The Mexican national team is involved in another scandal, but this time, it's no accident. This time, the scandal comes from the choice to serve pure, fetish-driven desire.
I'll tell you why - straight, to the point, bluntly. René Romano style ... Because this time, nobody can complain about contaminated meat.
Or can they?
This time, there's no hiding behind retests or the indecisiveness and sympathies of CONCACAF, FIFA and CONMEBOL. Not even the association of Ecuadorian prostitutes will protect El Tri on this one. At every point of a recent history littered with scandal, the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) finds an excuse - something to hide behind.
Unfortunately for them, it's impossible to hide eight soccer players behind a group of prostitutes.
But equally unfortunate for us, nobody's going to hold them accountable. They may not have a ready excuse for this scandal, but they're still going to get away with it.
Know it. Accept it.
All México needs to do - all the FMF is going to do - is calm enraged pride, downplay the sense of anarchy and show everybody they're in control, even if that control is over something that stinks.
But they're not getting away totally free on this one. Over a third of the team is suspended, and ask a Mexican fan. They'll tell you these players shouldn't be allowed to wear the Tricolor.
Gio dos Santos may have Mexican hearts, but right now, Jonathan has their hate.
That feeling's going to go away with time, but the Mexican federation and its players have suffered yet another setback of mentality. They discovered that yes, there are certain rules, guidelines and expectations that they can't avoid. The expectations of their people and the world can't be ignored.
But for the last 23 years, those expectations have been disregarded. The last time the FMF was meaningfully punished was 1988, after they arrogantly thought they could get away with playing over-age players in a youth tournament. Now the cachirules scandal is the answer to the question "Why didn't Mexico make it to the 1990 World Cup?" Because you thought you could cheat!
Even though México has this reputation as being big dogs in this part of the world, a lot of people still forget about cachirules. That's where money, power and influence help. If you have enough of those things, you can convince anybody that you've built an organization on morality and common sense. Once people believe that lie - believe that you stand on firm ethical footing - you can convince your fans that everything is fine.
But how ethical is it to deceive your fans with lies?
Or how ethical is it to continue to condone a drug culture within the team? Go back to 1999 in Paraguay, when Paul Cesar "Tilon" Chaves and Raul Rodrigo tested positive for anabolic steroids. Or the 2005 Confederations Cup, where Aarón Galindo and Salvador Carmona tested positive (again, for steriods). And of course, there's the 2011 Gold Cup.
Or maybe we're just talking about a long and notorious history of tainted meat.
And now the 2011 Copa América, a scandal that's too much like last year's World Cup, when players incurred fines for excessive partying and drinking during the tournament's opening round. Only this time, the scandal involves youth players. It involves prostitutes. It involves proof that this problem affects anybody that comes into the system - even kids.
The only commonality in all this is the federation.
It's times like these when their lie is revealed, when staff holding open the doors to prostitutes shows the fedferation's part. But life is lived by other's rules - not your own. As these lies see more of the light of day, even the powerful that shape perception must accept that there are certain laws of life that apply to all of us.
And proof of this is the moment when your peers turn their backs on you. When other people who are corrupt won't defend you, you become the worst of the worst.
And so it is, mere weeks after five players failed drug tests in the lead up to the Gold Cup - when the soccer world was still climbing out of the shadow cast by Sepp Blatter - that the FIFA president gave his thoughts on the latest controversy to ESPN Deportes:
"There were more affected, apart from those five," said Blatter, commenting on the latest troubles.
Even he can see the scope of all this.
This is something that the FMF will try to handle in house, in the same way it handles all its scandals; however, it's another stain on federation, a team, a fan base, and a football culture. It's a stain that comes at a terrible time for an organization already light on morals and ethics.
And at a point when the world soccer is still acting like a mafia, with presidents and world governing bodies being bought, the rest of us have to be impartial and inform. But organizations like FIFA and the FMF should remember that we're not here to be chastised, punished, and pushed around. Some of us are here to report.
For now, Israel Jiménez, Néstor Vidrio, Jonathan dos Santos, Marco Fabián, Javier Cortez, Néstor Calderón, Jorge Cabrera and David Hernandez were suspended for six months for violating El Tri's internal rules. Each player will be fined 50,000 pesos and be unable to participate in the Pan American Games.
And while this fiasco is being resolved - time which will allow them to pander and replace, as they did at the Gold Cup - we can hope that a new clarity surfaces, one which will allow for justice; or, at least a boost in leadership from CONCAFAF and a move away from foul to fair play.
Until next time.
René Romano is the editor of FOXDeportes.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @reneromanosport.
