‘“The Justice Department’s announcement primarily cites deals between FIFA, sports marketing groups, and broadcast corporations for the television rights to air the World Cup and other international soccer tournaments. Dating back to 1991, the indictment alleges, those involved conspired to receive bribes from marketing firms in exchange for exclusive television contracts—to the cumulative tune of more than $150 million. As Attorney General Loretta Lynch stated, ‘It spans at least two generations of soccer officials who, as alleged, have abused their positions of trust to acquire millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks,” wrote K.M. McFarland, an author for WIRED.

That’s the basis of what is going on with FIFA. It’s usually a pretty serious issue when there is millions of dollars involved, especially in today’s world of sports.

“This is a federal case, and the indictment deals chiefly with alleged fraud and corruption in North and South America. Until now, FIFA has deflected widespread corruption allegations by finding and suspending scapegoats, rather than acknowledging any problems at an institutional level,” McFarland wrote.

Recently there have been speculations of more officials being involved with money laundering.

“FIFA is already facing investigations on several fronts. The U.S. Justice Department launched alarge-scale probe earlier this year, and charged several FIFA officials with bribery, fraud, and money laundering…The disciplinary arm of FIFA has already suspended three of its leading officials — including President Sepp Blatter — for 90 days,” Ivana Kottasova wrote.

FIFA is trying to work out the kinks in their corrupt organization. Only time will tell the fate of FIFA worldwide. But not only does this affect FIFA fans around the world; this also raises speculation on whether other organizations, such as the National Basketball Association (NBA), Major League Baseball (MLB) or National Football (NFL) have a “suspicious” or “dark” side to them. It has probably already been forgotten by now, but the NBA did in fact have a dilemma when the referees in the 2002 NBA Western Conference finals between the Sacramento Kings and the Los Angeles Lakers allegedly fixed the game. Click on this link for a more in-depth explanation. As the sports market continues to grow, we should probably expect to have more problems. Once you have money and fame, the next thing you should expect is scandal and shame.

The William Jewell College women’s soccer team celebrated senior night with a 3-0 victory over Saint Joseph’s college at Greene Stadium last Friday and then won their last home game of the season 1-0 over the University of Indianapolis Hounds last Sunday, closing out their home portion of the season. With the win, the Cardinals improved to a 6-6-3 overall and a 4-6-2 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC). The Cardinals travel to University of Wisconsin Parkside Friday, Oct. 23 to play the Rangers with kickoff set for 1:15 p.m.

Men’s Soccer

The WJC men’s soccer team celebrated senior night last Friday against Saint Joseph’s College but came out on the losing side of a 3-0 shutout. Jewell fell to 3-9-2 overall and 2-7-1 in GLVC play. They lost their last home game of the season last Sunday and fell 4-0 to University of Indianapolis Hounds. The Cardinals travel to University of Wisconsin Parkside Friday, Oct. 23 to play the Rangers with kickoff set for 3:30 p.m.

“Even with the recent losses that the team has suffered the team is still playing good soccer and everyone is trying as hard as we can. Some improvements that could help the team could be keeping possession of the ball more against our opponents and we could defend as a team better. We gave up to many goals in the last couple games. Another thing we can improve on is supporting each other more in the offensive attack. Numerous times we do not have any support for our forwards trying to score,” said Hunter Short, sophomore.

Volleyball

The Jewell volleyball team wrapped up the eighth annual Mizuno Midwest Regional Crossover with a 3-1 win against Malone University Saturday, Oct. 18. The win takes Jewell to 7-15 for this season and 2-1 in the tournament. Jewell will move back into GLVC play next weekend with a trip to St. Louis to play Missouri-St. Louis Friday at 7:00 p.m. followed by a game against Maryville Saturday at 3:00 p.m

“The crossover tournament went well. It was really fun. The team was really focused and played together well. Our attitude and effort were what held us together and kept us going. We play University of Missouri at St. Louis. We really need to pass well, take care of the easy plays and execute our ball,” said Jenna Rau, first-year.

