Thanks to a heads up from Brooks at Dirty Tackle, as well as the devil-spawn McDonalds I ate yesterday finally making its way out of my system, I'm ready to comment on the news that our Esteemed Leader, the President of the United States, has personally contacted Sepp Blatter regarding the U.S. bid for the 2018 World Cup.

Obama's letter is sweetness and light, a romantic missive about the world's game that should help the American cause.

Still, I don't think a letter from the President, no matter how popular he may be around the world (which I don't really have a sense of at this point; he's already taken a few hits in this country), will make much of a difference.

It's an accepted fact that Blatter and FIFA bow down to the almighty dollar (or pound, or euro, or whatever) first and foremost; the U.S. bid should already be the strongest on that front, and Obama's support for it is simply window dressing.

Nothing wrong with it, of course, and it certainly can't hurt. Give Obama credit for taking the time to write the letter (or having it written for him).

I did enjoy this:

"As a child, I played soccer on a dirt road in Jakarta, and the game brought the children of my neighbourhood together."

There's certainly never been another president who could claim to have played the game on any dirt road, much less one in Jakarta.

I just noticed the spelling of "neighbourhood". Hmm...wonder if The Guardian changed that.
Story in The Guardian

There's not really a good place for this, so let me get it out here. I mentioned the McDonalds I ate yesterday, and while it tasted great, it knocked me on my ass for the remainder of the day. A horrible stomach ache was followed by eleven hours of sleep, and it's all the stupid golden arches fault. Because of the distress I was in I didn't get to a lot of things I wanted to post here, not the least of which was the next team in the USL-1 Project. I hope to get to a lot of it today, so check back frequently.