Syriana wasn’t what I expected. Back when most people found out about new movies through Apple’s website, the trailer hit like a bomb.1 Based on the way it was presented, it appeared as though it was going to be an action thriller mixed with The American President, seemingly shot entirely on handicams. What I assumed going into the Angelika theater (for my first ever, of many, forays into the city to watch a movie) was pacing pushed to within an inch of its interspersed with Sorkin-esque speeches about the nature of self-determination and the “good” guys winning in the end over corrupt villains through the power of rhetoric.
It was not that.
While it was intense, the pace was deliberate and very intentional as the story jumped between a handful of intersecting storylines. The speeches were less of the “This is My President” and more “Fuck you FlipFlops”. And the “bad” guys definitely “won,”2 at least as much as you can in a game that never ends.
All of this was necessary, at least in order for the film to achieve what it was trying to, which was to the story of how corruption works, not a story about one of the times corruption failed temporarily. It needed to be less strident, or even particularly clear about its point of view, at least in terms of using the movie’s script to settle scores or tell stories about triumph. In order to succeed as a narrative, the film had to force viewers to sit in the tangled web that money and power create to trap us in cycles of frustration and fear, using those feelings to further entrench themselves in our every day lives for the purposes of profiteering.
Syriana not being what I expected is not the same as it being bad, as it was, and remains, one of the best studies of “how the world actually operates” ever put to film. Which is why I’ve thought about the movie so much over the last week. As corruption3 found its way into the USMNT’s run in the World Cup, Tim Blake Nelson’s speech to Jeffrey Wright on the streets of D.C., played over and over again in my head even before Belgium’s shellacking of the US happened on Monday evening turned its basic premise on its head in a literal sense5.
For some, the events surrounding Folarin Balogun’s rescinded red card sullied everything surrounding the tournament, from the choice of the US as one of the host nations to how legitimate any subsequent wins by the US would be in the wake of what happened. There were even folks who said it was the biggest scandal in the history of FIFA.4
Of course, for those of us born any day before the one that immediately preceded the original overturning of the red card suspension, the response largely fell into two camps: Those who were unhappy about what happened as soon as it came out that political interference was involved in any point of the process and those who saw it as an imperfect way to right a categorical wrong6. Implicit in these reactions was the idea that corruption was just part of the game within the game. Especially the kind of quasi-corruption that manifests itself through the explicit favoritism towards key organizations and players7 which have become part and parcel of the wheeling and dealing involved.
Which is, in fact, where most of the corruption involving athletics comes from. Messing with the results on the ground themselves before, during or after the game is, for many, a red line that enters us into the dreaded “integrity of the game” conversations that can eat a sport from the inside out. It’s not unheard of, of course, but the kind of corruption that makes most of that kind of wet work unnecessary happens long before anyone laces up a single boot or touches a blade of grass.
As reported at “Play The Game,” an investigation by the publication into the distribution of over 55 million dollars earmarked for development has exposed a fund which been mismanaged almost intentionally to create a system, as one insider put it, “Designed to enhance certain countries, and make the others survive just enough that they don’t die.”
These kinds of misappropriations and uneven allocations of funds by governing bodies of the sport are much more commonplace than even what happened at this year’s T20 World Cup with Bangladesh being pushed out of the tournament for voicing concerns about the team’s security in one of the host countries. In large part because they are easier to pull off without scrutiny.
The imbalance of power between organizations within sports also allows the largest ones to make decisions like the England (and Wales) Cricket Board’s to bar a Euro cricket tournament from happening, at least on English/Welsh soil (and presumably involving any English players).
The reasons behind doing so are obvious on the part of the ECB8: With what is essentially monopoly power over the game in not just their own neighborhood, but the region at larger, they can exercise control over players under their jurisdiction much easier than they would with a more robust set of domestic leagues a short flight (or somewhat lengthy train ride) away without risking alienating fans who have nowhere else to go.
Because, while, as one International Cricket Council9 member put it, England should be able to recognize that a “rising tide lift all boats,”; they are also acutely aware that being the only one floating amongst the debris makes things even easier. Which, ultimately, is the lesson when it comes to corruption, especially in something as relatively meritocratic as sports:
Corruption isn’t why we win, it’s how the already entrenched rich and powerful make sure everyone else loses.