Swimming

The Jewell swim teams achieved a GLVC win at Missouri-St. Louis Saturday, Oct. 18, and the women also beat Maryville University. Up next for the Cardinals is a trip to Illinois to compete against GLVC opponent Lewis University Friday, Oct. 23 at 5:00 p.m. followed by a non-conference matchup with Olivet Nazarene Saturday, Oct. 24 at noon.

Football

Kicker Brandon Womack delivered under pressure again for William Jewell College Saturday, kicking a career-long 52-yard field-goal with 1:02 remaining to give the Cardinals a 35-34 win at Southwest Baptist in Great Lakes Valley Conference football. The kick is also the longest in GLVC football history. The win is the third straight for Jewell and moves them to 3-4 overall, and 3-2 in the conference. The Cardinals host Truman State Saturday at 12:00 p.m.

Women’s Golf

Maryville University hosted the GLVC Women’s Conference preview at Annbriar Golf Course in Waterloo, Ill., this past weekend. The Cardinals held a second place finish with Courtney Wells, senior, and Payton Meeks, freshman, earning “All Tournament” honors. Jewell will finish their fall tournament season traveling to Nashville, Tenn., to play in the Trevecca Nazarene Fall invite, Oct. 26-27.

“We never stopped. We had a shaky start but the second half we put up a better fight. That’s one thing we need to continue to do, fight for each other. Our team is young but we are full of talent and we need to work on believing in each other and believing we are better than the other teams we face,” said McKenzie Kellogg, senior.

After having no shots on goal in the first half, Jewell was able to shoot seven in the second half, two on goal. However, none of the shots reached the back of the net.

Jade Gifford, senior, led the Cardinals with three shots followed by Sydney White, junior, with two. Hayley White, freshman, and Aspen Hawkins, sophomore, each chipped in one shot.

“As a team we had some very good moments of possession and chances to score. We need to work on finishing those chances and not allowing the other team to capitalize and score goals on our mistakes,” Hawkins said.

In her first start since an early season injury, Jewell goalie Alex Dressman, senior, allowed one goal and recorded three saves.

The Cardinals, despite the loss, are in high pursuit of their team goal: playoffs.

“Our goal is always to make playoffs, and we do this by taking it one game at a time. We can still reach it if we dig down deep and win these last home games and then transfer it over to win the last away games,” Kellogg said.

The Cardinals continue to keep their playoff hopes alive against USML this Friday Oct. 9.

“We have a big weekend ahead of us here at home, which will be a big game, as they are currently ranked in the top half of the conference. As long as we play well, I believe we have a great chance to upset UMSL and get a big conference win,” Hawkins said.

The Royals have a pretty good chance of continuing their winning habits. They have strong hitting, backed by consistent defense and solid pitching. The Royals are happy about the division title and possible home field advantage, but I personally guarantee that they are not even close to being satisfied.

The team and die-hard fans of Kansas City have their eyes set on a championship after watching Madison Bumgarner, aka “Mad Bum,” and the San Francisco Giants end the Royals’ cinderella season in game seven of the World Series last year. Luckily for them, the Giants have to win and hope that the Los Angeles Dodgers lose in order to make the playoffs. This is a slim chance, a 0.1 percent chance to be exact, which is rather heart breaking for myself as I am a fan of the defending champs. So with the Giants seemingly out of the picture, the Royals don’t have to worry about their kryptonite, Madison Bumgarner.

Some of the things the Royals might struggle with in the playoffs is the lack of power pinch hitting, hitting in general against left-handed pitching, and the lack of a true ace at pitching. But these weaknesses are very small ones at most. The fact is that this is a team full of all-stars across the board, like Lorenzo Cain, Eric Hosmer, Alex Gordon, Mike Moustakas and many more.

The Royals have played very well all season and I do believe that there’s a championship trophy waiting at the end of a very long and grueling journey, season or whatever you want to call it, and it says “Kansas City Royals…World Champs.” The opportunity is there, and they just have to go and take it. When they do get to that last series, or game, or perhaps inning, or maybe even a thrilling last out/at-bat, they have to win. And then finally Kansas City, with its drought wrenching sports teams, can be put at ease, and the best fans in all the land will finally get what they deserve and something to be proud of: a ring.

Photo courtesy of fox4kc.com