How often in football have you seen ten men pull together after a red card and eke out a draw or even a win? It happens all the time -- I sometimes think it's even a disadvantage to the side with eleven still on the pitch! Remember how England played after Shrek got sent off against Portugal? They played their best footie of the tournament.
Don't bring elementary maths into football -- as I said, there are too many permutations and variables in the game, far more than in basketball or any other "controlled" sport. Look at the Germany-Ireland game yesterday -- a bad deflection and it was three points for Germany. You can't regulate that kind of thing, no matter how much you control the media. No doubt there is "organised crime" in the game -- where the body is, there will the vultures gather. I just can't see how that element is able to manipulate the game as extensively as you imply. It would take too many collaborators, and to be successful on a large scale it would require all the permutations such as deflections and mistimed tackles and mipoo pbuttes and early injuries to key players to be eliminated.
And if you agree with me about the media, then why insist that an investigation into organised crime in football should be media-led? Surely this is the job of the law? -- + His Holiness Pope Pompous XVIII
"This is all Blarney!" -- Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth I
