Soccer is the next great sport in America and always will be.
I think that should be credited to George Carlin.
[Edited on 5/27/2015 by BillyBlastoff]
Way to go soccer. My favorite.
At some point we will probably be forced to watch soccer. Watch it, accept it as equal, love it, embrace it and DO NOT complain about it. Sort of like gay marriage and Obamacare. If you say something bad about soccer it will be racist hate speech.
Way to go soccer. My favorite.
At some point we will probably be forced to watch soccer. Watch it, accept it as equal, love it, embrace it and DO NOT complain about it. Sort of like gay marriage and Obamacare. If you say something bad about soccer it will be racist hate speech.
Another desperate example of how you are losing it.
Way to go soccer. My favorite.
At some point we will probably be forced to watch soccer. Watch it, accept it as equal, love it, embrace it and DO NOT complain about it. Sort of like gay marriage and Obamacare. If you say something bad about soccer it will be racist hate speech.
What's wrong with soccer?
Why am I now surprised?
Clinton Foundation donors included FIFA, Qatar host committee
By Rosalind S. Helderman May 27 at 6:01 PM
This story has been updated.
Former President Bill Clinton served as the honorary chairman of the U.S. committee that worked unsuccessfully to win the right to host the 2022 World Cup. The surprise winner that year was Qatar--and it turns out that the Qatari committee now planning the massive event has been a major donor to Clinton's charitable foundation.
The soccer-related donations to the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation came into focus Wednesday as U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch alleged deep rooted corruption at FIFA, the world's soccer governing organization. Also Wednesday, the Swiss announced a criminal investigation into Qatar's 2022 bid. The Clinton Foundation has no involvement with the investigations.
[Successful Qatar bid for World Cup aroused among U.S. officials]
The foundation's donor records, posted on its Web site, show that FIFA, or the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, has donated between $50,000 and $100,000 to the Clinton foundation. The Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee, which was formed in 2011 to build stadiums and other infrastructure after Qatar was named the 2022 host, has given between $250,000 and $500,000 to the foundation.
The foundation discloses donors and the amount they have given the foundation over time, expressed in ranges; the organization does not provide dates of donations on its Web site. But a foundation official said FIFA paid a membership fee to take part in the annual Clinton Global Initiative event in 2009 and 2010. The New York event brings together world leaders, businesses and NGOs. At the event, private groups making public commitments to undertake specific charitable activities, which are then tracked by the Clinton Foundation. FIFA, for instance, announced it would build 20 community centers in Africa in conjunction with the South African World Cup in 2010.
As for Qatar 2022, a foundation official said the organization was a CGI sponsor in 2013. Sponsorships cost $250,000. The host committee also partnered with the Qatar National Food Security Programme, committing to use technology being developed for soccer stadiums at the World Cup to improve food security. (The Qatar National Food Security Programme has also donated at least $25,000 to the foundation.)
U.S. officials Wednesday unsealed indictments against 14 top officials involved with soccer, accusing the group of bribery, money laundering and fraud.
While the foundation has no involvement with the investigations, it's a reminder that the global philanthropy has accepted donations from many of the world's richest and most powerful players. Its donor list runs to 200,000 names, and includes foreign governments, Wall Street and foreign financial institutions, energy conglomerates and others. The government of Qatar, for instance, which aggressively sought the World Cup, has given the foundation between $1 million and $5 million.
The sheer breadth and power of the foundation donor base ensures that virtually any financial or legal scandal that touches major world institutions in coming years has a good chance of involving a foundation contributor, a potentially continuing headache for Hillary Rodham Clinton as she runs for president.
Bill Clinton traveled to Zurich in 2010 with a gaggle of celebrities pushing for the U.S. to win the right to host the 2022 tournament but FIFA chose Qatar instead. At a conference the next day hosted by The Economist, Clinton attributed the decision to FIFA's desire to "make soccer a world sport."
“They wanted to say, here's a good non-terrorist, non-bigoted way of embracing -- no really, I'm not trivializing this -- a way to embrace the modernization attempt of the Middle East," he said.
Way to go soccer. My favorite.
At some point we will probably be forced to watch soccer. Watch it, accept it as equal, love it, embrace it and DO NOT complain about it. Sort of like gay marriage and Obamacare. If you say something bad about soccer it will be racist hate speech.
