Opinion

Javier Hernandez has made quite the impression at Bayer Leverkusen.

With the grounds of Premier League teams silent this past week for the international break, it is a perfect time to take a breath and reflect on a crazy initial month of the season.  These are the top ten stories of the first month:

1. CITY, CITY, CITY!!!

The world found out who Anthony Martial was the way you or I found out about a movie like Sharknado.

The warm and salty air of Porto, Portugal welcomes travelers to one of the country's oldest cities. The city, located right next to the North Atlantic Ocean, is home to the Primeira club F.C. Porto. The Dragoes, as they are known, are one of Portugals most well-known soccer clubs. The club’s players and fans are always fighting tooth and nail for the Primeira championship against S.C. Benfica, one of their bitter rivals and the other character in the O’Classico derby.

It is hard to imagine that, in a transfer period that has seen a 19-year-old acquired for €80 million, Angel Di Maria somehow move to a better team, and Arsenal get the keeper that they always needed, that the winner of the 15/16 transfer window won’t play on a single professional pitch this year. He won’t even be in the technical area. As a matter of fact, he could theoretically go an entire year without stepping foot inside a stadium, and still do his job. It would be very hard to actually do that, but knowing the pedigree of this man, I wouldn’t put it beyond him.

Everybody loves a good homecoming story, especially when it involves the world’s favorite Italian bad boy, Mario Balotelli. Following a lackluster season at Liverpool, in which Balotelli scored just four goals in all competitions and just one in the Premier League, Balotelli is going back to AC Milan where he enjoyed much goalscoring success.

Manchester United advanced today to the group stage of the Champions League after spending a year in wayward pines. Wayne Rooney scored three goals and the Red Devils won 4-0. Great for them! That’s terrific. Way to go, fellas. Cheers. Good luck in Russia or Madrid or Israel in the next round.

La Liga started last weekend. It is a brand new 2015-16 season, but as Real Madrid played against Sporting Gijon it showed the same old problems of the preseason, and even the Carlo Ancelotti era: lack of goals.

You could say that the last great Real Madrid offensive show was in April 29, 2014 against Bayern Munich in the Champions League semifinal. Madrid scored four times against Bayern and eliminated them.

You can chase a dream in college. That, more than anything else, is what separates it from the rest of life. There are options, new people, and new opportunities. This cavalcade of possibilities is present in almost all aspects of college, but no where more so than athletics. You can be a champion; you can be the best in the world, even if that world is only made up of people  in the general age range of 18-22. 

Memphis Depay’s confidence has been evident ever since he had his first official press conference for Manchester United. He owned the podium that day. “We have to play for the trophies,” he said, like he had to get so many loafs of bread. And that’s not to say he came off as arrogant, quite the opposite: he alternated often between admitting he needed to work hard and listen to his manager.