(cover photo from reddit)

At the time of writing this, FIFA has yet voted for their new president. The vote will take place probably when this post goes live. 

(EDIT): Ah. Check that. How the hell does Sepp Blatter continue to reign over FIFA? Blatter just won with the other guy withdrawing.

I’m not the world’s biggest soccer fan.
But this year, I enjoyed watching soccer a bit more than watching the NFL. I know. How unAmerican of me. But with all the scandal, the Washington DC’s Football team being inept with false hopes resting on a entitled, immature, underdeveloped quarterback, soccer has been… fun. It also helps that N (foster son) loves — loves — watching soccer. I think it’s because for 45 minutes straight, there’s no commercials. No real long pauses. And it’s easy to follow.

Though I’m transitioning from a casual fan to a more serious fan, I was always a big fan of the World Cup. In Hawaii, we’d get up at 3 or 4 in the morning to watch South Korea play. And of course, soccer games were always fun to play, from Konami’s Winning 11 to FIFA’s games.

As I get more into soccer, it’s hard to ignore the rampant corruption within FIFA.
And how Qatar is hosting the World Cup in 2022? Where does one begin commenting on how wrong that is?
How about, how are you going to play soccer when temperatures can get to 120 degrees?
But, that’s a molehill compared to the other issues. How about the human slavery and the number of people dying to build the stadiums? 

But here’s the damned thing.
We are all going to watch it in 2022. Even if FIFA keeps in Qatar (and at this point, they seemingly will and maybe play in the winter than the summer).
The radio sport shows have tossed around the idea that everyone should boycott — that the powerhouse countries (Germany, Argentina, Brazil, United States — haha just kidding about the US) should threatened to pull out. But that’s not going to happen. For the most part, I assume the countries are going to try to avoid making this a political thing.

And people, like me, are going to watch.
NFL was still a juggernaut in ratings and revenues despite all the scandals AND it produced one of the best Super Bowls in memory. No matter how inept, corrupt, incompetent Roger Goodell has been and will be, NFL will continue to dominate for the time being.
Lord help me.

Here’s John Oliver’s segment on the World Cup of 2014.

And here’s Oliver’s segment on Blatter, FIFA’s leader who makes Roger Goodell look… good.

But