Qatar - The Bristol Palin of the Sports World

Guess y'all better start learning how to pronounce "Qatar."  Last week, Qatar won the 2022 World Cup over a number of world powers, including its primary competition, the United States.  This tiny little country, smaller than the state of Connecticut, won the right to host one of the largest sporting events in the world, including the first World Cup ever in the Middle East. It's like the story of David and Goliath.  Or the Red Sox finally winning the World Series.  Or Bristol Palin making it to the finals of Dancing With the Stars.  Sadly, I hear the Tea Party voting bloc only goes so far, and Bristol didn't take the mirror ball trophy. The streets were wild on Thursday night.  If you have nothing better to do, you can view video at the bottom of the blog.  Come to think of it, if you have nothing better to do than read this blog, you should get a life.  The link is to a professional videotape of the street party on Friday.    My favorite video of the events, however, is one my limited technical skills won't allow me to post here.  It was shot from the back seat of a taxi while we were accidentally caught up in the revelry about 15 minutes after the announcement that Qatar had won. I can be heard chanting, "We're all gonna die!" over and over. It was pandemonium, pure and simple. While it is nice to see the little guy win, some might argue that in addition to its amazing national spirit, what fueled this underdog victory was the $50 billion Qatar pledged to the effort.  It will build numerous new stadiums, including one shaped like a seashell, and an entire subway system.   I'm sure lots of new megamalls are also in the works (sigh)...they've done indoor amusement parks and recreations of the Venice canals in the malls already, so it's hard to imagine what the next megamalls might be able to fit inside...maybe Wikileaks...I hear it's looking for a new home.  I think what cinched the World Cup for Qatar was its agreement to air condition the outdoors.  It will be around 105 degrees in June (maybe hotter) so air conditioning the outdoors here is a good idea. How, you might ask, can the Qataris air condition the outdoors?  As John Oliver so aptly put it on the Daily Show, "Because the Qataris are richer than God." So all in all, it was a pretty amazing week in the tiny emirate of Qatar, and being part of the celebration, I almost felt like a Qatari for a couple of seconds.  Until someone reminded me that I will be 67 when the games are played.  And that I hate soccer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZFm-BGRVJ8