Wednesday, January 12, 2011

What's Wrong with Qatar Part 2: What Will They Do?

Assuming one million people can find somewhere to stay in Qatar, we get to the real problem with Qatar: what are 1 million soccer hooligans going to do in a tee-totaling desert fairy-tale town in the middle of the summer.

#1 Qatar is hot. No seriously - the average temperature May to November is over 95 degrees farenheit. During the core normal world cup summer months, the AVERAGE is well over 100. Now, supposedly all of the stadiums are going to be refrigerated. But you cannot air-condition the whole country. Is the entire fan base going to spend their day in their hotel room?

#2 They might have to because Qatar doesn't have enough bars for them to drink at. Soccer fans drink. A lot. Qatar limits drinking to a few hotel bars. Let's not even discuss cultural taboos against non-married couples staying in the same hotel room...FIFA's president has already told gay people to stay away. Are the women all going to have to wear hijabs?

#3 If they can't drink...what will they do? What is there to do or see in Qatar? There are only so many falcons. It's not Qatar's fault that they have no national history. Qatar will have to build a network of ludicrous tourist attractions...or just hope everyone's cool with staying on siesta.

This is really the problem. The World Cup is a big party.