2 Sports Things: Over It? (and) Qatar?

A) Over It?

Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert has stated repeatedly that he is over the defection of LeBron James to the Miami Heat. He's stated that he let it all out in the first twenty-four hours after LeBron's televised address about "taking his talents to South Beach." Within hours after that telecast things got ugly with Gilbert's scathing "Open Letter to Cavalier Fans", for which he was fined $100k by the commissioner.

So now there's a report that Gilbert has hired a midwestern law firm to investigate tampering between the Heat and James. Tampering, as a technical NBA infraction, is something that happens when a team contacts a player before the designated time. True tampering, when proven, usually results in a fine (ooh!) and/or a draft pick awarded to the jilted team. The word on the street is that it's not about the fine or the draft pick, but, for Gilbert, it's about embarrassing the Heat and the commissioner, David Stern.

When asked to comment on the story, Gilbert, in denying comment, replied, "I'm over it."

B) Qatar?

The US Soccer Federation, as well as most of the world, was shocked when the announcement over the host nation for the 2022 World Cup came out as Qatar. The tiny oil and natural gas rich country will be the first Middle East nation to host the world's largest tournament. The prospect of growing the sport and having the showcase event in the Middle East must have been very important.

That same idea, of growing the sport, must have played into the decision to name Russia host of the 2018 World Cup tournament, beating out heavily favored England. This, added with the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, should be a boon for Russia. Neither Russia nor any Middle Eastern country had hosted the tournament. This year's tournament in South Africa was the second one outside of Europe or the Americas, the first being 2002's Japan/Korea.

The US had the best presentation for the 2022, and, like England for 2018, were the favorites. England lost in the first round of voting, and the US made it to the last round, but came up short.

Qatar gained independence in 1971, is smaller than Connecticut, and has less people than Brooklyn (by a half-million). In the summer the scorching heat reaches 130 degrees, and, with the projections of global fan travel, the amount of fans coming to the small nation would double the population. They apparently have technology to air condition open air stadiums, which would be interesting and, at worst, an incredible waste of energy.

Extra energy resources won't be hard to come by in Qatar, though.

Congratulations to both Russia and Qatar.