Surprisingly stolen from rush limbaugh almost verbatim.
Do you have just one tiny original thought???
Way to go soccer. My favorite.
At some point we will probably be forced to watch soccer. Watch it, accept it as equal, love it, embrace it and DO NOT complain about it. Sort of like gay marriage and Obamacare. If you say something bad about soccer it will be racist hate speech.
Surprisingly stolen from rush limbaugh almost verbatim.
Do you have just one tiny original thought???
__________________________________________________________________
For someone who hates Rush Limbaugh you seem to listen to his show quite a bit.
Are you a liar or just a hypocrite?
Way to go soccer. My favorite.
At some point we will probably be forced to watch soccer. Watch it, accept it as equal, love it, embrace it and DO NOT complain about it. Sort of like gay marriage and Obamacare. If you say something bad about soccer it will be racist hate speech.
Surprisingly stolen from rush limbaugh almost verbatim.
Do you have just one tiny original thought???
No tiny original thoughts here, babe. Ever.
Rush Limbaugh doesn't post here, though, so if I get an idea off his show it might go up. Besides, it wasn't even close to verbatim. I did it much better and I'm sure Rush would agree.
Way to go soccer. My favorite.
At some point we will probably be forced to watch soccer. Watch it, accept it as equal, love it, embrace it and DO NOT complain about it. Sort of like gay marriage and Obamacare. If you say something bad about soccer it will be racist hate speech.
Surprisingly stolen from rush limbaugh almost verbatim.
Do you have just one tiny original thought???
__________________________________________________________________
For someone who hates Rush Limbaugh you seem to listen to his show quite a bit.
Are you a liar or just a hypocrite?
No, muletroll.
I listen regularly as a proud member of Flush Rush.
I note advertisers to contact about their sponsorship of hate radio.
Once again, you are wrong with your mindless accusations.
Way to go soccer. My favorite.
At some point we will probably be forced to watch soccer. Watch it, accept it as equal, love it, embrace it and DO NOT complain about it. Sort of like gay marriage and Obamacare. If you say something bad about soccer it will be racist hate speech.
Surprisingly stolen from rush limbaugh almost verbatim.
Do you have just one tiny original thought???
__________________________________________________________________
For someone who hates Rush Limbaugh you seem to listen to his show quite a bit.
Are you a liar or just a hypocrite?No, muletroll.
I listen regularly as a proud member of Flush Rush.
I note advertisers to contact about their sponsorship of hate radio.
Once again, you are wrong with your mindless accusations.
_______________________________________________________________________
Ain't working is it?
Rush has to largest talk radio audience in the country and the liberals have no audience.
Tired of losing yet?
Way to go soccer. My favorite.
At some point we will probably be forced to watch soccer. Watch it, accept it as equal, love it, embrace it and DO NOT complain about it. Sort of like gay marriage and Obamacare. If you say something bad about soccer it will be racist hate speech.
Idiotic.
Way to go soccer. My favorite.
At some point we will probably be forced to watch soccer. Watch it, accept it as equal, love it, embrace it and DO NOT complain about it. Sort of like gay marriage and Obamacare. If you say something bad about soccer it will be racist hate speech.
Idiotic.
That's sure the way things are trending.
LMAO! You guys could turn mowing a lawn into some sort of left vs right debate. Turn off all these media morons, stop quoting them and think for yourselves. It is what Americans used to do and hopefully some still do. They sure don't post here. 😉
People who don't like soccer always feel the need to tell the world about it. Then act as if the world is forcing them to watch and accept it. Bores me to death most times so I don't watch it accept for my kids games. So I don't watch it. Pretty f*cking easy. I don't read about it, watch it, follow the various leagues or care who makes the World Cup. But I can easily accept that billions around the globe love it. I hope that they all have an amazing time enjoying it.
No one cares why someone dislikes soccer.
I don't follow cricket, rugby or tennis either. Very easy to do. No effort involved at all. But for those that enjoy them, I hope you have an amazing time.
Has nothing to do with left or right nor is it even an American issue. But don't let that stop you.
As for FIFA, nothing will change. Just as nothing changes with the Olympics.
Has nothing to do with left or right nor is it even an American issue. But don't let that stop you.
