You Think Baseball Has Problems
« Jocketty | Main | Next time someone says.... »I was listening to the news on the Deutsche Welle and I could tell there was something very bad going on in German soccer, but I don't know the German word for "game-fixing". From the San Francisco Chronicle:
The president of the German soccer federation says players could have been part of a game-fixing scandal involving a referee, a newspaper reported Friday, and FIFA wants the case resolved quickly with the World Cup just more than a year away... The scandal is the worst corruption case to hit Germany in more than 30 years. In 1971, 53 players from seven clubs received penalties ranging from fines to life bans. Two clubs, Arminia Bielefeld and Kickers Offenbach, were demoted and their presidents and coaches suspended.
While it apparently didn't affect any first division matches, Germany is arguably the top soccer power in Europe and probably will be a favorite to win the World Cup in 2006, so this isn't a soccer backwater. It's to MLB's credit that it's almost impossible imagine to something like this in baseball today, or for that matter in 1971. It's also an excellent reminder of why Pete Rose's crime was taken so seriously.
Posted by Rob at January 28, 2005 06:46 PMSay it ain't so, Dieter! Say it ain't so...
Posted by: Dan at January 28, 2005 08:42 PMThat's certainly not a verb I learned in my 6 years of school German.
Posted by: MO Boiler at January 29, 2005 10:13 PMNotwithstanding the incredible deception of the Black Sox, I suppose soccer is one of those games which is most easily influenced by the gamblers for lots of reasons (mysterious goal keeper blunders, incomprehensible offside rulings, highly skilled diving, penalties given for said diving, and so on).
I have long been exiled from my beloved redbirds living in Europe and Asia for over 20 years. To get some sport I have watched cricket, rugby and soccer without really being involved. However, it seems to me a funny strike zone, gold glove fielders dropping ordinary chances, an unbeatable closer who suddenly tosses tomatoes to home run hitters with men on...Do you really believe baseball is squeaky clean? And how about the series - the Cards smelled - almost like something coming out of morgue. Any comments on that?
Posted by: klcard at January 31, 2005 11:29 AMHmmm.....
Was the series fixed? There certainly is the motivation from MLB's standpoint: a storied franchise often denied makes good.
The Cardinals did look terrible.
But...
If the series was fixed you'd think it would have gone longer, to enrich the owners and to have the deciding game in Boston.
Posted by: josh at January 31, 2005 12:21 PM