In a small victory for homeland security

the U.S. government has denied entry to Everton soccer legend (Drunken) Duncan Ferguson. Years ago, when he was playing in Scotland, Ferguson seriously injured an opposing player in an on-the-field clash. The government decided to prosecute Big Dunc and he served several months in a Glasgow prison. At about that time, Everton purchased him. Evertonians started corresponding with him in jail. In the words of his coach, he was an Everton legend before he was an Everton player.
Scotland has paid a price for its unusual use of the criminal law. Ferguson, easily the finest Scotish center-forward of his generation has refused to play for the national team. The Scots haven’t come close to finding a replacement. And without “Duncan Disorderly,” they narrowly missed qualifying for several major competitions (once at the hands of the hated English team) and narrowly missed making the final 16 at the 1998 World Cup. For his part, Ferguson has married and settled down. His hobby is raising and training pigeons. His only recent encounter with the law was when he beat senseless some idiot who tried to rob his house.
Everton is in Houston playing some pre-season matches. But Ferguson could not travel here because of his criminal record. No matter. Yesterday we trashed a Mexican team 5-2. Here is an account. If you scroll down, you can see for yourself that the big fella was “unavailable — denied U.S. entry.”