It's an "Un American" issue apparently CM.
http://news.yahoo.com/ann-coulter-world-cup-column-182845703.html
Millions of Americans watched the United States advance in the World Cup on Thursday. Ann Coulter was probably not one of them.
In a column published on Wednesday, Coulter, the conservative pundit and provocateur, blasted the sport of soccer and trolled its U.S. fans, whom she refers to as "Americans" — quotes marks included.
"I've held off on writing about soccer for a decade — or about the length of the average soccer game — so as not to offend anyone," Coulter's column begins. "But enough is enough. Any growing interest in soccer can only be a sign of the nation's moral decay."
Coulter lists all the reasons why she says soccer is not a real sport. Among them: "Individual achievement is not a big factor."
"The blame is dispersed and almost no one scores anyway," Coulter writes. "There are no heroes, no losers, no accountability, and no child's fragile self-esteem is bruised. There's a reason perpetually alarmed women are called 'soccer moms,' not 'football moms.'"
Another: It's boring, she claims.
"If Michael Jackson had treated his chronic insomnia with a tape of Argentina vs. Brazil instead of Propofol, he'd still be alive, although bored," Coulter quips.
[Related: Yahoo Sports' full World Cup coverage]
It's not violent enough for Coulter.
"The prospect of either personal humiliation or major injury is required to count as a sport," she writes. "Most sports are sublimated warfare."
In American football, she writes, "ambulances carry off the wounded. After a soccer game, every player gets a ribbon and a juice box."
And despite the stellar ratings that Sunday's USA-Portugal game received in the United States (18.2 million viewers, according to ESPN), Coulter doesn't believe the sport is actually catching on here.
"The same people trying to push soccer on Americans are the ones demanding that we love HBO's 'Girls,' light-rail, Beyoncé and Hillary Clinton," she writes. "The number of New York Times articles claiming soccer is 'catching on' is exceeded only by the ones pretending women's basketball is fascinating."
Coulter claims she's not the only one bored by soccer in the States. "One group of sports fans with whom soccer is not 'catching on' at all, is African-Americans," Coulter writes. "They remain distinctly unimpressed by the fact that the French like it.
"If more 'Americans' are watching soccer today, it's only because of the demographic switch effected by Teddy Kennedy's 1965 immigration law," Coulter adds. "I promise you: No American whose great-grandfather was born here is watching soccer. One can only hope that, in addition to learning English, these new Americans will drop their soccer fetish with time."
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"Is FIFA Going To Change?"
It would depend on the size of the bribe.
one hundred and fifty million is chicken feed,
Apparently the FIFA overlords have not learned how corruption really works.
The FiIFA bosses should attend a Clinton training session.
What's wrong with soccer?
It's boring as hell. I am not questioning the intricacies and strategies or the athleticism associated with playing the sport, just the lack of scoring. The game reminds me of the Mayweather/Pacquiao fight, opponents sizing each other up, measuring and waiting for that moment that may never appear......
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
This cracked me up
Sepp Blatter just resigned. Whoa. Now things get extremely interesting.
I find soccer (futbol) terribly boring but this is interesting. Friday he is reelected as President and now he resigns?
I wonder if he is facing criminal charges.
Everything in Moderation. Including Moderation.
Sepp Blatter just resigned. Whoa. Now things get extremely interesting.
I wonder if this came from corporate sponsors threatening to pull money?
That could be part of it. ESPN is all over it.
Everything in Moderation. Including Moderation.
Sepp Blatter just resigned. Whoa. Now things get extremely interesting.
I wonder if this came from corporate sponsors threatening to pull money?
I'm thinking the corruption runs so deep it was only a matter of time before they connected things back to him.
It's been about a week since those who were arrested have had time to give their statements...ya think they didn't give him up?
As to the sport being boring, everyone of course has their opinions...I've always loved it but over the last three years I've gotten into it even more than ever being a Sporting KC season ticket holder, I find it more and more exciting all the time. The constant clock is such a different dynamic. Are there boring games? Sure. There's boring games in every sport.
It does seem interesting in that the people that don't like soccer will always take the time to go out of their way to tell you they don't like it.
I've also found that diehard baseball fans seem to have the most venomous dislike for soccer.
I do find it funny that friends of mine that will sit and watch golf for five hours on a beautiful Sunday afternoon have the stones to call anything else boring. 
