FOOD FOR THOUGHT

The World Cup in 11 years from now will be played in temperatures 20-25 degrees hotter than it is outside in Huntsville today (for those not in H'ville, it was a high of 100 degrees).

Give that some thought...

Now tell me they didn't buy the World Cup 2022.

FIFA Implodes, Time for a Name Change?

Everyone at FIFA is under investigation.  At least it seems that way.  Asian Federation President Mohamed Bin Hammam, CONCACAF President Jack Warner, and even FIFA President Sepp Blatter are under investigation by the ethics committee.   Bin Hammam and Warner for paying/getting paid for votes, Blatter for knowing about said payments and not telling the ethics committee about it.  

Warner, Bin Hammam, and Blatter in FIFA's Reservoir Dogs

It reminds me of the penultimate scene in Reservoir Dogs (I know it was a rip off of some Hong Kong action flick, but I've never seen it and don't really care.)  where three of the main characters face off with guns pointed at each other.  In the end, they all get theirs.

Now, the scheduled election for FIFA President between Bin Hammam and Blatter may be postponed.  This is freaking circus!

By now, you're probably tired of hearing my griping about FIFA corruption.  You can go to all the usual soccer sites to read more if you'd like.  But recent events have forced me understand that significant change is order for FIFA.

So, with that in mind, I submit my proposal to change the name of FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) to one of the following:

Federation of Incompetent Football Administrators
Football Is Fleeced Absolutely
Freedom In Funding Affluence (of Executive Committee Members)  
Fatcats Instituting Fraud Abundantly
Federation of Incriminated Fraudsters All
Fools In From the Asylum
Feels Insult From Accusations
Faces Indictments For Absurdities
Federation of Infant Football Assemblers (see child labor scandal of a few years back)
Fraternity of International Filching Artists    

Feel free to add your name changes in the comments.

UPDATE:  Bin Hammam has quit his bid for FIFA President.  Claims he's putting the game before his personal ambition.  Whatever...

CONCACAF Champions League Final, Freedom of Press In Qatar?, Robots Sports Journalists, Quote of the Week

RSL Prepare for CONCACAF Champions League Final

Real Salt Lake plays Monterrey in the first leg of CONCACAF Champions League Final on Wednesday night (9PM FSC).  Here's a video as the team prepares for the big game in Mexico.

Champions League 360

Press Crew Arrested In Qatar

A team of Swiss sports journalists were arrested in Qatar recently.  Were the Qataris trying to hide the fact that they bought right to host the World Cup?  Nah, everyone already knew that.  Whatever the reason, that ain't good.


Robots to Write Sports Articles

NPR has an interesting story about a program that compiles data from sporting events and writes articles about the games.  Does this spell the end of sports reporters?  Don't worry, the Perfectly Weighted Through Blog will not be assimilated!  :)


Quote of the Week

One of the PWT-blog's favorite writers Raphael Honigstein brings us another great quote.  Speaking about the 5:1 thumping of Bayer Leverkusen by perrenial Bundesliga power Bayern Munich, Honigstein evokes a former Leverkusen General Manager who said,

Leverkusen... turned up "wearing Pampers."

Absolutely brutal! I love it.


NPSL Team Goes Public

I've heard of EPL and La Liga teams that have going public, but this is a first for me.  NPSL Western Region team San Diego Boca FC has gone public.  The American Soccer Corporation which owns the first year club is being listed on German Boerse Exchange.  It'll be interesting to see how the model works out for them.

Another New NPSL Club, USA U-20s Out of World Cup, and Dumb Send-offs

Hollywood United Defects to NPSL from PDL

Hollywood United, the celebrity filled LA based club has moved from the USL's PDL to the NPSL for the 2011 season.  The club often fields celebrities for charity matches like actors Anthony LaPaglia, Dermot Mulroney and Donal Louge (who stars in one of my favorite movies, The Tao of Steve); musicians Ziggy Marley and Steve Jones (Sex Pistols); and ex-soccer stars Alexi Lalas, Eric Wynalda, Vinnie Jones, and Frank LeBoeuf.  However, the club's Hitmen team is a serious contender in the NPSL's West Region. 


US U-20s Crash Out of World Cup Qualifying

Conor Doyle's Classy Finish in Loss

The USA's rising stars were brought back down to earth by losing 2:1 to Guatemala in the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying tournament.  The loss eliminates the Young Yanks, but sent Guatemala to its first World Cup appearance of any age group.  To be fair to the heavily favored US team, injuries and the prospect of playing the home team in front of a hostile 30,000 fans, tilted the match against them, but the USA's missed early chances came back to haunt them.


Vancouver's Hassli Tossed for Removing Shirt!?

