Gotcha, thanks. Doesn't that system wholly favor the power regions though? It's not like an Asian or North American team is gonna make the top 7 rankings, and if Europe has its own pot (and therefore more teams) shouldn't they have to face each other more anyway? It just strikes me as a way for the European and South…

Really dumb question: how the hell do the groups get drawn for the WC? It just strikes me as odd that sides who do well in qualifying, like the Netherlands or the U.S., have to face really difficult group play, but teams like Mexico barely make it in and seemingly have a much more favorable draw. This seems to happen…

Man, isn't "real" club soccer so much cooler? They've got fascism, graft, corruption, match-fixing, and callous disregard for human life as part of their proud history, to go along with the rioting, hooliganism, and racism that occurs today. Yeah, until MLS clubs start shooting rival club presidents on the street,…

He's right. Testing has become a lot more sophisticated over the years, and kits can even tell you what shit has been cut into it. For sure, there's tons of folks out there peddling "molly" when it's truly not, but to pretend that there's no pure MDMA is akin to saying you can't get pure cocaine or acid in this…

People who turn to Seth McFarlane for their humor fix in an age where we have folks like Louis C.K., Jim Jefferies, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Aziz Ansari, John Mulaney, and countless others are like those who hit up the Olive Garden in Times Square when they visit New York.

While I know he's in Boston as he's still being a badass with the BFD, I don't know if he's still in Southie or not. An addendum to that story: when my brother was being carried into the tent, his cammies were (obviously) soaked with blood. The corpsman walked over, looked under my brother's pants, and in a thick-ass…

I don't have issues with Hudson, a straight male, lending support to the LGBTQ cause. Yet, not outing someone who just came out is literally one of the first things you learn in LGBTQ sensitivity. It'd get you immediately expelled from pretty much any organization if you did that as an employee or volunteer, as again…

Excellent piece Barry. Although, I'd like to offer my thoughts on a particular line: Coming out is now a stage-managed media event, scripted and choreographed in a way that ensures America receives only the most telegenic version of what at bottom is still a deeply personal act.

I dunno man, the sport loses a lot of credibility to a lot of people when total clods like Chuck Liddell - who got his start brawling with drunk UCSB bros in college bars - and Brock Lesnar can win UFC titles. Yeah, I know they were both accomplished collegiate wrestlers, but how much does it say about the "technique"…

Billy Haisley [scolding Croats after eliminated in group play]: See, this is what happens when you waste time with bullshit football. The EPL is clearly[gets knifed]

Kickstarter idea: Send Haisley down to Rio so he can berate fans of every national team except Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Italy, and the Netherlands for supporting inferior football.

I get the outrage, but what the hell does Al Jolson have to do with Vanderbilt athletics in the first place?

Shut up about poorly written troll pieces that intentionally antagonize [insert overly sensitive fanbase]

Egypt could be, but they'd need a stable political system for at least a decade before FIFA would even consider them given everything that's happened. I can't even imagine a scenario where a country undergoes a revolution months before hosting the World Cup and cancels everything. Even then, they've had some nasty…

Honestly, I think FIFA will just dig in. Blatter's comments about the West not owning soccer is a preview to the defense they'll be using from now until 2022. Critiques of Qatar not having the infrastructure, the weather, or the human rights record will be rebuffed as ethnocentric and not allowing the World Cup to be…

Then again, wearing an opposing team's sweater next to a bunch of troglodyte Jersey fans is pretty much the safest place to be in Newark.

Yes, I'm sure there were some great stories

Disagree on Aaron Craft. He mugs the shit out of opposing players and gets away with it. He plays for an insufferable fanbase who claim they're all "huge basketball fans" when they never gave a shit about the team during the Jim O'Brien era. He gets totally undue credit for the Buckeyes' success and none of the blame…

True, but Utah is a unique breeding ground for this kind of stuff. Case in point:

"Nice try, but needs a few more y's in there."