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FIFA "Rampant" Corruption Exposed Following DOJ Indictment, 14 Arrested In Swiss Hotel - FBI/DoJ Press Conference Live Feed
US Justice Department and FBI comments on the FIFA Investigation
That FIFA has been a hotbed of corruption, shady backroom dealings and outright crime for years, has been known to anyone with even a passing interest in football. Which is why we were surprised to learn this morning that none other than the US Attorney General, seemingly content with all the wristslaps handed out to criminal US foreign banks (and subsequent SEC waivers) gave FIFA the red card in a charge detailing "rampant" corruption in international soccer hours after 14 officials were arrested on accusations of a 24-year scheme to enrich themselves through FIFA, whose office was searched in a series of dawn raids in Zurich.
Nine FIFA Officials and Five Corporate Executives Indicted for Racketeering Conspiracy and Corruption http://t.co/7SvYgNmlaN
— Justice Department (@TheJusticeDept) May 27, 2015
The US charge was announced alongside of a Swiss criminal probe related to the controversial 2010 award of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar, respectively, hours after seven soccer officials were arrested and 14 indicted in Zurich, concurrent with a raid on the soccer body’s hilltop office in Zurich. The case involves bribes "totaling more than US$ 100 million" linked to commercial deals dating back to the 1990s for soccer tournaments in the United States and Latin America, the Swiss Federal Office of Justice said in a statement.
The U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement that two current FIFA vice presidents were among those arrested, Jeffrey Webb of the Cayman Islands and Eugenio Figueredo of Uruguay. The others are Eduardo Li of Costa Rica, Julio Rocha of Nicaragua, Costas Takkas of Britain, Rafael Esquivel of Venezuela and Jose Maria Marin of Brazil. All seven are connected with the regional confederations of North and South America and face up to 20 years in prison if convicted of racketeering.
The arrests sanctioned by the US DOJ as part of a separate US corruption probe took place at the lakeside Baur au Lac Hotel in downtown Zurich, long favored as a place for senior FIFA officials to stay. It was the stage for intense lobbying for votes ahead of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosting decisions in December 2010, and is where this Friday FIFA President Sepp Blatter’s re-election was due to take place. Blatter was not among those originally charged by the US DOJ.

A police vehicle is parked outside of the five-star hotel Baur au Lac in Zurich, Switzerland, Wednesday morning, May 27, 2015. The Swiss Federal Office of Justice said six soccer officials have been arrested and detained pending extradition at the request of U.S. authorities ahead of the FIFA congress in Zurich. In a statement Wednesday the FOJ said U.S. authorities suspect the officials of having received paid bribes totaling millions of dollars. (Ennio Leanza/Keystone via AP)

People stand outside the Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich, Switzerland, Wednesday, May 27, 2015 where six soccer officials were arrested and detained by Swiss police on Wednesday pending extradition at the request of U.S. authorities after a raid.
"The indictment alleges corruption that is rampant, systemic, and deep-rooted both abroad and here in the United States," Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch said in the statement. "It spans at least two generations of soccer officials who, as alleged, have abused their positions of trust to acquire millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks."
As reported by Bloomberg "The collection of relevant bank documents had already been ordered beforehand at various financial institutes in Switzerland,” the Swiss Attorney General’s office said in a statement on its website. “The files seized today and the collected bank documents will serve criminal proceedings both in Switzerland and abroad.”
According to AP, FIFA said Friday's presidential election would go ahead as planned with Sepp Blatter going for a fifth term. FIFA also ruled out a revote of the World Cups won by Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022.
The Swiss prosecutors' office said in a statement they seized "electronic data and documents" at FIFA's headquarters on Wednesday as part of their probe. And Swiss police said they will question 10 FIFA executive committee members who took part in the World Cup votes in December 2010.
Bloomberg also reports that the choice of Qatar, the world’s richest country per capita, and Russia was made following a campaign that was overshadowed by claims of vote rigging. An investigation carried out on FIFA’s behalf by former U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia ruled last year that though there were examples of wrongdoing, nothing was found that would require a re-vote. Garcia rejected the ruling and quit.
As many as half the FIFA membership that decided where the World Cup should be played have faced accusations of breaching regulations. Qatar and Russia have denied their bid teams acted improperly. “It is suspected that irregularities occurred in the allocation of the FIFA World Cups of 2018 and 2022,” the Swiss authorites said in the statement. “The corresponding unjust enrichment is suspected to have taken place at least partly in Switzerland.”
Among those charged by the Justice Department include Jeffrey Webb, the head of the regional soccer body for North and Central America and the Caribbean, and Jack Warner, his predecessor. Mr. Webb is also a FIFA vice president.
According to the WSJ, the 47-count indictment accuses two generations of soccer officials of working with sports marketing executives to shut out competitors and keep lucrative contracts for themselves.
Prosecutors said U.S. and South American sports marketing executives paid more than $150 million in bribes and kickbacks to FIFA officials to obtain media and marketing rights to international soccer tournaments.
