John Oliver has long been afflicted with the religious mania that few Americans understand – soccer! John knows that soccer is like sausage, if you love it – for the love of all that is holy, don’t learn what’s in it…But he does know. The dirty little secret is FIFA, the organization that produces world cup soccer. You will soon see that when John says soccer is like religion, he isn’t only speaking of the evangelical fever which takes over the crowds of fans who collectively lose their minds.
FIFA – charged with staggering allegations of corruption, has more than a little in common with some of the less than savory religious groups. Sepp Blatter is the infallible President of FIFA, which by the way, is a tax exempt organization with billions in the petty cash drawer…Sounds a bit familiar.
My favorite story about Sepp (short for septic?) is his idea to encourage more interest in women’s soccer.
With billions to spend promoting the sport, and the best marketing minds at his disposal, Sepp concludes that the best course of action is to make women’s soccer shorts much shorter!
Whatever FIFA says goes, despite the harm and financial devastation which may befall the ‘lucky’ hosting country.
Next time around, soccer players will sweat it out on Qatar, where temperatures soar to a balmy 120 degrees! This is either an odd choice, made with extreme fairness in mind, or someone’s palm was greased so liberally that it’s still impossible to hang onto a SmartPhone or a credit card.