Eric Hassli scores PK and gets tossed

The Whitecaps forward Eric Hassli was tossed from Wednesday night's game after celebrating his PK goal by taking off his jersey to reveal a short sleeved version of the same jersey.   It was Hassli's second caution of the match, and he was shown a red card.   Idiot!  But should he been thrown out from the match?

The FIFA Laws of the Game state a decision from the IAFB:

Players must not reveal undergarments showing slogans or advertising. The basic compulsory equipment must not have any political, religious or personal statements.  A player removing his jersey or shirt to reveal slogans or advertising will be sanctioned by
the competition organiser. The team of a player whose basic compulsory equipment has political, religious or personal slogans or statements will be sanctioned by the competition organiser or by FIFA.

But Hassli "undergarment" was exactly the same as his outer garment!  Does that count?

Fortunately, FIFA released a position paper to further elaborate :

A player who removes his jersey to celebrate a goal must be cautioned for unsporting behavior...  It doesn't matter if the player has anything on underneath nor does it matter exactly what the player may have on underneath (including an exact replicate of the removed jersey).  Bolding added for emphasis.

So, let this be a lesson to any players out there.  Don't take off your shirt!  BTW, if Grant Wahl had been elected FIFA President, these types of cautions would be eliminated. 

UPDATE:  You think that send-off was dumb, check this one out from Santos' Neymar.

SI Reporter For FIFA President

Grant Wahl, the Sports Illustrated soccer reporter and author of the Beckham Experiment, has decided enough's enough with the lunacy at FIFA.  He's decided to challenge Sepp Blatter in the run for the FIFA presidency.  No, really.  He's serious. 

Grant Wahl for FIFA President

He's running on a pretty great platform.  If elected, he will:

• Instant replay for all close calls on the goal line
• Referees for the World Cup will be chosen on merit alone with no limits per country
• Referees will also be required to address the media post-game to explain calls
• Yellow cards will not be automatically given to players taking off their shirts to celebrate goals
• FIFA transparency by releasing all FIFA documents to the public
• FIFA presidential term limits of two four-year terms
• Eliminate FIFA's sexism by appointing a woman to General Secretary position

Unfortunately, he needs a country's soccer federation to nominate him for the election.  That may be pretty hard to do, unless he can find a country that isn't afraid of the FIFA machine politic to stick their neck out and put his name forward.

Wahl running for FIFA President

Any ideas which country would be willing to help "cure the Blatter infection"? 

This and That

Champions League on FOX through 2015

FOX has extended its contract with UEFA to broadcast the UEFA Champions League.  FOX Sports will show matches through FSC, FSP, and the regional FOX Sports stations.  The CL Final will continue to be broadcast in HD on the main FOX network, including the local FOX54, for the next 4 years.


NAIA Women's Tournament

Two Saturday's ago, I called the play-by-play for the 2010 NAIA Women's Championship Final.  Lee University took home their third straight national title in a 3:0 victory over Cinderella story Hastings College to end another exciting tournament.   I'd like to thank the hardworking folks at the Decatur Parks and Rec. department and Jack Allen Soccer Complex, Amanda Dahl from the NAIA's media relations, and my buddy Juergen Beck from Freedom Light Productions, who runs a mean camera while catching all the action and braving the weather. 


Oh Yeah, This Happened

If you've followed this blog for a while, you already know that I believe FIFA's only reason for existing is to line the pockets of the bigwigs in charge.  On December 2nd, they erased all doubts of their corruption by naming Russia and Qatar as the hosts of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.  Don't believe me?  Below is the BBC's Panorama program that ran on the eve of the bid award, and casts a critical eye at the behavior of many FIFA Excutive Committee members who cast the votes to send the World Cup to Russia and Qatar.

World Cup: Watch Parties, Brazil 2014, and Refs Missed 4% of Calls

World Cup Finals:  Where you watching?

 
There will be new blood in the royal lineage of World Cup winners.  That, to me, is a fitting end to what I think was a terrific World Cup.  There have been so many intriguing matches, controversies, and wonder goals.   I can't wait to see what the final has in store for us.

While I'll be watching from the comfort of my living room, I've heard of two specific groups getting together to watch the match at Knucklehead's and The Stations 2.  Where are you watching the game?


Getting Excited for 2014

This World Cup isn't even over and I'm already excited for the 2014 World Cup to be held in Brazil.  I've already hit my Brazilian friends up for places to crash while I take in the matches down in the land of samba. 

World Cup Refereeing

I have one last comment to make about the refereeing at this World Cup.  You would think that with the amount of high profile gaffes committed by multiple referees in this year's tournament, FIFA would be low-key about the quality of the "men in the middle." But no, that's not their style.  FIFA's head of refereeing Jose Maria Garcia-Aranda held a press conference to tell us that after analysis of the matches in the world cup 96% of the "decisions" were correct.  Hmm, that just leaves 4% where the screwed up royally!  :)

I sympathize greatly with the referees, and that's why I fully support goal line technology, the addition of goal mouth referees, and the video review of every goal scored in big-time first division leagues and tournaments.  This is big business and big entertainment.  These changes can only help the guys with the whistles get it right.

