World Cupdate

More football news to blog about.

Though Greece continued their winning streak against utterly inconsequential countries by defeating 'Luxembourg' 2-1 today in Athens, Ellas did not automatically qualify for the 2010 World Cup. Switzerland - hardly inconsequential due to inventing the cuckoo clock AND their compliance with the Nazis during World War II - won the group after tying Israel in a battle of nations with internationally-known flags.

The silver lining is Greece did finish second in their group (final tally: inventors of cuckoo clock, 21 pts.; inventors of democracy 20 pts.) and thus qualify for the European playoffs. Greece is one of four seeded teams, along with France, Russia, and Portugal, and will play one of the four unseeded teams - Ireland, Bosnia, Slovenia and Ukraine - in a home and home series on November 14th and 18th. The draw is Monday, October 19th.

The U.S. has already qualified but still played an exciting game tonight against Costa Rica here in DC. Team USA tied with Costa Rice 2-2, and scored the tying goal in the 4th minute of stoppage time on a dramatic header in the 95th minute. The win eliminated Costa Rica, the only nation in Central America without an army, and put Honduras into the World Cup playoffs versus Uruguay.

It was a dramatic goal, but the U.S. celebration seemed oddly over the top. It was tie, at home, and you would think by the celebration the U.S. had WON the World Cup. I like soccer more than I ever thought I would but some parts of the football culture, such as celebrating a tie, A TIE, is still odd and kind of stupid.

Finally, one day after I blogged about Rush Limbaugh buying his way into the socialist NFL the big-fat lier was dropped by his partners in the ownership group seeking to buy the St. Louis Rams.

The power of the Internet is strong.

Nationalized Football League

We live in an ironic age, or maybe we don't.

But nothing could be more ironic than Rush Limbaugh's interest in buying the St. Louis Rams. There is a the long list of American socialist programs, a list that includes the U.S. military, social security, Medicare, the National Parks and all federal public lands, the interstate highway system, and the postal service.

But those are government programs, and you expect that from modern states. The NFL, however, is perhaps the most vivid example of a socialized private enterprise. Instead of operating under free market rules the NFL famously equally distributes both revenue (via its national television contracts) and talent (via the draft and a salary cap).

What could be more socialistic and un-American than a salary cap? A federal salary cap for every American actually passed the House during the Depression but died in the Senate.

Frank DeFord editorialized on NPR about the nature of the NFL's socialism on September 16th. Here is an excerpt:

Indeed, the NFL's descent into dreaded socialism began more than 70 years ago, when the league instituted a player draft in order to equalize its society — to remove, shall we say, odious class distinctions.

But the hallmark of NFL collectivism is that franchises share equally in television money — billions in guaranteed rights fees. Largely because of that form of socialized medicine, every team has a healthy chance to win.

Socialism is so ingrained in the NFL that reportedly, when the league approves a new owner they great him or her as 'comrade.'

I assume Limbaugh knows about the sharing of revenue, an issue a few owners over the years have challenged - and lost that challenge each time. Why would Rush want to join with a bunch of Bolsheviks like Jerry Jones and Daniel Snyder?

And despite all the crass commercialism in NASCAR there is socialism there, too. Each car in NASCAR has to be basically the same so that driver skill and not technology decides who wins. According to my research, NASCAR rules ensure that each car is the same in terms of its "specific weight window" and "engine displacement." Apparently, details on how each car is built are very specific, as are rules for pit stops, inspections, and every other variable unrelated to the driver's skill.

So when making the grand list of American socialism add the NFL and NASCAR to that long and exalted roll call.