Authorities said they obtained 6 guilty pleas, including from Charles Blazer, the former general secretary of regional body Concacaf, and Mr. Warner’s son Daryll.
According to the indictment, the alleged bribes affected the awarding of rights around World Cup qualifiers and other Concacaf tournaments, including in Brazil. Prosecutors said it also affected the selection of the host country for the 2010 World Cup, which took place in South Africa.
* * *
Blatter had been scheduled to attend a meeting of the Confederation of African Football in a different downtown Zurich hotel, but he canceled his appearance.
Blatter's only opponent in Friday's presidential election, Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, said it was "a sad day for football," but declined to comment further.
* * *
The full list of indicted officials and executives:
Nine of the defendants were FIFA officials by operation of the FIFA statutes, as well as officials of one or more other bodies:
- Jeffrey Webb: Current FIFA vice president and executive committee member, CONCACAF president, Caribbean Football Union (CFU) executive committee member and Cayman Islands Football Association (CIFA) president.
- Eduardo Li: Current FIFA executive committee member-elect, CONCACAF executive committee member and Costa Rican soccer federation (FEDEFUT) president.
- Julio Rocha: Current FIFA development officer. Former Central American Football Union (UNCAF) president and Nicaraguan soccer federation (FENIFUT) president.
- Costas Takkas: Current attaché to the CONCACAF president. Former CIFA general secretary.
- Jack Warner: Former FIFA vice president and executive committee member, CONCACAF president, CFU president and Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) special adviser.
- Eugenio Figueredo: Current FIFA vice president and executive committee member. Former CONMEBOL president and Uruguayan soccer federation (AUF) president.
- Rafael Esquivel: Current CONMEBOL executive committee member and Venezuelan soccer federation (FVF) president.
- José Maria Marin: Current member of the FIFA organizing committee for the Olympic football tournaments. Former CBF president.
- Nicolás Leoz: Former FIFA executive committee member and CONMEBOL president.
Four of the defendants were sports marketing executives:
- Alejandro Burzaco: Controlling principal of Torneos y Competencias S.A., a sports marketing business based in Argentina, and its affiliates.
- Aaron Davidson: President of Traffic Sports USA Inc. (Traffic USA).
- Hugo and Mariano Jinkis: Controlling principals of Full Play Group S.A., a sports marketing business based in Argentina, and its affiliates.
And one of the defendants was in the broadcasting business but allegedly served as an intermediary to facilitate illicit payments between sports marketing executives and soccer officials:
- José Margulies: Controlling principal of Valente Corp. and Somerton Ltd.
* * *
More details in the DOJ indictment:
Nine FIFA Officials and Five Corporate Executives Indicted for Racketeering Conspiracy and Corruption
The Defendants Include Two Current FIFA Vice Presidents and the Current and Former Presidents of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF); Seven Defendants Arrested Overseas; Guilty Pleas for Four Individual Defendants and Two Corporate Defendants Also Unsealed
A 47-count indictment was unsealed early this morning in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, charging 14 defendants with racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies, among other offenses, in connection with the defendants’ participation in a 24-year scheme to enrich themselves through the corruption of international soccer. The guilty pleas of four individual defendants and two corporate defendants were also unsealed today.
The defendants charged in the indictment include high-ranking officials of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the organization responsible for the regulation and promotion of soccer worldwide, as well as leading officials of other soccer governing bodies that operate under the FIFA umbrella. Jeffrey Webb and Jack Warner – the current and former presidents of CONCACAF, the continental confederation under FIFA headquartered in the United States – are among the soccer officials charged with racketeering and bribery offenses. The defendants also include U.S. and South American sports marketing executives who are alleged to have systematically paid and agreed to pay well over $150 million in bribes and kickbacks to obtain lucrative media and marketing rights to international soccer tournaments.
* * *
And now we just sit back and wait to see how many of the defendants sent "donations" to the Clinton Foundation and how many speeches Hillary and/or Bill gave at the Baur au Lac in the past two decades.
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Fuut-ball....
I'm sure all the soccer mom's are so upset about it.
Yep..
for some, a kind of religion. btw, it's Football. The biggest "sport" evah, worldwide. Not comparable in any way to American Football
"Notcomparable in any way to American Football"
And I thank God for that every day. I don't enjoy watching a 5 hour long Soccer match that ends in a 1-0 score.
5 hour long Soccer match that ends in a 1-0 score.
In America we have baseball for that.
Why does the USSA care about Soccer corruption? Simple, the State Department is angry that Russia was awarded the 2018 Cup and put pressure on the FIFA to rescind it.
Having said that, it is well known in the sports world that the FIFA commissioners are shameless crooks.
Because the corruption isn't in their benefit. The officials will be replaced with ones that are in the US's pocket.
How many other ruling bodies have had the same treatment?
FIFA is not a public institution, it is a private association. How can one be "bribed" if one is not holding an official position? It is a contradiction in terms. Fraud or breach of contract are possible crimes, but bribery stricto sensu is not in this context.