PROGRAMMING NOTES
You may have noticed that two things in recent weeks:
We have not been running our streaming schedules recently, and that’s because everyone on earth has been watching the World Cup, even us. The feature will be returning in a slightly revamped format after the World Cup, so look out for it when it comes back around.
We have been running these on Thursday. This is something that has been working out slightly better for us in terms of scheduling and, as it stands now, will continue going forward. HOWEVER, this may change back to Wednesday at some point if it seems as though things aren’t getting the same traction as they were on that day.
We also have tentative plans to start recording a regular podcast in the next few weeks, though it will definitely be after the World Cup ends and potentially not coming out until August. We will let you know if/when that comes to fruition, as we’ve been down this road before and know that anything beyond “we’re working on it” be dragons.
A carefully curated list of what Brad’s going to be watching (and not watching… maybe, he has a lot of screens at his disposal) through next Wednesday.
Thursday, July 9th
SMASH
🏏🌐
T20 International: England 🏴 v. India 🇮🇳
Willow | 12:30 ET
A little midday cricket action sees England and India face-off in the 4th T20 match in the series. England is currently up 2-0 in the series after the first match of the series was rained out. India has been playing shockingly poorly for a team that is the defending T20 World Champions, so let’s see if they can turn it around and win the last two matches of this series.PASS:
🥎🇺🇸
Professional Softball League: KC Diamonds v. New York Rise
Prime Video | 19:00 ET
I am actually just coming across this league now - and I was actually intrigued when I saw there was a New York based team. Unfortunately, they seem to be hot garbage and in last place in the league. I am also passing on this since the amount of games played by each team is wildly inconsistent. KC has played 19 games, whereas New York has only played five (and Chattanooga has somehow only played three). I don’t get it.
Friday, July 10th
SMASH
🥍
Premier Lacrosse League: Utah Archers v. New York Atlas
ESPN2/ESPN+ | 21:00 ET
The PLL regular season resumes after last week’s All Star break. With two games scheduled for Friday and two more on Saturday, things will really pick up in the second half of the season. This game gets the nod simply because it is on ESPN2 and you can definitely ask a bartender to put this on without getting any confused looks at all.PASS
⚽️🇰🇷🥈
K-League 2: Cheonan City v. Gimhae FC 2008
tv.kleague.com | 06:30 ET
We are starting to see the resumption of most spring-to-fall domestic soccer leagues at the tailend of the World Cup, and despite the early start time (which I am a huge sucker for), I will have to give this game a pass. I do watch my fair share of matches from South Korea during the year, however I much prefer that they be on between the hours of midnight and 04:00 ET.
Saturday, July 11th
SMASH
🏏🇺🇸
Major League Cricket: Texas Super Kings v. Washington Freedom
Willow | 16:30 ET
The final day of the regular season ends with two great matches. First up we have a rematch of last season’s championship game and one of the best rivalries in MLC. Considering how tight the league currently is, this game could mean everything or nothing. Let’s not forget that similar to almost all T20 leagues, the MLC uses the Page playoff format. The top two teams in the regular season will have a second chance in the opening round, so 2nd place versus 3rd place actually makes a big difference.PASS
⚽️🏴🥉
Scottish League Cup: Stirling Albion v. Dundee United
Paramount+ | 12:30 ET
One of the first domestic European matches of the season and it features Stirling Albion of the Scottish fourth division hosting top division side Dundee United in the Scottish League Cup. This is the third most important domestic tournament in Scotland. Under normal circumstances I would absolutely watch this, but with a few other soccer games on the schedule today, I’ll have to give this a pass
Sunday, July 12th
SMASH
🚺⚽️🇺🇸
National Women’s Soccer League: Seattle Reign v. Portland Thorns
ESPN/ESPN+ | 16:00
The NWSL season continues as one of the strongest city rivalries in US soccer takes place between 2nd-place Portland and 11th-place Seattle. We have quite a tight race for the 8th and final playoff spot. With only about 40% of the regular season completed, Seattle cannot risk losing pace with the other teams battling it out. A home win against their biggest rival will also give them an added boost.PASS
🏈🇪🇺
European Football Alliance: Munich Ravens 🇩🇪 v. Frankfurt Galaxy 🇩🇪
YouTube | 07:00
I hope you didn’t forget about the European Football Alliance, because I sure didn’t! As always the league is streaming their games for free on YouTube. Although we have an all-German match up in this game, I’ll have to give this a pass. Something just seems off about watching German teams play American football on one of the few days without any World Cup matches.
