ESPN writer takes all-expenses-paid trip to Qatar, loves Qatar... [View all]

[Blue_Tires]

All those problems you thought Qatar's World Cup faced—indentured servitude, bribery allegations, unplayable heat, nonexistent infrastructure—it turns out they can all be made to go away with a stay in a nice hotel and a photo op with Alan Shearer...

Phil Ball, a writer for ESPNFC, just got back from four delightful days in Doha, and he's a convert. The "witch hunt" against the nation's World Cup bid, he says, comes from an "anti-Qatar brigade" of journalists who haven't been there. Not like Phil! Phil's seen the real Qatar. On "an all-expenses paid trip." Expenses paid by whom? Phil doesn't say. But he attended the Aspire4Sport Conference, and the conference's principal sponsor is the Qatar 2022 World Cup Committee.

http://deadspin.com/espn-writer-takes-all-expenses-paid-trip-to-qatar-love-1469590906

ESPN scrubbed the original story, but it is archived here:
http://pdfcast.org/pdf/give-qatar-a-chance