All this hype over a goddamned corrupt soccer league... while banksters who steal trillions run free.
As Jim Traficant used to say, "Beam Me Up!"
Jack Warner looks like Robert Mugabe's son...
Is it just me or are the elite using all of that secret NSA / M16 / Mossad Data for extortion / blackmail &/or the removal of people at the top for a hostile takeover?
The banksters rape the World... crickets.
Some soccer guys rig some bidding and take payoffs... all hell breaks loose.
Gotta love justice!
Tic Toc mother fuckers - http://partytime2015.blogspot.com/
All this interest a children's game played by overpaid adults. Watch the other hand, as always.
The Obozo administration really hates competition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW9-llaIS-g
Reminds me of the SPECTRE financial breifing. I could see Bill and Hillary there. Bill "$100 million extortion, bribery, un running and drugs."
Our "leaders" run a global criminal cartel not a govt "serving" the people.
Part of the comedic "reality series" called "Rule of Law."
Funny as fuck! Good to know Big Brother is watching over All.
And yet the bankster crooks walk free, and treasonous politicians continue to destroy US.
I'm confident that the big net method of sweeping up everyones emails and phone calls plays a role in this. Some sharp attorneys are going to get alot of these cases tossed when the government has to provide how they knew what, when and where.
It's the same if a cop stood in front of your window 24/7 and waited for a crime to be committed. Not excusing crime but there are so many laws on the books that every man woman and child probably breaks 10-15 laws every day.
.
Indeed. One would be surprised if such payoffs and kickbacks were not happening.
Besides, officials of any sort, public or private, tend to have an affinity for schemes to enrich themselves. It's the 'american' way.
The US of America is a contradictatorship.
LOL. EPIC. +1. As much as I still suspect you of being part of a damn troll team or a bot or something... you really rock with words, TheFourthStooge-ing (the original, not the copy)
Yes telling truth is an act of trolling for pro-eu marxist whores .
Dann sagt Ghordius:
...and I want to thank you for that, because it amuses me to no end (and I want to point out that this amusement has nothing to do with you specifically and is not at your expense).
Not a bot. Earlier this year akak was in my town briefly for matters related to his family and managed to make a couple hours of his time available to meet with me. He could tell you that I'm not a bot if he were able to post here.
Which reminds me: Amnesty for akak! Please.
Yes, Ghordius, you've got me sussed. I am indeed "or something", which is a very mattering thing, perhaps even the crustiest bit.
Cheers, and +1.
@TheFourthStooge-ing, then say hello to akak from me. He is sorely missed. though I remember him telling us that he would leave... in protest
you want to know why? your... elegance. perhaps I'm just envious of the elegance and timing of your posts. my bad
Cheers, and +1, too
And what about Sepp Blatter, the most corrupt of them all? When can we be rid of them all. The IOC did a good job of cleaning itself up so why not now FIFA also?
I'm going to have to vote for this having to do with the other U.S. government obsession: Israel
Ahead Of Israel Expulsion Vote U.S. Orders Raid On FIFA
Usually I would call it a toss-up or just automatically agree it's more Russia-hating, but Israel was going to be kicked out of FIFA for issues related to Palestine. That has to be an order of magnitude more embarassing than failing against an ever-expanding Boycott-Divest-Sanction movement against them. They can always use the anti-Semite card on that one, but being thrown out of FIFA is a VERY visible international reaction to their fascist, apartheid practices. Israel (like any psychopath) does not like being called out in public for beind evil. In fact, that's the one thing sure to launch them into blind, full-retard mode. If there were strings to be pulled and bribes to be called in from dual-citizen, Israeli-firster congressmen, then they would have been used to destroy FIFA before being thrown out. Kind of Israel's FIFA Sampson option.
I'm just not seeing the Russia-hating as a prime motivator here. A bonus for the State Department types for sure, but this would be bold for them - FIFA was currupt, but it was international football, not U.S. football. I don't think the State Department would normally have touched FIFA wtih a ten-foot pole. The international backlash is almost guaranteed - it will be a PR nightmare. The State Department hasn't been doing so well against Russia PR-wise internationally. I would think they would have just sat this idiotic move out and let the Europeans take care of it. They would have needed much more prodding to do something so stupid that they wouldn't care that it makes the U.S. look like a bully and international RoboCop on steroids.
Reacting to the explusion of Israel and screwing Russia out of the 2018 Cup are not mutually exclusive alternatives, but mutually supportive.
I agree that this is another PR nightmare for America since most of the rest of the world will see this as nothing more than USSA unilateralism.
"...I agree that this is another PR nightmare for America since most of the rest of the world will see this as nothing more than USSA unilateralism..."
Hey - don't count us Americans out! WE see it as nothing more than USSA unilateralism as well.
There is nothing like waking up in the morning and wondering what new, interesting way the U.S. government has cooked up today to make the U.S.A. look like assholes to the rest of the planet and make us even more hated internationally than we already are. In case any other nation on earth has any doubts, this should convince you that it's a really bad idea to outsource your PR to the one nation on earth even more hated than you are: Israel.
