I am not a serious soccer fan. I really enjoy watching what I can of the World Cup every four years, and I like a little Premier League if I come across it in the meantime (as a Red Sox fan, I might now have a chance to adopt Liverpool as a favorite, but that's another story). My point is, I'm interested but not one of the people currently setting Twitter on fire with complaints that Qatar and Russia have won host city status in the latest competitions.

That said, one phrase from the ESPN article on the host decisions did get my attention. I'm sure you'll spot it:

FIFA's executive committee choose Qatar -- a nation smaller than Connecticut, which has promised to overcome 130-degree heat with air conditioned stadiums -- over the U.S., Australia, Japan and South Korea in a secret vote Thursday.

Air conditionedoutdoor stadiums? And large ones, at that? We'll have to keep our eye on that. I doubt massive heat stroke is the kind of PR that FIFA is after, but this sounds like no small task.

Well, to be fair, they have almost twelve years to figure it out. Maybe by then, Americans will actually like watching soccer not played by their children.

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