Changing My Tune...

Non-Contact sport my ass...

When Qatar was announced yesterday as the hosts of the 2022 World Cup, and the United States was embarrassingly left out in the cold, my first words to Walsh were "I'm done."

At the time, I meant it. I still think, and many of you agree, that Qatar BOUGHT the votes needed to be awarded the Cup. In the words of immortal wrestler Ted "The Million Dollar Man" DiBiase "Everyone's got a price." Qatar just figured out how much that number was and was able to get to enough FIFA representatives and "persuade" them to vote to put the first Cup in a middle-eastern country.

That's fine; a country smaller than Connecticut, a country who doesn't recognize the state of Israel, a country ranked 111th in the world in soccer, with no real domestic league, averages 120 degrees in the summer, and a country that is not exactly kind to its women is the perfect place to host the world's more popular sporting event.

As friend of the blog Dave Lifton said to me yesterday, "If FIFA really wanted to change the world through soccer, they would have awarded Qatar the Women's World Cup."

Well played, my friend.

But that's in the past. Nothing can be done about it now, and the U.S. can lick its wounds and hopefully try again in 2026. Fortunately, there will be a little more pessimism for soccer fans in this country as we've now seen just how sketchy the selection process is.

But I've said enough about that. Let the real experts like Grant Wahl tackle FIFA.

As I said at the beginning, after the awards were made, I decided I was going to take a break from the sport for a bit. My spirit was broken and I was disgusted with the whole thing, which does not exclude one Sunil Gulati, who has once again been at the helm of another in a series of debacles and embarrassments for U.S. Soccer.

So, last evening, on my facebook page, I had my status as "After today, I'm taking a break from soccer."

What I failed to realize is that this presented an opportunity for my "friends" to jump on the bandwagon (like so many other anti-soccer journalists yesterday who took the occasion to bash the sport once again) and insult the sport, the players, and me. That's okay; my friends always bash me. I'm a big boy and dish it out as well, so I've learned to take it.

But the comments like "So you've decided to man up," "Did your other nut drop," and another pontificating about how hockey and football are such tougher sports, kind of woke me up and made realize why I can't, and won't, turn my back on this sport.

I realize I'm not going to say anything that hasn't already been written, but I would like to emphasize what happens in these other "tougher" sports.

Football - Wide Receivers dive on practically every play in the hopes of drawing a pass interference call. Quarterbacks and kickers routinely exaggerate any type of contact, also looking for a penalty. While the linemen, running backs, and linebackers legitimately knock the snot out of each other on every play, don't tell me football isn't without its share of wimps.

Basketball - How many times in a game do you see players flop whenever someone near them swats at the ball? Good lord, watch how many times a player drives the lane, and the slightest bit of contact makes the defender drop like a bag of wet cement looking for the charge (I'm looking at YOU, Duke). How is that manly?

Hockey - Actually not much I can say here. These guys are brutal and legit psychos to willingly lose their teeth and brain cells on a nightly basis. But remember, this is also a sport notorious for cheap shots and doing what it takes to get the other team's star player out of the game. Not sure how macho it is to swing your stick at a guy's face, or trip him from behind and watch his head smack off the ice.

Baseball - Where the hell do I start here? This is a game that is BASED on cheating. From pitchers doctoring the ball to the fact that nearly every single hitting record broken in the last 20 years should be marked with an asterisk because of the "steroid era," baseball is the single worst example of dishonesty in the world of sports.

Is soccer perfect? No way. There are legitimate cheaters and divers who will do anything to draw a card, foul, or something to get an opposing player kicked out. But most, if not all, soccer fans universally chastise them for this garbage. For every Cristiano Ronaldo, there is a Pele (ok, not that I'm saying they are as good as Pele, obviously, but you get my point).

You want faking injuries? Take a look at the horrific injuries suffered by Eduardo da Silva a few years back at Arsenal, Abby Wambach last year for the U.S., Preston Burpo's nauseating leg break for New England, Brian McBride's numerous head and facial injuries (shown in the picture above), or, in what Brian Straus called "the most disgusting thing I've ever seen," DC United's Hristo Stoichkov shattered the leg of a college player so badly (in an exhibition game, mind you), that new DC United coach Ben Olsen actually vomited on the field. The player's career was not only over, but the injury will hinder him for the rest of his life. It was bad that Straus actually called me FROM THE FIELD to tell me about it. I've not included the links to these injuries, but you can find them easily on the Internet if you look for them.

I guess what I've noticed most from the folks who bash the sport is this; they've never actually played it. It's the typical attitude of "I don't know it, and I can't do it, so I'll mock it," that is so pervasive today. I've never played golf, tennis, or raced a car, but I've never assaulted them and said they weren't "real sports," or "real athletes," although there is no person to person contact with them (the occasional fight between NASCAR drivers is entertaining, though).

So, my soccer haters, yes, I'm still bummed about the U.S. getting shunned by those crooked bastards at FIFA. However, I'm now excited to wake up tomorrow and watch Chelsea vs. Everton on ESPN, and I have all of you to thank for it.

I look forward to agitating you by defending the sport, and I look forward to hearing the same old weak-ass arguments about your despise of it.

Until next time...