Did they give Israels spot to ISIS yet?
Bet they field a real cutthroat team.
Don't ignore the obvious benefit of NSA collecting everything. There is rampant corruption everywhere, and bulk data collection enables control. If you go against us (or Israel), we will expose you.
More than rampant corruption.
Absolute systemic corruption from the very bottom to the very top.
Systemic corruption is incapable of fixing itself.
So lets see here...
Trillions of dollars manipulated through LIBOR, FX, Commodities, HFT, etc... by the bankers and their minions, zero criminal charges and zero jail time for the actual perpetrators.
Millions of dollars in a fucking sports organization and the DOJ starts indicting people.
ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?
great link/interesting looking site, thanks.
Fucking Israel and its absolute stranglehold through the Jewish Lobby, on our.. "our" government, it just has to fucking stop. These cunts have been building Jewish only settlements while bulldozing Arab homes and bombing Palestinian infrastructure for 3 decades while in the press their war crimes arent covered, and shity homemade rockets are presented as an existential threat that is fired always to 'initiate' - and the media does that because it is heavily Jewish and not at all Muslim let alone Palestinian.
Bad enough they've been able to ignore multiple un resolutions and cry antisemite at everyone for 30 years while actually wiping a nation off the map.... Israel through its sayanim and Israel Firster Ziopaths has all but taken control of the US government.
A revolution against the US government, if it happens, may in fact be a war of independence against Israel.
There are an increasing number of American Jews that abhor Israel's apartheid policies and fascist behavior, Counterpunch. For that matter, there are a lot of Israeli Jews that abhor Israel's policies. I won't even get into the hairsplitting about labels like 'Zionist'. I simply recognize the inherint amoral quality and psychopathy of the current right-wing Israeli government. They represent all Israelis about as much as the current administration or congress represent the citizens of the United States.
Oversimplifying the issues by painting all Jews with a broad brush and suggesting some sort of monolithic 'Jewish Lobby' today is patently absurd, but I'm probably far more guilty as anyone of unintentionally suggesting the existance of one. The reality is more complex than that. The rigth-wing fascist Israeli lobby or Jewish-Israeli oligarch lobby are more precise descriptions. Of course, there are many here that prefer the broader description
I would expect a revolution by rational Israelis to topple the right-wing fascist Israeli government long before I would ever expect any sizeable population in the U.S. to get off their fat ass and revolt. Since Israel has the most censored media of any country on earth, you never hear about the alarming number of desertions from the IDF or of young Israeli men leaving the country forever rather than commint war crimes in the IDF for their psychopathic government.
All Israelis are not evil, nor are all Jews - the Israeli and U.S. MSM just censor any evidence of the good ones because good ones are disobedient to their fascist government and refuse to live on their knees in front of the psychopaths. The Israeli and U.S. MSM both would prefer you don't know citizens like that even exist - that's not suppose to be in the script at all.
Incidentally, the rough tranlations of some of the foreign report on this say that the arrests only delayed the vote on Israel's sanction or expulsion.
Apparently - since all the FIFA members vote - the arrests will have little effect on what is already seen as plenty of votes overall against Israel. If/when the big FIFA meeting or whatever takes place (and there's no reason it will not) in the near future, Israel will still probably get booted. The talk of intimidation for voting against Israel resulting from the arrests is dismissed as nonsense. I'm citing foreign-language publications because nearly everything in English is either U.S. MSM spew or are alternative sites reporting on the Israeli/Russian connection - nothing about how the vote is/will be affected.
Can anyone else comment on this aspect addressed in any non-US, non-English media that they speak/read? Google translate leaves someting to be desired. It would just be terribly ironic if the arrests were to interfere with the vote, but it happens anyway and Israel is still booted out (or sanctioned - not sure what the precise 'punishment' would be).
And unfortunately for Vlad Russia is one of the most corrupt countries in the world. FIFA and Russia were made for each other.
it's remarkable you think Russia is notably more corrupt than the United States. Russia got out of communism 24 years ago and then was raped a long the way by oligarchs and western bankers.
The US, bastion of freedom and democracy and all that has spent the past 40 fuckin' years throwing the middle class overboard, and the past 15 spending away the future while letting the 1% take the winnings from all the keynesian quackery.
Step away from the propaganda long enough to worry about the corruption currently destroying the US.
US lobbied same organization officials to organize events in their freedom land . But don't call us corrupt because we are fucking exceptional . Isn't it cunt ?
Cancelling the Russian world cup venue in 3,2,1, followed by a small fine and
dropping criminal charges.
Shades of the olympics back when.
maybe in part, but the israel thing seems more proximate.
http://www.moonofalabama.org/
not that I've mentioned the P word...
https://americanfreepress.net/?p=18975
Thanks Counterpunch, it's just amazing what garners action by the DoJ.
