ASEAN Football Federation vice president Ravy Khek - NR photo FIFA'S CLOSET

SPORTS NOTES - FIFA'S CLOSET NEEDS TO BE CLEANED

James Loving/National Radio Text Service

Grant Wahl for FIFA president? Ohhhh Please!!! - OHH... FERNANDO!!! (TORRES) - MARSHALL FAULK the Right Choice in NFL HALL OF FAME - CHARLES BARKLEY praises the LA Clippers BLAKE GRIFFIN - THE THREE BIG NBA TEAMS Top Big Three Salaries

Sunday February 20, 2011

FIFA'S DIRTY CLOSET

When Sports Illustrated soccer writer Grant Wahl revealed on CNN Sports Saturday February 19 (Asia) that he wanted to run against Sep Blatter to become the president of FIFA our first thought what is Wahl smoking. He presents his credentials as being a journalist for a respected publication in Sports Illustrated and has cover the game for the magazine for eight years. He failed to point out his business experience. "I am a respected journalist," he declared.

For those that can't remember or don't know Wahl is the individual who wrote a sensational book The Beckham Experiment claiming that LA Galaxy teammates Landon Donovan didn't get along with David Beckham. The story caused a stir resulting in Donovan and Beckham meeting to heal the wounds that the story opened up.

With all of his egocentricity's Wahl did make some valid points the most notable being that FIFA needs a change. They need to get up to speed with goal line video technology.

Wahl also pointed out that, "FIFA is not representative of democracy. (The organization,) "Is run by FIFA INSIDERS."

For sure Wahl got that right as we have learned in our 12 years of coverage and dealing with FIFA delegates and staff. Earlier this month FIFA reduced the penalties they assessed on FIFA members for corruption. It was also revealed that former Cambodian Football Federation president and now ASEAN VP Ravy Khek threatened and beat his ex-wife and brandished firearms while loading it with bullets. It raises the question what procedures and requirements does FIFA apply in qualifying membership?

FIFA needs to get up to speed with the times and get its act together. The current buddy, buddy system is too. With FIFA paying the expenses for delegates to be flown to Switzerland for meetings presents a situation where too many favors to be repaid. The way FIFA is currently set up works against progress. The key decision makers are too old and not abreast of state of the art technology as well as having questionable backgrounds.

The electronic goal line technology is a prime example where old thinking interferes with the progress of the game and fairness to teams that make investments in player acquisitions to win and recoup their expenditures only in many cases experience games and titles being lost due to old thinking and bad ideas. When you think about it perhaps Wahl can't do any worse.

OHH... FERNANDO!!! (TORRES)

Listen up… we love Fernando Torres but Chelsea has lost the plot in spending too much money for a great player WHEN HE'S HEALTHY. The problem is Torres suffers from the Michael Owens problem of repeatedly breaking down with injuries. The question is where is the value for the buck?

Another note is teammate Diddier Drogba recently expressed the disharmony of the team which compliments our opinion that all was not well in Chelseaville. We attributed it to too many cooks spoil the broth. The main cook is Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich who fired an assistant coach Ray Wilkins earlier in the season at the time that the team was a powerhouse and winning while being at the top of their game. Since that time the team has gone down hill from there.

MARSHALL FAULK the Right Choice in NFL HALL OF FAME

Recently elected NFL Hall of Fame inductee Marshall Faulk only received four colleges scholarship offers when he graduated from high school where he was a two way offensive and defensive player. Three of those universities wanted Faulk to play defense. San Diego State was the only school that gave him a scholarship offer to play offense which was his preference. Obviously he and San Diego State made the right choice.

CHARLES BARKLEY PRAISES BLAKE GRIFFIN

When former NBA star Charles Barkley appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno this past week Barkley actually said something nice about a Los Angeles Clipper. A noted Clipper hater Barkley said that the team's rookie Blake Griffin was incredibly talented while he doesn't know the intricacies of the game. The round mound (Ï don't like that.") of rebound said that when Griffin learns the tricks of the NBA trade that he would be phenomenal.

Barkley appeared on the show after shedding 50 pounds down from 355. He claims that his playing weight was 255 and that he has a way to go to get in shape.

Griffin showed his acclaimed dunking ability in the NBA All-Star game dunking contest by winning it after making a dunk after jumping over a car.

THE THREE BIG NBA TEAMS Top Big Three Salaries

MIAMI HEAT - Chris Bosch $14,500,000 LeBron James $14,500,000 Dwayne Wade $14,200,000

BOSTON CELTICS - Ray Allen $10,000,000 Kevin Garnett $18,832,044 Paul Pierce $13,876,321

LA LAKERS - Kobe Bryant $24,806,250 Pau Gasol $17,823,000 Lamar Odom $8,200,000

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