So what’s the clear response? Sure sounds to me like, “Sure, Assad, you can poison gas your own people with chemical weapons and expect a diplomatic message telling you to clear out your personnel and equipment before we offer up a meaningless gesture and drop missiles on a vacated target...”

“Boom goes the dynamite!”

You’d think 20 extra games would be a boon for an organization dedicated to wringing as much money as possible out of the sport...

The shift in what is a relatively clean format is a legitimate argument for maintaining 32. You are absolutely correct about the fact that 48 will be more cumbersome (though less so than the 40 that was also bandied about) regardless of whether you go 16x3 or 12x4 for the group stage.

The same reservations were voiced when the tournament went from 24 to 32 back in 1998. Then we got a Cinderella run from Croatia, and four years later your Burkina Faso scenario came to fruition... except that we learned France doesn’t always beat Senegal.

Jim Gray doesn’t lie...

This speaks as well about the nature of club development. Most soccer clubs still operate as dues-paying social organizations in which club grounds encompass not only a large soccer stadium but also surrounding facilities used on a daily basis by club members. The corporate franchise model is gaining popularity, but…

It really depends on the country. The long history of stadium development in both Europe and South America has involved a series of governments that have turned toward sport as propaganda projects. Perón in Argentina and Vargas in Brazil used stadium development to build popularity, and the same occurred under…

* “Fraternal Order”

Your argument would have far greater credence if it didn’t erroneously claim that Keri had actually taken “that entire premise without accreditation” rather than crediting Simmons in the column...

If you can’t tell the difference in flavor between lemon, lime, and orange candies, you probably should just stop eating fruit candy.

As soon as Stalin started advocating “socialism in one country,” he stopped being a communist by the tenets of the ideology. By nature, communism is a internationalist devolution of the state apparatus.

Every World Cup, dating back to 1930, has featured multiple players representing a country other than the one in which they were born. The “nation” has always been an ephemeral concept in sport, as has ethnic identity. The Soviet teams also always featured ethnically-heterogeneous rosters, as well, so this can hardly…

Jesse Owens and the University of Washington crew team that both won gold medals for the USA in 1936, totally the same ethnicity... Sorry, but ethnic purity is as much a myth of Olympic sports from the outset as the myth of amateurism or the myth of “clean” sport.

I recommend both places for a visit.

I grew up at Jackson Lake Lodge. Can’t disagree with you about the Tetons vs. Yellowstone. If you’ve got time, see both for sure, but GTNP is well worth it if you can only see one.

Elko is in Nevada.

It was 1993. Jerry Garcia WASN’T actually talking to me on the interwebs. Drugs are fun...

You’re obviously new to Deadspin if you think it is just sports...

Joe Gaetjens would like you to remember 1950, please.