"The Palestinian Football Association has called for a vote to suspend Israel from FIFA:"
"The vote requires a 75% majority of the 209 FIFA members. There was a good chance that it was going to be successful."
"But now, just by chance, the U.S. government ordered the Swiss police to raid the hotel where the main FIFA functionaries are residing to arrest some of them on corruption charges going back to the early 1990s. The U.S. wants these to be extradited to face a U.S. court."
"Also, just by chance, reporters and photographers of the New York Times happen to be in that very Swiss hotel lobby, at 6 am, to capture the incident live:"
This is one NSA spying activity I can get behind!
This is exactly the kind of headline I thought we would start to see, once the irreversible decline of the U.S., reached maximum velocity. Collective punishment is a very real part of modern American/Western domination, and "American Gangsta" culture in particular!
The idea of the "you fuck with me, I'll fucking destroy you, your family, your friends, and everything you've ever loved, you fuck".......
Is a very real and ingrained part of Americana culture, highly influenced and perfected over the years by generations of poor, uneducated Southern European and Latin American immigrants!!
All societies have their thugs and gangster types, but America has a gangster culture, celebrated and worshipped in music and film and media, to a sociopathic level, and WE won't die quietly or easily or exit stage left without our "Scarface" moment, I'll gaurentee you that!!
World be warned!!!
Exactly - Loretta Stench's hypocrisy - and that of the DOJ - is sickening to behold. $100 million is CHICKENFEED relative to what the criminals at the Fed and on Wall Street have done, and that nasty bitch has the gall to berate these guys? How can these people tolerate how black-pussy-rotten they are inside?
Well spot on, if it was USA it can't be corruption, just a mere gift...
"Why does the USSA care about Soccer corruption? Simple, the State Department is angry that Russia was awarded the 2018 Cup and put pressure on the FIFA to rescind it. "
EXACTLY!
They're so bloody transparent it's sickening.
Actually, it can last max 120 minutes.
BTW, why do Americans call a game that is not played with feet and does not use a ball "football"? It looks more like rugby, just played by sissies - all padded and covered in protective gear, horrified that someone might get some scratch or bruise? ;-)
The soccer is only 2 hours and short change in duration. (unless it's an elimination match. Then it add the extra-time periods.)
Well it seems like five hours. They all run this way and that, back and forth, round and round, you go to the snack bar for a snow cone, come back, they're all running that way...
ZZZzzzzzzzzzz
Jay Leno on soccer:
Soccer is so exciting! I was watching a match on tv and turned my head away for only 90 minutes and the score was already 1-0!
switch to baseball, that should really get your excitement level up. FIFA is corrupt, but they get indicted and Jamie still walking around free. Jon Corzine for FIFA president
The main criticism I hear levelled at soccer/football is that.... Shock horror... Wait for this... It sometimes ends in a tie! Thats just too real for many sport fans, who have been conditioned to watch sports where THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A TIE, football, basketball, baseball (very few ties in the NHL as well)... Hell, I can see how a tie starts to look damn near unnatural to such a sports fan.
The rest of th eworld has a hard time understanding the Grid Iron, the rules, the "specialities" of 350 pound linebackers, coaching with headphones in helmet, spotters, commercial breaks (made for TV sport) and of course the blatant Masonic-ism of it all.
Oh and having 30-40% of your players on some felon list or the other, no good.
And performance enhancing steroids? Never, not in America. All clean, well spoken ideal citizens....
Sorry ND, American Handball with the occasional kick is a DAMN HUGE BORE.
this is why we're better at war than you
my German father-in-law stopped watching soccer years ago and switched his attention to "American football"... I asked him why, he said it's a pure reflection of how the US handles warfare... training, planning, specializations, and logistics... I was a little surprised to hear him say that, but he makes a good point...
Absolutely PTS, American Football is a War game.
That too old, outdated warfare. Columns and phalanxes and lines rushign into each other.
Very weird, roman and point-less to an outsider. I'm sure people who grew up with it love it, obviously. I had a great many buddies in the US who were lost to the world on Sundays in-season.
World football, on the other hand, to my euye, is fluid beauty.
i was thinking: you take american football, but play it on a circular field, with concentric circles for the yardage lines. then, one time is either driving toward the center, or outward, but the potential for varying formations would be endless. could you imagine driving outward from the center; the types of misdirection you'd be able to do? plus, the field being circular, the fans would all have 'equidistant' seating. or, what if you had more than one ball in place at the same time?
in soccer, what if you enlarged the goal, so the scoring could be higher; or what if you did the multiple balls thing?
that is some excellent out of the box thinking there mc. The circular gridiron, yes, very cool. Multiple balls...
I've often imagined things like rebound screens (circulat, 3 feet os so in dia) on the ends of a tennis net. An extra surface to bounce th eball off into the opponents court.
Shake up needed all around. Some of this 20th century stuff is really dated now.
