prhoya
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Post by prhoya on Jul 22, 2014 7:18:34 GMT -5
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FrazierFanatic
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Post by FrazierFanatic on Jul 26, 2014 16:27:20 GMT -5
Anyone who thinks that FIFA will ever admit that there was foul play in their process, or that they could conceivably make a mistake, does not know FIFA.
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tashoya
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Post by tashoya on Jul 27, 2014 14:59:44 GMT -5
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ksf42001
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Post by ksf42001 on May 27, 2015 8:37:03 GMT -5
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Post by HometownHoya on May 27, 2015 10:49:34 GMT -5
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ksf42001
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Post by ksf42001 on May 27, 2015 11:20:45 GMT -5
I would seriously doubt if Blatter gets caught up in any of this, since he was probably never directly involved in any impropriety. He's mostly just guilty of looking the other way. He's not in this to enrich himself, just to feed his ego in the hopes that giving the WC to new countries/regions (South Africa/Qatar) will somehow get himself the Nobel Peace Prize. That's not to say he doesn't "bribe" to stay in power, it's the nature of how you stay in power for multiple decades. He just doesn't bribe with $40k cash in envelopes like Mohammed bin Hammam stupidly did. Instead of gives every country's football federation a bonus "football development grant" of $100k, but have no oversight in how that money is spent. Not that I think the 2022 WC is going anywhere, but if it did, I wouldn't be surprised if some safe (but non-US/Europe) country like Australia/Korea/Japan gets it.
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Post by aleutianhoya on May 27, 2015 12:40:26 GMT -5
I would seriously doubt if Blatter gets caught up in any of this, since he was probably never directly involved in any impropriety. He's mostly just guilty of looking the other way. He's not in this to enrich himself, just to feed his ego in the hopes that giving the WC to new countries/regions (South Africa/Qatar) will somehow get himself the Nobel Peace Prize. That's not to say he doesn't "bribe" to stay in power, it's the nature of how you stay in power for multiple decades. He just doesn't bribe with $40k cash in envelopes like Mohammed bin Hammam stupidly did. Instead of gives every country's football federation a bonus "football development grant" of $100k, but have no oversight in how that money is spent. Not that I think the 2022 WC is going anywhere, but if it did, I wouldn't be surprised if some safe (but non-US/Europe) country like Australia/Korea/Japan gets it. The feds have surely gotten all the information they can from the handful of people that already have agreed to plead guilty and that information obviously didn't lead all the way to the top. That's why they've unsealed things now. But now they've got another ten or so reasonably high-level people in their grasp. All it takes is one or two to have some information and turn (and the alleged charges against them are significant enough that it would behoove them to consider it) and the web starts to grow. I'll be surprised if this doesn't take Blatter down. Maybe not "down" as in to prison -- and he certainly may still win another term in office later this week -- but I think this ultimately ends with him out and severe enough consequences for enough people that the system changes.
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DFW HOYA
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Post by DFW HOYA on May 27, 2015 13:05:56 GMT -5
Some articles suggest the US DOJ was the only group capable of taking on FIFA, largely because 1) they have the technology and will to follow the money and 2) unlike most other countries which are deathly afraid of putting their soccer programs at risk with Sepp, the US really doesn't care what FIFA does. The chief co-conspirator in the case is gravely ill, but he provided a lot of evidence that FIFA money can't bribe their way out of. Imagine if this was a jury in, say, Italy... www.businessinsider.com/chuck-blazer-reportedly-informed-fbi-in-fifa-investigation-2015-5
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SFHoya99
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Post by SFHoya99 on May 27, 2015 14:46:41 GMT -5
These people, for the most part, have looked the other way while Qatar uses slave labor and drives them to the death because they gave them the biggest bribe.
If this were just about where the World Cup went, they'd be frauds and liars all the same, but for the above I hope they all end their days in a federal pen.
