Report: FIFA Officials Took Bribes in Qatar World Cup Bid

Who is that masked man?

Shocker!

As in all good conspiracies and corruption stories, as soon as it gets too hot in the kitchen, one of the scumbags involved in the crime starts singing like a canary. Case in point: various news outlets report today that a whistleblower is accusing FIFA executive committee members from Cameroon and the Ivory Coast of taking $1.5 million bribes to vote for the middle eastern nation's bid to host the 2022 World Cup.

This is the same World Cup the U.S. was thought to be a shoe-in to host. The same World Cup  being hosted by an ultra-conservative nation, that among other pleasantries, doesn't accept the existence of homosexuals. Good thing Sepp Blatter wants every region of the planet to host the biggest sporting event in the world; remember, he told gay folks to keep it zipped up during the tournament.

This stunk from the second rumors started flying that Qatar was the winner in the day or two leading up tot the announcement in December. Qatar was a bigger longshot than the Tampa Bay Lightning reaching the NHL semifinals this year. At least the Lightning have won the Stanley Cup before--or at least play in a professional league. Qatar barely has a top-flight professional league, much less a national team.

Thankfully we're more than 10 years from the World Cup and Qatar's sheikly finances can be adequately investigated and an audit trail can be established that will root out the evil-doers and clean up the World Cup. Yeah right.

How about we just start at the top by getting rid of Blatter now. He's the scum of scum, the lowest of the low; he capitulated even if he was ignorant of the goings-on. He's the shame of football and the poster child for sporting evil. He allowed this crooked charade to happen, molded it into a profitable enterprise and manipulated the result he wanted. He must go.

And then Qatar must go. There's no way soccer's showcase event can happen in that country, or any other that is so brazen about the means in which it gamed the system to host the World Cup. There needs to be an overhaul of FIFA and a process put in place where the debate and discussion over which nation will host the World Cup be public and transparent.

Here's hoping this scandal gets ugly--real ugly. To the point where it's lead story on CNN-ugly. Blatter must be exposed. The executive committee must be exposed. The holes in this process must be exposed. Call off or postpone the World Cup in Brazil and/or Russia if you have to, but do something.

And start with Sepp. Cut the head off, and the rest of the body will follow.

Betting Scandal Envelops Liverpool Win over Besiktas

Have Asian mobsters gotten to players on the Besiktas team? Could be; Europol is investigating Liverpool's 8-0 Champions League win over the small Turkish side, whose players are not in the same tax bracket as Anfield's boys.

Big money came in on "the over" for last month's group stage match. Liverpool hammered Besiktas and still has a chance to hop into the knockout stage because of its outrageous goal difference heading into next week's final group stage matches.

Were Besiktas players on the take? Did they lay down? If Michel Platini had enough to turn it over to Euro authorities, maybe they did.

No one is talking right now on either side; Liverpool says it hasn't been contacted--but why would they. You can't bribe someone to win in football!! The scary thing is that frequency with which this is being made public. None of us should be naive to think betting doesn't influence sport. But it's getting to levels where major matches are being impacted and big money is moving. Worse is the intimidation and blackmail levied against players from smaller organizations.

It will be interesting to see how UEFA reacts in the longterm here. It has a lot to lose obviously if the integrity of the game is in question. But a more important issue is on the people level. What will it do to shelter players and clubs from the influence of organized crime? How can it safeguard its product from these influences?

This should be priority No. 1 for Mssr. Platini.

Here's some history: Good read on the 1915 British football betting scandal.