With the World Cup approaching I have little doubt that folk who know little about football will start chuntering about The Beautiful Game. These people, often North Americans, know little about football. It is game but it is seldom beautiful. In fact, I'm not sure it is ever beautiful. I think part of the problem is that most North Americans have never played it. That puzzles me to extent because it's been played in Canada for years. Edmonton Scottish FC once fielded actual Scots and some of them were pretty good players. I know one old Scottish guy who would have had the chance to turn professional if he hadn't emigrated to Canada. Now the World Cup will soon be being played in Canada, the USA and Mexico. But that's more about trying to create a lucrative professional sports income stream than any actual love or understanding of football on the part of the promoters. One look at how visiting fans are going to be ripped off tells you more than you want to know. In the USA the price of a bus ticket to get to the game has been jacked for $3 to something like $100. And it turns out that daytime temperatures at some of grounds are expected to be dangerously high for both players and fans. It's all about the money stupid. Especially if you’re stupid enough to think it's The Beautiful Game.