Champions' League?

Every time I try to love soccer, the "World's Game," I get stuck by another crapper like the Champion's League final. For those of you that don't partake in the footballian arts, let me explain. Imagine the NCAA basketball tournament, only with multimillionaires and you can't use your hands. In any case, Champion's League pins the best teams from every European country in a winner take all tournament to cap off the UEFA (United European Football Association) season.

The problem with the tournament this year is two fold; first, the two teams to meet up in the finals this year are no where near winning their respective leagues, hardly the stuff of champions. Second, AC Milan was allowed to participate, and here is where the situation gets a bit dicey.

During last summer's World Cup, the big talk after Italy won the trophy by default was how the victory was going to lift the spirits of Serie A fans who's teams were facing reprimands for fixing matches. Now, in the USA, that kind of stuff is frowned upon, and guys like Pete Rose pay the ultimate prize for being degenerates and all around bad guys. In Italy and other European countries, it seems to be par for the course. Among the teams that got slapped with a "sanction" was AC Milan, who was deducted points for their parts in the scandal. The hardest hit club was Juventus of Turin, who were relegated to the lower division and caste into obscurity.

Now, here is a classic example of why politics is more important to Sepp Blatter, FIFA dictator, and UEFA. AC Milan was found to be eligible for the tournament despite them being reprimanded in their home league and deducted points. Imagine UCLA being found guilty of violating NCAA rules and their games forfeited and win total deducted by the PAC 10 on the verge the NCAA tournament, and still being allowed to participate and win the whole thing. That would be a royal cluster F*%K and the NCAA would lose all credibility in it's tournament. FIFA seems to not care about doing what is right, only selling out San Siro, Milan's home stadium, and racking in billions in revenue from fanatical Milan fans that probably have never been out of their respective countries, let alone actually touched down in Milan.

This then leaves the marginal foosball fan with a sour taste in his mouth. A team that had copped to being a band of dirty bastards is allowed to not only participate, but actually win the crown jewel of European club soccer. What's next, fixing the world rankings as to make a team seem better then they actually are and sticking them in one of the toughest groups at the World Cup, no wait, that happened to the USA last year. Oh I know, letting a third world nation like South Africa, a country that can't afford to treat millions of poverty and disease ridden citizens, let alone pay back World Bank loans, win the bid for the next World Cup thus committing it to spending billions towards state of the art stadiums instead of healthcare and education. No, that seemed to have happen as well.

So, the football fan should take in this final, and should celebrate the victors. We seem to celebrate mediocrity and deceitfulness a lot these days.