An occasional from The Curmudgeon
du Nord, September 7, 2010
THE CURMUDGEON MUTTERS...Joe here from LA, and I'll help Dear Leader el Brucio with some occasional postings.Today, in a Los Angeles Times Op-Ed piece, Dennis Coates, a self-described "sports fan" and professor of economics at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, rallies hard against a U.S. Bid for World Cup 2018 or 2022, mostly on the grounds that a supposed multi-billion windfall just isn't possible. Apparently, the Bid Committee claims that no taxpayer money will be needed to support the event. While I doubt that would really be the case, and we all know that FIFA earns record profits from the events and teams are lavishly treated (I think Maradona had Ed McMahon's gold toilet /goodbye old friend/ installed in his South African suite), as fans, we do understand that hosting the World Cup goes miles towards supporting the U.S. as a great Futbol Nation. Does that come at a cost? You bet. But we know that every stadium will be filled to the rafters, and plenty of touristas will visit our fair shores,