a year.