You have to laugh at the times when someone gets a little tap on the shin or pushed - and they crash to the ground rolling around, howling and screaming as though someone just sawed their leg off with a bow saw. The drama that comes out of the players is kind of embarassing .... but humorous ;)
"American football" is just European rugby for sissies.
BTW, you are terrible at warfare. You either lose wars, join when somebody else already almost won on his own or take a piss on someone defenseless. Do not flatter yourself.
we hear that a lot from people who've lost to us
Apparently, you are also terrible at playground style arguments.
I'd respect you more if you said that my momma's fat.
We've never lost militarily.
Politically, now there's the rub.
hahahahah let me correct it for ya US never won militarily in any conventional warfare till date . Suck it up .
I bet his family in Germany disowned him.
The national nightmare is OVER. Thank god you have a Justice Department that knows what is important and what is not.When did you performed better in any conventional war turtle ? Drinking too much koolaid . Break your shell and come out of your closet cunt .
You have a point. This would never happen to the NFL, it would be like the military actually defending the Constitution or Wall Street being held to the rule-of-law.
In the U.S. we hold the gladiatorial spectacle of helmeted padded face covered jackanapes tyring to wound each other above all other sport.
We then wring our hands over violence in the inner cities and the ensuant joblessness and despair.
None of it could possibly be related of course, we just need more campaigns and slogans to fix it.
Well said ebworthen, that is a 86 yard pass right into the end-zone...
Fortunately, we have a sacred tradition of sending our boys off to be grilled in this game that maims hundreds of thousands for life every year before they even come of age. In any other context, this would be recognized as child abuse.
When it's setting dogs upon one another, it's a crime.
What a fucked up game.
Granted, an entertaining spectacle. But then, didn't the Romans feels the same about theirs?
Panem et circenses....too true Bob, good to see you back and commenting, been a while...
Thanks, ORI. Yeah, been working two jobs . . . gotta get ahead. Living on a lake . . . and after putting the boat in the closest I've been is watching it bobbing outside the window.
Could be worse, I spoze. Gotta earn 'dat panem
Living on a lake sounds great Bob...if it's a boat with oars, you owe yourself a row.....
My main gripe with (American) football, is they get these kids, 11, 12 years old, EATING FOR SIZE. Yeah, thats right. Eating for size. And then when they are out of high school, and not a pro, and no longer playing football, what skill have they developed? Eating for size!
Naw, we got creatin and 'riods for that.
Yeah, that too I wish. It's a 28 foot pontoon boat, a "party barge." It came with the house. Keep thinking I would really like a kayak. But the hands and arms are sore from constant computer work. Wear and tear, man. It's real.
But, since I work from home, I do have a floor to ceiling window beside my desk that every now and then I gotta take a glance out of. I've seen many eagles, geese families in formation, loons, ducks, muskrats, crows to hummingbirds . . . I saw a hawk snatch a fish out of the water on one idle glance. I saw a crane during a morning smoke. Yeah, it is very cool. The stars burn in massive clusters in the night sky when it's clear. On a full moon, everything, from the trees to tiny pebbles, cast shadows that you can clearly see. The sounds a lake makes when thawing I've never even heard about at all, yet they leave you gaping in an open-mouthed grin at the sheer wonder of all that sound! Truly unbelievable.
Wish I had more time, though.
Good to see you hanging in the thick of the ZH mix, ORI! Most inclusive community on the web, far as I know. By far.
I can't help but follow it and in the end it's where I always return when I feel like I have something I need to say.
Hey, what about that crazy heat wave y'all is going through round there? From what I've read, that's some crazy shit there.
Haaaha, not sure you are being serious or facetious about arms and computer work, but sounds like you have a nice set-up,
I've heard legends of ice-cracking during thaws and the general magnificence of the spectacle.
And yes, India is baking. I was asking someone yesterday, how do people die in heat waves in these times and days? No tree for shelter? No water to slake your thirst?
Seems totally weird!
" I was asking someone yesterday, how do people die in heat waves in these times and days? No tree for shelter? No water to slake your thirst? "
Take me there. I have traveled extensively. But not to India. If I lived there, I would've traveled up the rivers to the source of the pure waters. Not the disease ridden waters of the Ganges.
http://biblehub.com/acts/17-23.htm
No joke about the arms and hands. I've developed a painfully serious expertise in desk/computer ergonomics and have started piecing together a collection of semi-low tech but very novel solutions to address the various issues . . . the Bob System. There's a load of money to be made there. There are a whole lotta people, late 30's and up who suffer serious pain from the repetitive motion stresses of extended desk work. Do it long enough and it's virtually inevitable, unless you have perfect ergonomics . . . which nobody takes seriously until the pain sets in and the damage is already done. And eventually it will be done, because the design of modern computer tools have repetitive stress baked in. Hell, there are many teenagers who have blown out their hands just from texting and gaming.