Monday, July 13th
SMASH
🏏🌐🏆
T20 World Cup European Qualifier: Denmark 🇩🇰 v. Hungary 🇭🇺
ICC.TV | 04:30 ET
This honestly sounds more like a World Cup qualifying match than a cricket match, however I’m a sucker for early round qualifying matches for ANY sport’s World Cup. This just so happens to be for the great summer sport ever. Don’t focus too much on the early start and enjoy the fact that this match is likely being played in a public park somewherePASS
⚾️🏟️
MLB Home Run Derby
Netflix | 20:00 ET
It is always a struggle for me to watch this damn thing. If I was out at a bar somewhere and it was on, I’d probably follow along. However since they decided to move this over to Netflix, for some reason, I will probably forget that this is even on at all.
Tuesday, July 14th
SMASH
⚽️🇪🇺🏆
UEFA Champions League 1st Qualifying Round: Györi ETO v. Vikingur Reykjavik
ESPN+ | 13:00 ET
In a late addition last week, ESPN has picked up a few matches from the early qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League. I promise we will only have this tournament listed in July (and maybe August) - QUALIFYING ROUNDS ONLY. With Vikingur Reykjavik scoring a stoppage time goal to win the first leg 1-0, there is still everything to play for in Hungary. Given that the World Cup semifinal doesn’t start until 15:00 ET today, this is the perfect lead up. This may also be the only opportunity you have to ever watch these teams play anyway.PASS
🏏📆
One Day International: England 🏴v. India 🇮🇳
Willow | 06:00 ET
So the T20 matches in the series are in the rear view mirror and we now have the first of three ODI matches between England and India. Although I likely will watch this once I wake up, I won’t go out of my way to wake up early and watch. Especially since the second match of this series on July 16th starts two hours later at 08:00 ET.
Wednesday, July 15th
SMASH
🏏🇺🇸
MLC: Playoff Qualifier
Willow | 17:30 ET
Remember how I mentioned the MLC using the Page playoff format above? Well this is where we get to see it in action. The opening match of the MLC playoffs will see the #1 seed face the #2 seed. The winner of this match goes straight to the championship match. The loser will face the winner of the Eliminator match (#3 seed versus #4 seed - to be played immediately after this game) in a second chance match - the winner of which will be the second team in the Final.PASS
🏆📺
Award Show: 2026 ESPYs
ABC | 20:00 ET
Today is infamous for the lack of sports that are on TV - hence why it has become the day for the annual ESPY Awards. However if the MLC playoffs aren’t for you, maybe just take a day off from watching sports and go read a book or something. Nah I’m just kidding - books are for nerds.
1 Pun intended.
2 In fact, even presupposing that there were “good guys”, none of them came out better than they were when they entered the story.
3 Or at the very least, a perception of corrupt acts being perpetrated.
4 Because apparently “using slave labor to build your stadiums” doesn’t qualify as a scandal?
5 At least for one night.
6 For this camp, the wrongness of the decision was twofold: that the foul itself didn’t warrant a red card to begin with, and even if it had, the ref’s choice to use VAR to come to that decision was a direct violation of both the literal and metaphorical purposes of the technology.
7 Like Cristiano Ronaldo’s rescinded red card from qualifying allowing him to play in all of Portugal’s group stage games,
8 Who are hiding behind an imagined reaction by local teams to international tournaments being held during the cricket summer season, despite literally hosting a World Cup final last week
9 Which it should be said, has been pushing the ECB to take a proactive role in expanding the European market, even if they are doing so for not entirely altruistic reasons.