Warning!!! This post is for those who don’t like football/soccer, don’t care about FIFA, and/or are outraged at the expense by Brazil for a world sporting event.
Disclaimer: This is a rant based in part on fact but more on perspective and opinion.

The drama on and off the field.

Players who are meant to be elite athletes (and high-paid ones by all accounts) that fall to the ground with what looks like a career-threatening injury and all because of the slightest movement, twist or turn from their opponents. If their team scores, or they do, they make a miraculous recovery. Really!? (Hint: Diving is an Olympic sport that requires one person, a board and a pool.)

Players and their fans who pray to win and are distraught when having lost. I thought this was just a game. Serious illness, trauma and tragedy warrant tears and prayers. Is a soccer game on the same level as these things? Apparently for some, the answer would appear to be yes.

Boo-Zil!
First it was the clearing of land for beef cattle for McDonald’s and now it’s the clearing of poor people from the land (reflects badly to let your poverty show.) Brazil does not have a great track record in caring for its land and people. Too bad the sadness one feels when their team loses is not echoed for the thousands of people living rough in Brazil’s most impoverished favelas.

The opening ceremony was all about the warm and fuzzies on the best that Brazil has to offer. I missed the section where there was a dramatic reenactment of the destruction of its rainforests, an interpretive dance highlighting the marginalization of the Indigenous tribes and the grand finale showcasing Brazil’s poverty. Oh, that wasn’t a part of the show? My mistake.

Money well-spent? Too bad Brazil wasn’t able to come up with a similar budget and use it for the good of its people rather than a wallet-draining world sporting event. I wonder…the profits, if any, will be distributed to those most in need…? Thanks Algeria for donating your prize money to the impoverished in Gaza.

And let’s hear it for some countries not in the World Cup! Yes there are sports other than soccer that elicit a passionate reaction from people:

• Rugby, New Zealand; Ka Mate! Ka Mate! Ka Ora!
• Hockey, Canada; He Shoots! He Scores!
• Cricket, the West Indies and India; Cricket (i.e. the sound of silence-I fell asleep during the match)