It brings to mind Lewis Black's bit about government being in bed with business:

Without that detail, it's just a tone-deaf, fanboy piece (which might have led to a tip to someone to check out who paid for the trip). But they did the work for everybody! Just add water* and it's a conflict of interest!

Without that detail, it's just a tone-deaf, fanboy piece (which might have led to a tip to someone to check out who paid for the trip). But they did the work for everybody! Just add water* and it's a conflict of interest!

Always better to cover your bribes in a veil of secrecy.. who'd have guessed that people would perceive a lack of integrity when you are writing a report about someone who has given you a 5 figure luxury vacation? The nerve of some..

No, Phil, they did need to mention it. It's the same reason why politicians need to disclose their contributors- as long as we know who's on the take, it's ok to be on the take.

But you didn't need to accept the trip, Phil, and then write a gushing pseudo-story about the wondermous wonderful wonders(!) of the place. Looks like a draw, bud.

It turns out his father-in-law is an indentured servant in Qatar and he thinks the World Cup honors him.

The Metro, for which the ground has been dug, is scheduled to open around 2019 and will change the traffic snare overnight.

"Why bribe the officials if you know your sales pitch is the best?" asked the writer who was bribed by Qatar despite the quality of the sales pitch.

Of course, if she finds pleasure in the act, she is deemed a whore, and immediately stoned to death, which I'm sure Phil Ball can be bought into justifying.

Wait until you see Rick Reilly's hilarious companion piece entitled "Qatar? I Hardly Knew Her!"

I am surprised you can type while you have your fingers in your ears and saying "lalalalalalalalala"

you forgot:

This is what I come to Deadspin for.

This is a great, great article. It touches on almost all of the conflicting points. How do you deny a better life for someone who has a chance at playing in the NFL, especially if they came from a marginal part of society? How do you pass students who clearly don't deserve it? How can you excuse strong-arming…

The most influential piece for me, personally, regarding college football came from, of all people, James Michener. It's hard to find these days, but his (nonfiction, obviously) book "Sports in America" is mostly a nonstop screed against the profound unfairness of a CFB system that takes poor, uneducated kids, earns…

Yup. Even the shithead players, to some extent. There's absolutely no reason amateur sports should be paired with college other than an accident of history.

As educators, our hands are pretty tied in these things. We can report the issues to the academic affairs officers and our direct superiors, but (especially as doctoral students) that's as far as it can go. Naming names is out of the question, because federal laws protect the students.

Wow. I ended up feeling incredibly bad for almost every single party in this story. The faculty, the advisors, the players, damn near everyone. Well, except for the coaches and NCAA. Per usual.

That was a great read. Kudos.