FIFA scandal

[Umpire in Chief]

I've been reading a little about the FIFA officials scandal today, some pretty interesting stuff.

Maybe I'm a little to jaded, maybe I'm becoming even more of a misanthrope than I already know I am, but I was just wondering how long it will be before some He-who-shall-not-be-named want-to-be jabbers on with something to the effect of, 'you have to wonder if something like this is happening in baseball too' 

[ricka56]

What is this FIFA/soccer thing that you speak of ?  

I think it is scandalous that Qatar outbribed the USA...scandalous. I mean does Bill Gates and Warren Buffett really need to spend their fortunes trying to end world hunger when its been more than 20 years since we've had the games.

[Umpire in Chief]

FIFA scandal

 

At lunch on sports talk radio they were speaking of throwing matches in key tournaments because if country A wins it would be much more profitable over country B winning. 

[grayhawk]

I think this has been posted before, but Oliver called these guys out and I thought it was pretty funny stuff:

 

 

[UmpJeff]

What is this FIFA/soccer thing that you speak of ?  

 

​My thoughts, exactly.

[blue23ll]

Wait, we are talking about soccer? 

[TheRockawayKid]

I think we may be in the wrong forum(?), but I'll add some change to the thoughts, to get us onto baseball.

While I'd love to see some sort of "World Cup of baseball," I don't think it could ever happen realistically. Players need more rest and recuperation than soccer players, who basically just run and juke for an hour and a half once to twice per week. 

We also need to factor in the league structure of international soccer vs. American leagues. In the U.S., the leagues are the bosses, and teams operate as franchises, but abroad, the leagues are in control. The U.S. is like a little league or school team -- their schedules are monitored, and they can't go outside of their league, really -- while international, it's like a travel team that plays both in league and in tournaments outside of the league. I wish there would be more opportunities to see, let's say, the Mets take on the Nippon Ham Fighters, or a team from Venezuela, but that'll never happen. 

[MikeSafari]

While I'd love to see some sort of "World Cup of baseball," I don't think it could ever happen realistically.

​World Baseball Classic?

[johnnyg08]

Wait, we are talking about soccer? 

​UIC can do what he wishes.