From what I've been reading, the homeless are horribly fucked in the Indian heat these days, particularly in the southern cities, where they are legion . . . extended days and nights of 122 Fahrenheit with few sources of shade and no water. Roads have been melting. Old people dying . . . just as they do in France or Chicago heat waves, except on a much larger scale. Damn, that would be a nasty way to go.
what if you took american football, and had the players dress in 'puffy suits', kind of like the michelin man? you could inflate the suits with helium, so the players could jump higher. you could also fix it so that the players wouldn't have to turn their heads. instead, they could have a video readout inside their fixed helmets, with cameras in all directions, so they could see 360 degrees without risking neck injury.
"I don't enjoy watching a 5 hour long Soccer match that ends in a 1-0 score"
Well, it's a lot better than Cricket where a 5 day test match ends in a draw.
1-0 is a really exciting match.
It's the 0-0 matches you want to avoid.
I wonder when they will hand out the indictments for the Olympics Committee members that seem to have the same problems ???
It gives me a pause , our justice department seems to be a monster overseas and domestically, not so much.
Keeps praying that the U.S. never decides to like Football. Because if a small percentage of our best athletes decided to play, we would dominate that sport within a decade. Appreciate our apathy. It's the only thing saving the rest of the world.
Bull Shit B7R, to be th eworld's best at a sport comes with history, legacy....
In fact, the US has been trying to "start'up" the MLS for a looong time now.
Americans cannot cut it in Soccer. You don't think like that.
But yes, with all that soccer skill and talent pouring through the southern borders, you might have a world beating team in 15 years if you love them brown skinned future soccer stars a little.
The MLS is certainly a weak ass minor league. My point is that none of the top 1000 high school athletes in the U.S. plays soccer. The third and fourth tier athletes continue into college and a few become elite level. Not trying to be a typical American asshole here, just stating the facts.
Point taken. I was saying you need history with a sport to be a world beater at it, not just have prize atheletes playing it.
The US is used to importing it's excellence, MLS has failed totally at that so far.
My 10 year old daughter played soccer. She said pushing kids over and stealing the ball was almost as much fun as beating up her little brother.
I think she got that from her mother.
Former NCAA soccer player here. The US is not competitive at soccer because they have no grace or creativity. Players are drilled and molded into a prototypical player and discouraged from all originality. If Messi had been American he'd gone nowhere.
Or, put another way, America teaches athletes to play soccer.
They don't help soccer players become better athletes. (if you understand the difference)
I blame the movie Armageddon.
Oh, am so relieved that you clarified that. I was so fucking worried
And like spaghetti, it originated in China.
Ghordy,
It's bread and circuses for the non-US unwashed masses.
Stupidity has no borders.
tittytainment of sort, I agree. btw... why such an ugly nick matching the splendid avatar?
Can't help it, gotta comment herre:
1: Why are all these guys so obese and fat-faced? The real problem at DOJ (Dept of JokeJustice) is that they don't want a bunch of out-of-shape pimple-heads setting bad examples for the world's youth!
2: Jack Warren isn't Mugabe's son. He's a Trini. He's the only one in shape out of the crowd because he spends the whole year getting ready for Juve and having his way with his Obeah-derived slaves. Trinidadians perfected the art of bribery long before the Colonial Age ended (read VS Naipaul's "Loss of Eldorado). Plus, he was trained by Burroughs, the now-imprisoned former head police commissioner.
3: Somebody at NFL is pissed because FIFA blew the whistle on their non-profit status, forcing them to finally pay taxes on their billions.
4: Let's face it - FIFA's leadership is a bunch of bankster wannabes. Fuck 'em.
TV, Hollywood, sports and other bullshit are the circuses to fool the stupid masses. Look at Brazil for example.
Great way to jam loads more Africans down Europe's thorat with endless Africans in the football leagues. F ball team sports idiocy.
My mock tribal warfare is better than your mock tribal warfare!
soccer is the only sport where you are as likely to be injured faking an injury as you are to be injured.
It is a remarkably tedious enterprise, and if its a kind of religion, maybe the hooligans should learn to follow more than one fucking sport, yeah?
Then again, I know people who hate soccer/football but will watch golf, which can be said without hyperbole is a million times worse.
Its amazing the DOJ has to go ALL the way to Zurich to find enough work to justify its budget to America.
It was either go to Zürich or prosecute the current administration. Like that's going to happen.
Also, reports show that the investigation has been coming from the EDNY Justice office - guess who just got promoted to AG from the EDNY???
Grab the popcorn - this circus plot has been percolating for awhile!
"Nobody touches Christiano till moms gone."
Headbanger,
Not only that but we can all now sleep sounder knowing that this criminals are behind bars and the world has been made safe for our kids. Oh shit wait! Those are not the criminals you are looking for move along, move along.
Fuck you banksters all of you.
"It spans at least several generations of political officials who, as alleged, have abused their positions of trust to acquire millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks."
*Fixed for the US Congress
Could. Not. Care. Less.
PS David Beckham is hot.
A hotbed of corruption?
Oh, you weren't talking about the FBI, you were describing FIFA???
I can just imagine the telephone call on the FBI/Goldman Sachs Hotline:
(Obsequious-voiced feeb) "This is the FBI, we are about to go on a raid on FIFA people?
