The Fix: Soccer and Organized Crime by Declan Hill

Driving here I was listening to NPR (otherwise it's pretty much countree music on the dial) and found the interview with this guy fascinating.

He alleges that world soccer is very much a rigged game and that there are some very powerful gangsters who have the ability to rig games, both club and national games - think 2006 World Cup.

This is big.

One quote from the interview stuck in my head - Declan was talking about there being an invisible curtain, and most people have no idea that it is there.

Once you cross it, you realize that the world is upside down, that the public officials who piously proclaim the evils of corruption are on the take, that the admired athletes are being paid money to throw games away, that what you perceive as reality is in fact a sham, an illusion.

The more I live, the older I get and the more I realize that there are two worlds out there - one for the 99% of the population, to keep us safe, docile and happy working our 9 to 5 (well, 7 to 9's in this economy), and the other the real, unsafe, strange and terrifying world with its own rules, customs and dangers.

Perhaps when people realize that this corruption, this system exists on the level of international sports, up to the World Cup level, then perhaps they will start question their reality around them - the politicians, the forces of "public good", the "public servants".

If you are (lucky?) enough to perceive it - to get across that "invisible curtain" - my advice to you is, be very careful and alert.

The rules just changed on you.

And me?

I am off to party with my local Congressman this friday; he will have hookers and coke (although it is meth country here, there are limits). It's his coming out party.

Have a nice day, folks.