Soccer's Joseph "Sepp" Blatter: Controversy and Accomplishment

I've been following professional soccer in earnest ever since the Men's World Cup games last summer.  I discovered in the process that the globe is covered with leagues upon leagues...just about every place has at least one pro soccer league.  And the countries all seem to be represented by national teams as well.  After seeing how incredibly popular soccer is in England and how more popular it is becoming here in the United States, it is clear to me, without knowing who is in charge, that they must be doing quite a few things right.  The organization FIFA has authority over the professional sport of soccer and, since the late 1990s has had as its president a Swiss watchmaker named Joseph "Sepp" Blatter.  Blatter, it is reported, along with his predecessor, have often been accused of bias against the more industrialized countries of the West in favor of third world soccer development.  And he does seem to have enormous support among the myriad countries comprising Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Oceania.  That support enabled him to withstand a formidable challenge to a fifth term as president during the election held just last week...amid a severe scandal involving many high-ranking FIFA officers, accused of seeking and accepting massive bribes by countries wanting to be picked as World Cup hosts...most particularly Qatar, which won the honor for 2022 over its chief competitor, the United States...

Blatter was able to defeat his opponent, a Jordanian prince, by mustering up enough third world support to get a 133-73 majority on the first ballot.  Before the second ballot (candidates must get a two thirds majority to win on the first ballot), the opponent withdrew, handing Sepp, as he is commonly called, the election and a fifth term.  He immediately began by walking up to the podium and giving a condescending and arrogant victory speech, even once saying, "I am now the president of everybody".  Even though I had never heard of the man before this election last week, he irked me a lot and I felt defensive about the U.S. and England, which he seemed to have issues with.  And then, to everyone's surprise, just a couple of days ago Sepp Blatter held a press conference in which he announced his resignation...of course he has his own hand-picked successor (election pending), just as he himself was "picked" years before...I assume,  to continue his agenda...

I don't know how deeply, if at all, Joseph Blatter is involved in the FIFA scandal, which the FBI is now investigating.  Who knows at this point...I reserve judgement...except that he doesn't sound as if he thinks it is that important. It is that callousness that I object to, but after looking back on things, I have to reconsider (at least a little) my earlier objections to Blatter.  Sure, he's obviously an egomaniac, full of himself and his position.  He treats other people representing the various countries like little children, and it doesn't help that some of them grovel at his feet.  My personal dislike of the man having been said, however, I have to note that soccer has exploded in popularity under his tenure, not just worldwide but also here in America, where we have a well-established tier of professional leagues.  And also under Sepp Blatter's presidency, women's soccer has taken off as well: this summer we'll be able to watch as the favored U.S. women's soccer team goes for another FIFA World Cup championship.  But finally, it is I as an individual who discovered how much fun it really is to watch soccer, at least as it is played with a high level of skill in the premier leagues.  And since he's been the dude in charge of things, in some way Blatter deserves credit for all this...