Feel Good

I have a lot of good memories from the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, not that I was there. I had Tuesdays off back then, and so for two of the Tuesdays between June 12 and July 13 2014, I drank from noon until two in the morning. I danced the night away that night, among other things, and I like to think that, somehow, my moves were inspired by Colombia’s brilliant goal celebrations from that tournament. There is no way in actuality that they were, but hey, the spirit was there. 

Things got contaversial at Euro 2016 during its opening weekend. During the 90 minutes between the opening and closing whistles of matches were spectacular, but otherwise, when the teams go away and fans are left to their own devices, hooliganism reigned Saturday. 

The most notorious incidences so far have involved the actions of England and Russia fans surrounding the England vs. Russia group stage match this past Saturday. Some of those incidences are depicted in this video:

The stats alone behind Dimitri Payet’s performance against Romania are absurd: a game-winning goal, an assist, multiple highlight reel skills, and eight key passes. The context behind them elevate his performance too nothing short of legendary.

After making only 18 appearances for France prior to today, after being passed over time and time again again by the biggest clubs in the world, 29-year-old Dimitri Payet scored the game winning goal to give France a 2-1 victory over Romania in the opening match of Euro 2016, a tournament that France is hosting.

37-year-old Eidur Gudjohnsen will be making his international swan song for Iceland at Euro 2016. The attacking player from Reykjavik is certainly the most famous footballer to have come from Iceland. He scored 54 goals over six illustrious seasons with Chelsea. He spent three seasons with Barcelona, capturing a La Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions League treble in 2008-09.

Cristiano Ronaldo by almost all accounts is a great guy off the field. He is accused of being arrogant and petulant when he plays, and consequently is viewed as a bad example, or even a bad person, when in the real world he has a charitable streak to him. 

Cristiano came out in 2014 saying that he does not have any tattoos because he donates blood “very often,” and tattoos can prevent regular donations.

In the southeastern Roman neighborhood of Quadraro, Atletico Diritti play their home matches under the shadow of the Felice Aqueduct. The aqueduct was completed in 1586 by Pope Sixtus V, bringing water back to the hills of Rome, which had been waterless and sparsely inhabited since the sixth century.

By 1589, the aqueduct was filling no less than twenty-seven public fountains. As the aqueduct provided for the people of Rome, so Atletico Diritti hopes to provide for the migrants, refugees, prisoners and former prisoners in the area. 

The greatest story I saw in sports this weekend was not the amazing comeback by the Golden State Warriors who were down 3-1 in the NBA's western conference finals only to win the series 4-3. It was not the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500. It was not some of the masterful shots made by Novak Djokovic in the French Open. Instead it was an exhibition match between some blind soccer players who won over the crowd at the UEFA Champions festival.

It doesn’t get any more real than this. All those stories you hear about teams gathering together and rallying at the last moment are don't only live in dreams. It’s easy to forget that, but what you are about to see will drive that point home.

Have you ever felt like the world was stacked against you? Do you think that sometimes things are just not meant to happen? Have you ever travelled 3,170 miles in order to watch your favorite team play, only for a bomb scare to cause the match to be abandoned?

If you have, chances are your name is Moses, or you are delusional. 

When 11-year-old Lexi Walker took to the field at Rio Tinto stadium in 2013, home to Major League Soccer's Real Salt Lake, she was not the viral singing sensation she is today. This was before she covered Idina Menzel's "Let It Go" from the hit Disney movie Frozen. That video alone, released in 2014, has racked up over 75 million views on YouTube.