MLS First Kick, World Cup Tix Aplenty, and US Player-Beers

More MLS First Kick excitement

I'm getting more and more pumped for the MLS season and according to the Globe and Mail, Toronto FC will host the 2010 MLS Cup Final.

MLS First Kick 2010 Commerical from mlsinsider on Vimeo

As we know, Red Bull Arena will host its first league match this week and the Sports Business Journal has a terrific article with the behind the scenes look at the Red Bull organization and their non-conformist ownership group.

Taking a cue from Red Bull's famous outside-the-box marketing strategies, Real Salt Lake has announced a $75 punch card campaign to attract college students to their matches. The RSL punch card can be presented at the gate with a valid student ID to be granted a $5 supporter's section ticket. The punch card can be used for 15 home games and can be passed between different fans. This is a great idea to hook young adults who will soon become young professionals with expendable incomes.


FIFA admits 650,000 World Cup tickets remain unsold

She should have no problem finding tix in South Africa.

Thinking about going to South Africa? Well, there are plenty of tickets available. FIFA has announced that over 650,000 tickets remain unsold of the almost 3 million total. Well, it's not for the USA, because we still rank as the highest ticket purchasing nation outside of South Africa. Still, as ESPN tells us, if you do catch a game in S.A., you're bound to see something controversial.


USMNT Player Beers

Gooch: The Natty Boh man.

The guys at the Shin Guardian have taken a beery look at the starting line-up of the US Men's National Team. They've assigned a beer to each player based on their playing style and even one for coach Bob Bradley. Any article that gives props to my college beer of choice, National Bohemian, is OK in my book.

RCU Stuff, More Joe Gaetjens, and FIFA Downs Goal Line Technology

RCU Stuff
Here's an article from a few weeks ago in the Huntsville Times on one of the Madison City officials responsible for bringing the team to Madison.

Vote for whether the home jersey should be red or black at RCU's website. They have a poll running this week to help make the decision.

Mark your calendars now. Below are the regular season home dates for RCU. All games are held at the Madison City Schools Stadium and start at 7:30PM. You can see the full schedule here.

May 22, 2010 Pumas FC

Jun 05, 2010 Atlanta FC

Jun 26, 2010 Chattanooga FC

Jul 03, 2010 Tulsa FC

I would expect to see RCU add an exhibition match the weekend of June 24th and several preseason exhibitions.

Also, on July 17 at 7PM, RCU closes out the regular season in Chattanooga. Plan on making the drive up Rt. 72 to Finley Stadium to experience what are the rowdiest soccer fans in the NPSL. To make it even better, the match could decide the Southeast Region Championship. I went up to last year's match in Chattanooga and had a great time.


SI With More Joe Gaetjens


Not to be outdone by ESPN's article last week, Alexander Wolf and Joshua Robinson of Sports Illustrated have written a terrific article on Joe Gaetjens. You can see the magazine version with photos here.


FIFA Votes Down Goal Line Technology

FIFA has voted against implementing goal line technology. And now, journalist are lining up to vent about the stupidy, fear, arrogance, and folly of the FIFA fuddy-duddies. If you've read the PWT-blog for a while, you know that I am totally in favor of using goal line technology. It just makes so much sense, but the old men at FIFA don't want to take the "humanity", or what I would call correctable mistakes, out of the game.

Champion's League, FIFA Elections, and Soccer Shirts

Champs League Knockouts Today

For all sceptics and know-it-alls: How can you still doubt the AR's decision?

FC Bayern Munich scored a blatantly offside goal in last week's first leg of the Champions League knockout tie against Fiorentina, but the funny photo above from a German soccer blog, 90elf.de, shows Miroslav Klose was clearly onside! :)

BTW, I'd like to take a long lunch today and watch the rest of the Champions League games, but I don't have a soccer bar in which to watch it. Barcelona play at Stuttgart (1:30 PM FSE) and Bordeaux travel to Olympiacos (1:30 PM FSC).


FIFA Presidential Elections: What it means to the USA World Cup bid?

FIFA President Sepp Blatter will face stiff competition in the next election.

Bill Archer writes an interesting blog post on how the 2011 FIFA presidential elections could affect US Soccer and the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Uh-oh...


Wearing Soccer Shirts, Sending Messages

I was out on a family outing to the local shopping center yesterday, and we went into Marshalls to look for cheap toys for my daughter's birthday party. When lo and behold, in the Men's section, I stumbled upon two sweet DC United shirts for less than half the original price!

Now, the guys at EPLTalk try to explain just what I'll be communicating non-verbally when I wear those DC United shirts.