The world's media has been buzzing about the FIFA officials arrested for corruption. And apparently a lot of the legal work was done by the Americans, even though they are hardly FIFA's most important market. Of course, that could be because they have some objectivity and distance from the problem, sort of like how hockey agent Alan Eagleson's crimes were exposed and charged in the U.S. rather than Canada. Perhaps the Americans could rent themselves out going after corruption in sports they don't care about. I'm hoping they'll tackle Formula One next, and I hear Cricket has some problems too.
And now the story gets stranger. Well, it was stage to begin with that everyone in the organization is on the take and President Sepp Blatter was supposedly not involved, and didn't even know anything bad was going on. But now it's time for the next election for the organization's president. Blatter is not only still running, he's still likely to win.
Each country's national soccer association gets a vote for President. The media is trying desperately to explain how much of the world (largely the non-Western world) will be giving another term to this guy. The reason is usually given that he's been good to the developing world. After all, he did oversee the World Cup coming to Africa.
But quick look at a map of corruption problems shows a disturbing correlation between areas that support Blatter and areas that have corrupt governments. A better way to explain his continued support is this: the sort of person who somehow got a cushy, high-paying job from a corrupt government is the sort of person who supports Sepp Blatter.
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