As to the sport being boring, everyone of course has their opinions...I've always loved it but over the last three years I've gotten into it even more than ever being a Sporting KC season ticket holder, I find it more and more exciting all the time. The constant clock is such a different dynamic. Are there boring games? Sure. There's boring games in every sport.
It does seem interesting in that the people that don't like soccer will always take the time to go out of their way to tell you they don't like it.
I've also found that diehard baseball fans seem to have the most venomous dislike for soccer.
I do find it funny that friends of mine that will sit and watch golf for five hours on a beautiful Sunday afternoon have the stones to call anything else boring.
I like watching women's soccer more than men's. Not because they are women (really), but because IMO they play a more precise game, where the men play more of a more power game at least compared to the women.
What is interesting to me is how popular soccer has been for over 35+ years at the youth level, yet still toils in relative obscurity among those young players from 35+ year ago that are now adults. Soccer has grown since then for sure (MLS started playing games until 1996), but not like I thought it would.
[Edited on 6/2/2015 by gondicar]
As to the sport being boring, everyone of course has their opinions...I've always loved it but over the last three years I've gotten into it even more than ever being a Sporting KC season ticket holder, I find it more and more exciting all the time. The constant clock is such a different dynamic. Are there boring games? Sure. There's boring games in every sport.
It does seem interesting in that the people that don't like soccer will always take the time to go out of their way to tell you they don't like it.
I've also found that diehard baseball fans seem to have the most venomous dislike for soccer.
I do find it funny that friends of mine that will sit and watch golf for five hours on a beautiful Sunday afternoon have the stones to call anything else boring.
I like watching women's soccer more than men's. Not because they are women (really), but because IMO they play a more precise game, where the men play more of a more power game at least compared to the women.
What is interesting to me is how popular soccer has been for over 35+ years at the youth level, yet still toils in relative obscurity among those young players from 35+ year ago that are now adults. Soccer has grown since then for sure (MLS started playing games until 1996), but not like I thought it would.
[Edited on 6/2/2015 by gondicar]
Sort of like my opinion on tennis in a way. Never played tennis much but I enjoy watching women and it has nothing to do with them being women. I just think the men serve so hard the game is boring. They can't return the serve.
Everything in Moderation. Including Moderation.
Advertisers don't seem to care...
FIFA sponsors appear unfazed by corruption indictments
The FIFA corruption controversy has forced the most powerful man in soccer to relinquish his post and left several of the sport's top officials indicted on bribery-related charges.
But the scandal doesn't seem to be having much discernible effect on FIFA sponsors.
Federal prosecutors in New York last week indicted 14 people, including several top FIFA officials, on allegations of racketeering, money laundering and a culture of bribery. Sepp Blatter, reelected amid an uproar Friday to a fifth term as FIFA’s president, said Tuesday he would relinquish the position following a new election.
In the interim, consumer perception of the 2018 World Cup, to be held in Russia as the result of a controversial FIFA decision, sank to its lowest levels since November 2014, when Qatar was chosen to host the 2022 tournament, according to research service YouGov BrandIndex. The Qatar pick also raised a number of protests, and both selections are now in the spotlight in connection with the corruption probe.
However, perception of major sponsors such as Visa Inc., Adidas, Coca-Cola Co. and Anheuser-Busch hasn't budged, according to YouGov’s survey of 950 people.
Many of those sponsors released statements decrying the alleged fraud, saying it tarnished the sport’s reputation. But only Visa said it would "reassess" its sponsorship unless FIFA pledged to make changes.
Companies faced increased pressure to cut ties with FIFA.
Artists upset over reports that thousands of migrant workers will suffer or die as Qatar gears up to host the tournament protested by tweaking sponsors’ logos. Three stripes became gravestones in Adidas’ logo; emaciated slaves held up the VISA logo; the golden arches for which McDonald’s is famous were replaced by two whips.
Many of the images also featured the phrase "Proudly supporting the human rights abuses of World Cup 2022."
In a recent segment, "Last Week Tonight" host John Oliver railed against FIFA and called out sponsors as “the only people with the power to get rid of Sepp Blatter.” He begged companies to force Blatter out, promising to wear an Adidas shoe, eat from the McDonald’s dollar menu and drink Bud Light Lime from Budweiser.
