My absolute last post on the bid process: Mr. Blatter, here is a better way of understanding the nature of the complaints, an understanding you should have sought before accusing others of racism and being sore-losers. My complaints and most others are not fueled by racism or bigotry, they aren't about British or American arrogance, they are not even about the ability of the '18 and '22 winners to hold an exciting Cup. No, Mr. Blatter, the complaints are about the dark art of your PROCESS. The lack of clear criteria and more transparency in the selection invites rebellion. Look at it this way: we are all football players, coaches, or fans, right? so everyone knows when we are at a match it will be conducted according to FIFA laws of the game, and we have a referee and linesmen who are expected to be arms-length, objective, and impartial arbiters of these laws. Some fans may bitch about a call, but we have ALL bought into the system of the match. So I ask, why can't FIFA govern itself more like it governs a match? Apply standards to FIFA processes like the laws of the game and officiating standards of conduct that WE ALL readily accept worldwide? Last night, I had a dream I was playing in a tournament and Mr. Blatter was referee. Our team thought the victor would be based on points, another team thought it would be based on goals scored, and another thought it would be based on fewest goals against. At the end of the set of matches, Mr. Blatter came on the field, pulled out his little, secret referee scratch pad, and announced a winner based on a formula that only a fourth team had guessed correctly. But all the players just shrugged, joined hands, and walked off the field singing kumbayah. Who needs to know those stupid laws of the game, anyway, we should just trust whatever you say, right?

Mr. Herbert, good comments. (I am indeed glad that my dreams have never included that fat man from Switzerland.) FIFA establishes no bid rules and that is exactly what Seppi wants. Hard to believe that in the "days of transparency" FIFA can so easily engage in massive fraud. As for Seppi's comments about "I really sense in some reactions a bit of the arrogance of the western world of Christian background," well, I am aghast. How does a man in Switzerland with World NGOs in Lausanne, Geneva, Bern, and even right there in Zurich not know that Christianity is not a "western" thing? It is on all continents; it is the world faith. It would be even more present in places like Russia were it not the official policy of eradication that took place in 73 years of USSR communism. I could say more, but I'd refer all to one of many excellent sources, the Nobel Prize winning Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Hi s books should be required reading . And Christians would be ever more present and thriving in the Middle East were they not violently attacked on a regular basis in Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt. Saudi Arabia does not permit the faith nor does it permit a church. Articles like the very well done piece in National Geographic, the cover story for June 2009, outline the Christian exodus from the Arab world over the past 1400 years. Most all of it an unwilling exodus. No, fat man: The ire expressed worldwide since last Thursday is not arrogance. And, yes, the English are complaining, Mr. Blatter. Rightly so. As are the Japanese, Koreans, Australians, Spanish, Portuguese, Belgians, Dutch, and Americans - most people around the globe who don't envision spending hard earned paychecks to visit dictatorships (where streets are unsafe, probably still will be in 2018) and places where heatstroke & heat exhaustion are not just concerns for the players. Has anyone asked for a candid opinion from Germany's Trainer Joegi Loew on Qatar 2022? It is rather certain he will not still be at the helm of the DFB/German squad at that time, thus he'll express real candor. He would clearly state how inane the idea of dynamic endurance sport is at 45-plus degrees centigrade with 80% humidity. FIFA, you did not learn from Mexico 1986. That was a travesty; it was unplayable conditions for SPORT. Or parts of the USA in 1994 (Orlando, Dallas, RFK) or parts of Japan, South Korea 2002. Why? Because for FIFA it is not about sport; it is about your personal gain. (e.g. the necessary votes next spring so that Blatter remains FIFA Chief, not to mention more Suisse Francs for the ole unnumbered account(s).) And that gives EVERYONE the right, nay duty, to complain.

Please, Soccer America staff, combine with your journalism colleagues at Kicker, Sport Bild, 11Freunde, World Soccer, FourFourTwo, WSC, Marca, Don Balon, As, Gazetta della Sport, France Football, and L'Equipe. Be the catalyst. Cajole & lead the many national federations (Can we call it the "coalition of the willing?") for a wholescale DEPARTURE from the routinely bizarre & corrupt decisions of FIFA. Who needs FIFA to host a world-level men's sporting competition? Brasil 2014 can be the last one we engage in as an adult men's competition. Create the new world tournament, and "they will come." Gladly.