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thebin
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Post by thebin on May 27, 2015 15:59:21 GMT -5
I would seriously doubt if Blatter gets caught up in any of this, since he was probably never directly involved in any impropriety. He's mostly just guilty of looking the other way. He's not in this to enrich himself, just to feed his ego in the hopes that giving the WC to new countries/regions (South Africa/Qatar) will somehow get himself the Nobel Peace Prize. That's not to say he doesn't "bribe" to stay in power, it's the nature of how you stay in power for multiple decades. He just doesn't bribe with $40k cash in envelopes like Mohammed bin Hammam stupidly did. Instead of gives every country's football federation a bonus "football development grant" of $100k, but have no oversight in how that money is spent. Not that I think the 2022 WC is going anywhere, but if it did, I wouldn't be surprised if some safe (but non-US/Europe) country like Australia/Korea/Japan gets it. Why wouldn't the USA get the 2022 WC? The US bid was the strongest overall and had the most votes by a bid committee that wasn't proven to be buying them. It is thus the one most cheated by the bribes. If we are using the common sense criteria that they used to use for WC selection, Australia is simply put not enough of a soccer country nor is there the potential for massive growth as in USA 94. The biggest complaint against US bid is they had the WC too recently...well then scratch off Japan/Korea who had it in 2002! No country is a safer bet to host a massive country-wide sports tournament requiring high end sports infrastructure. There are already about 50 stadia to choose from without building a single one using slave labor in a country the size of Connecticut where homosexuality and Budweiser are illegal and with the climate of Venus. Qatar stole the WC from the USA more than anyone. Nobody could host such an event with less heavy lifting required- heavy lifting that we now know to be a factory for irresponsible White Elephants in WC and Olympic sites the world over. There could be nothing more ludicrous than building 12 large stadia using de-facto slave labor in tiny backwards country with a soccer team on par with Bahamas who has no use for all those stadia at all once this month long tournament ends. It honestly was the most ludicrous and irresponsible choice in the history of the modern sports era. You could argue it would have made more sense and to have held the WC in Greenland over Qatar. The USA bid, requiring the least amount of unnecessary construction is the anti-Qatar selection. And it did come in second in that vote all the same. No need to have more very expensive bids re-done. They didn't re-run the Ben Johnson 100M race a year later- they gave the gold to the first placed runner who wasn't caught cheating....
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prhoya
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Post by prhoya on May 27, 2015 19:32:15 GMT -5
These people, for the most part, have looked the other way while Qatar uses slave labor and drives them to the death because they gave them the biggest bribe. If this were just about where the World Cup went, they'd be frauds and liars all the same, but for the above I hope they all end their days in a federal pen. This is only the beginning. The FBI had to hit Blazer once for him to talk and now they have to hit him twice to make him shut up. I heard his new nickname is Il Divo!
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ksf42001
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Post by ksf42001 on May 27, 2015 20:19:40 GMT -5
I would seriously doubt if Blatter gets caught up in any of this, since he was probably never directly involved in any impropriety. He's mostly just guilty of looking the other way. He's not in this to enrich himself, just to feed his ego in the hopes that giving the WC to new countries/regions (South Africa/Qatar) will somehow get himself the Nobel Peace Prize. That's not to say he doesn't "bribe" to stay in power, it's the nature of how you stay in power for multiple decades. He just doesn't bribe with $40k cash in envelopes like Mohammed bin Hammam stupidly did. Instead of gives every country's football federation a bonus "football development grant" of $100k, but have no oversight in how that money is spent. Not that I think the 2022 WC is going anywhere, but if it did, I wouldn't be surprised if some safe (but non-US/Europe) country like Australia/Korea/Japan gets it. Why wouldn't the USA get the 2022 WC? The US bid was the strongest overall and had the most votes by a bid committee that wasn't proven to be buying them. It is thus the one most cheated by the bribes. If we are using the common sense criteria that they used to use for WC selection, Australia is simply put not enough of a soccer country nor is there the potential for massive growth as in USA 94. The biggest complaint against US bid is they had the WC too recently...well then scratch off Japan/Korea who had it in 2002! No country is a safer bet to host a massive country-wide sports tournament requiring high end sports infrastructure. There are already about 50 stadia to choose from without building a single one using slave labor in a country the size of Connecticut where homosexuality and Budweiser are illegal and with the climate of Venus. Qatar stole the WC from the USA more than anyone. Nobody could host such an event with less heavy lifting required- heavy lifting that we now know to be a factory for irresponsible White Elephants in WC and Olympic sites the world over. There could be nothing more ludicrous than building 12 large stadia using de-facto slave labor in tiny backwards country with a soccer team on par with Bahamas who has no use for all those stadia at all once this month long tournament ends. It honestly was the most ludicrous and irresponsible choice in the history of the modern sports era. You could argue it would have made more sense and to have held the WC in Greenland over Qatar. The USA bid, requiring the least amount of unnecessary construction is the anti-Qatar selection. And it did come in second in that vote all the same. No need to have more very expensive bids re-done. They didn't re-run the Ben Johnson 100M race a year later- they gave the gold to the first placed runner who wasn't caught cheating.... Thank you for delivering a very logical explanation for why the US is a better World Cup host than Qatar. My main counter argument is this: Who cares? If Fifa cared about logic, they wouldn't have awarded to Qatar (or South Africa for that matter) in the first place. You think removing a few Exec Committee members is going to change much? Even if there's a bigger house cleaning, you're just replacing them with former proteges/toadies who won't act much differently. Also, you act like the US was clearly robbed, as opposed to Australia/Korea/Japan. You act like the US was the runaway 2nd place choice, but that wasn't the case. The US was tied for THIRD after the first vote and was only tied for 2nd after the 2nd vote. It took the 3rd vote for the US to gain a one vote lead for 2nd place. While a "clean" vote might have led to a US victory, the actual vote totals show that to be far from certain. Also, if Qatar is stripped of the WC, do you really think they'll give it to the country that just dragged FIFA's reputation through the mud and made all FIFA reps seem like greedy kleptocrats? While they might be shamed into giving it to a legitimate country, I seriously doubt it'll be one of the countries actively antagonistic to FIFA (which eliminates the US and Europe). That really only leaves Japan/Korea/Australia with maybe Mexico (dropped out early in last bidding cycle) as a distant long shot.