(GS responds) "Stand down a few hours to allow us to withdraw our advisors."
"Certainly, sir, FBI over and out!")
corrupt a KickBol game GOTO PRISON, corrupt a world financial system - pay a fine and carry on!
How many bankers have been arrested to date? Queue crickets.....
good, maybe they can switch over to real football and arrest Roger Goodell while they're at it...
................. US is not competitive at soccer because they have no grace or creativity. Players are drilled and molded into a prototypical player and discouraged from all originality.
I don't believe it. I also don't believe that the outcome of Pro Wrestling matches are predetermined.
Anybody heard from the Iron Sheik lately? Joined ISIS?
Things were never the same after The Iron Sheik got Bob Backlund in the dreaded Camel Clutch.
pods
(not to be confused with the similar move used by Hillary Clinton, The Camel Toe Clutch.)
jesus what a terrible image. quick someone post some pictures of hot naked girls
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=fifa+girls&iax=1&ia=images
http://lh5.ggpht.com/-G9qtvxsbl7o/U6Iel2oDw2I/AAAAAAAAAP8/PGY3Cvm2eg4/s1...
I think I just broke something.
So how is it that Fifa members face jail for corruption and US Banksters walk free...seems like a corruption probe is needed at the DOJ.
What a ludicrous display.
the doj what a joke
When will Mr. eccelstone of formula 1 stop doging endless criminal cases? Is he a chosun person? How about the International Olympic committee, NFL, NBA, MBL?
FIFA is total scum but anything the DOJ does probably smells like feces.
Department of Jokes?
NSA is all I have to say.
...with I am sure many harsh convictions and jail time coming down for these football crimes, yet the global banksters who have raped and pillaged the global economy making billions for themselves continue to walk free....
Oddly, substitute "Obama Administration" for FIFA in the article and it reads great!! Substitute any of the MSM lib jurnolists/reporters/commentators for the FIFA minions and it reads better!!! We should be so lucky! /s
of course FIFA is corrupt. how else does Qatar, which is about 120 degrees in the summer, get awarded the games? but how and why is the US involved in prosecuting this? i didn't realize CONCACAF was based here, so i guess we have jurisdiction over that, but other FIFA officials?
The US .gov controls enormous portions of the physical world using its armed forces. It controls enormous portions of the financial world using FATCA, etc. It has controlled much of the electronic world via NSA, etc. Why would the US not try to control sports organizations, too?
The only things the US .gov doesn't try to control are its spending and its southern border.
+100
Watch for more US oligarchs buying more European football teams.
The one indispensible nation has jurisdiction over everyone, everywhere, every time they want.
I bet they will demand high fines to enrich themselves.
Baern - Barsa 0:3. I knew it was fixed.
they operate like the clinton family foundation.
.
Remember our motto....more good than bad.
As far as you know anyway.
They got prosecuted!!?? They must have bribed moare than the bankers?? Cun't believe it.
Worlds Police, Fuck Yeah!!!!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1mlCPMYtPk
Comes convenient as Israel is about to be expelled from FIFA
Gotta keep the circuses squeaky clean...the markets, not so much.
I'm thinking basketball is the only legit game to watch. It's fast like hockey, but people actually score. Things actually happen. You can sleep through a hockey or football game and miss absolutely nothing. The score is still 0-0. At least the guys in hockey fight each other. Taking dives makes football unwatchable.
Way over paid brothers in a declining interest sport.
Reason for arrest: suspects provided no kickbacks to Hillary and Bill.
i don't care how crooked the fifa bunch is they can't hold a candle to rodham-clinton.
Good point, suprossed Bill isn't head o the US Football federation. That gig would be right up his alley.
Reason for arrest: Divert attention away from US gov and DOJ corruption.
The beauitful game is as dirty as a baby's 2 day old diaper.
What many football fans won't realise until they get into the game is that a 0-0 draw can be a hell of a game and result. Not all of course.
Not 0-0, no. But a score draw is usually a great contest!
US DOJ is a tad bit out of its jurisdiction. These arrested guys must be laughing their ass's off.
Ummm.... stupid question from silly me.... but why does the US DOJ have any jurisdiction or interesting in an sport outside the US?
Because the US DOJ is a paradigm of virtue?
why does the US DOJ have any jurisdiction or interesting in an sport outside the US
Manifest Destiny Clause?
Why? Because 'Merica Fuck Yea!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhnUgAaea4M
Yeah I don't like they way they try to max out the charges and convict on all of them they can for what seems like one Crime.
The other thing is crossing state and international borders. FBI is the only National Crime Fighter in the USA which would take it on. The Crime is said to cross state borders, then the FBI takes it on.
"The indictment alleges corruption that is rampant, systemic, and deep-rooted both abroad and here in the United States,"
LOLOLOL!!!!!
Sounds like a TBTF bank!
I wonder if their "stay out of jail fine" will be made out to the FED like UBS's was last week?