On Thursday, Virgin Group founder Richard Branson wrote on his company's website, urging FIFA sponsors to “reconsider their commitments beyond the typical statements of concern.”
"Sponsorship money has played a major role in enabling and sustaining this corrupt system for decades, it seems," Branson wrote. "I couldn’t think of a greater risk to any brand than being described as complicit in what really looks like organised crime."
Some have suggested that sponsors caught a lucky break when Blatter said he would resign.
Instead of being squeezed to abandon their contracts with FIFA or risk a public relations debacle, many companies will likely now offer to play a role in reforming the organization.
"Now they can be reasonably assured that changes will be made, that there will be profound restructuring," said Chris Cakebread, a professor of advertising at Boston University. "Sponsors can feel a little better about retaining contracts."
On Tuesday, McDonald's said in a statement that it was "hopeful that the changes being implemented within FIFA will be a big first step in positively reforming the organization and gaining back trust from fans worldwide."
"We respect Mr. Blatter’s decision," Coca-Cola said in its statement. "We believe this decision will help FIFA transform itself rapidly into a much-needed 21st century structure and institution."
Added Adidas: "Today's news marks a step in the right direction on FIFA's path to establish and follow transparent compliance standards in everything they do."
It's one thing to split from a single athlete, as many sponsors did with golfer Tiger Woods and cyclist Lance Armstrong. Even abandoning an entire team, as several companies did with the Clippers basketball team last year, isn’t rare.
But a breakup with an organization such as FIFA, which essentially has a monopoly over the world’s most popular sport, is a fraught decision.
Official sponsorships are plum positions and giving one up to make a point about principles would mean giving up lucrative access to millions of fans.
Some companies go the social media route, eschewing official sponsorships in favor of guerrilla advertising.
"But stealth marketing in the sports world is still somewhat frowned upon, though it can be very successful," said Mark Friederich, chief operating officer of sports and entertainment research firm Navigate Research.
Still, the allure of a FIFA contract may be waning. The sports body tends to have the most leverage when negotiating deals with companies, but now experts wonder whether sponsors will be able to demand clauses that allow them to leave in cases of corruption.
"More companies are asking how they can separate themselves from the organization and instead tighten their connection to the game," said Kenneth L. Shropshire, a professor who specializes in sports business at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. "The brand of FIFA is problematic but the game of soccer is still popular."
And, as Friederich pointed out, fans generally aren’t too invested in the FIFA governing body.
"Nobody is a fan of FIFA, they're a fan of soccer," he said. "FIFA has been plagued with rumors of corruption for so many years that many fans have just come to live with it and see it as a necessary evil."
Interpol is after six more people.
Interpol adds six people with ties to FIFA to its most wanted list
A day after announcing his decision to resign, Sepp Blatter was back at work at FIFA headquarters on Wednesday as the worst corruption crisis in the governing body's 111-year history continued to unfold.
Interpol added six men with ties to FIFA to its most wanted list, while South African officials denied they made a $10 million bribe to secure the 2010 World Cup.
Blatter spoke to FIFA staff for about 10 minutes on Wednesday morning, returning to the same auditorium where he delivered his resignation speech a day earlier. Staff described him as being emotional, and said he received a standing ovation.
Elsewhere, Interpol got involved. The international police force, based in Lyon, France, issued an alert for two former FIFA officials and four executives on charges including racketeering and corruption.
Two of the men, former FIFA vice president Jack Warner of Trinidad and Tobago and former executive committee member Nicolas Leoz of Paraguay, have been arrested in their home countries. Warner has since been released and Leoz is under house arrest. The Interpol “red notice” means they risk arrest anywhere they travel.
In South Africa, Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula said the government wanted to “categorically deny” that the country paid any bribes to win the right to host the 2010 tournament.
Mbalula characterized the $10 million as an “above-board payment” to help soccer development in the Caribbean region.
The money, which went into a fund controlled by Warner, is part of the U.S. investigation into soccer corruption. That probe led to the arrest of seven soccer officials in Zurich last week, kicking off the FIFA scandal and eventually leading to Blatter's decision to step down.
Warner and Leoz were among 14 people indicted in the U.S. as part of the federal investigation.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-fifa-interpol-wanted-list-20150603-story.html
Interpol? Geez who else is going to get involved?
Everything in Moderation. Including Moderation.