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CTHoya08
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Post by CTHoya08 on May 28, 2015 11:15:15 GMT -5
Also, if Qatar is stripped of the WC, do you really think they'll give it to the country that just dragged FIFA's reputation through the mud and made all FIFA reps seem like greedy kleptocrats? While they might be shamed into giving it to a legitimate country, I seriously doubt it'll be one of the countries actively antagonistic to FIFA (which eliminates the US and Europe). That really only leaves Japan/Korea/Australia with maybe Mexico (dropped out early in last bidding cycle) as a distant long shot. This is the key.
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thebin
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Post by thebin on May 28, 2015 11:53:13 GMT -5
Also, if Qatar is stripped of the WC, do you really think they'll give it to the country that just dragged FIFA's reputation through the mud and made all FIFA reps seem like greedy kleptocrats? While they might be shamed into giving it to a legitimate country, I seriously doubt it'll be one of the countries actively antagonistic to FIFA (which eliminates the US and Europe). That really only leaves Japan/Korea/Australia with maybe Mexico (dropped out early in last bidding cycle) as a distant long shot. This is the key. You guys are assuming that when this all shakes out FIFA will still just be a few bitter guys who are Blatter loyalists rather than a group of voting members in a un-rigged election voting for BY FAR the most logical candidate for a short-notice replacement. It is yet to be determined how massive this shake up is- it will have to be quite big for the 2022 WC to be re-opened. But if it does, that means all the machinery in place you say will take revenge on the USA will be in tatters. The USA and perhaps England are the only viable countries that can hold a WC on very short notice without requiring a massively expensive outlay the sort of which is becoming very unpopular these days. (See total lack of interest in hosting next Winter Games to be announced by anyone or Summer Games by USOC selection Boston.) It is also widely believed in WC-knowledgeable circles that due to the continental rotation normally done the USA is a heavy favorite for 2026 WC anyway. I think there is a decent chance that FIFA as you know it is about to see revolutionary change. And if that happens I don't agree the old entity will be around to try to get petty revenge by rigging another election in front the world. I don't say this is a likely outcome, but this isn't small potatoes FIFA is looking at here. Its an existential threat to the current regime.
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thebin
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Post by thebin on May 28, 2015 13:00:37 GMT -5
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thebin
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Post by thebin on May 28, 2015 14:55:46 GMT -5
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CTHoya08
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Bring back Izzo!
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Post by CTHoya08 on May 29, 2015 11:19:12 GMT -5
I certainly hope you're right.
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Post by HometownHoya on May 29, 2015 12:04:57 GMT -5
Voting for the new FIFA president had to go to the 2nd round after neither candidate got the 2/3 necessary.
Although it was 133-73 in favor of Blatter.
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Nevada Hoya
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Post by Nevada Hoya on May 29, 2015 12:08:43 GMT -5
Voting for the new FIFA president had to go to the 2nd round after neither candidate got the 2/3 necessary. Although it was 133-73 in favor of Blatter. Sounds like it is time for a few palms to be greased.
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SirSaxa
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Post by SirSaxa on May 29, 2015 12:09:42 GMT -5
You guys are assuming that when this all shakes out FIFA will still just be a few bitter guys who are Blatter loyalists rather than a group of voting members in a un-rigged election voting for BY FAR the most logical candidate for a short-notice replacement. FINANCIAL TIMES Friday May 29 2015 BREAKING NEWS Voting for Fifa president goes to second round Incumbent Blatter gets 133 votes and challenger Ali 73. Winner needed two-thirds majority in week of scandal and arrests. In second round, a winner will need just a clear majority-------------------- Blatter only needs 51% in the second round. Looks like a slam dunk to me. All those Blatter loyalists appear to be voting pretty much as predicted.
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