Feel Good

What we know and don’t know can influence us all, it can change our perceptions and then change our opinions. That’s the kind of change Brenda Perez and the Spanish television show El Hormiguero had in mind when they dressed up Perez, a 21-year-old professional footballer, as a man and then set her loose in a men’s amateur match. They are smart, because few things alter your opinion more than seeing a young woman school a men’s team. 

Escaping the police is a fantasy that a lot of people have. They want to feel the adrenaline rush of being chased, of running as hard as they can, of not knowing if they’ll be able to stop, and getting away with it. Eventually, most people grow out of such a fantasy, but I have a feeling this young fan escaping security isn’t one of those people. 

He was an attendee at a recent Lokomotiv Moscow vs Besiktas match in the Russian top flight, and he pulled off one of the more resourceful escapes we’ve ever seen caught on camera.

We’ve all watched our favorite players clambering down the stairs of the team bus looking relaxed and prepared, the very visage of concentration.

Making their way into the bowels of the stadium to make their final preparations before the match, there’s always one constant in their appearance: headphones.

The staple of the modern athlete, these hulking contraptions, along with a carefully crafted pre-game soccer playlist, blot out any external noise, allowing our heroes to stay focused on the task at hand. 

As William Shakespeare said, some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. Or, in the case of this midfield game winner from amateur Dutch side VV Capelle against FC Dordrecht in the Dutch Cup, some steal greatness from a pit of mediocrity and exhaustion. 

“Achieve” just doesn’t have the same ring to it. 

Cristianinho, as Ronaldo’s cute son is called, is just about one of the most adorable kids in the world. And if you are susceptible to that kind of thing, you are going to want to sit down when watching this video. It makes this father and son relationship look like a bromance made in heaven. We present, the Ronaldo Bromance. 

It’s hard to not believe Wesley Hall when he talks. In his recent interview with the BBC concerning the Manchester Angels — a homeless activist group he leads — being granted permission to squat in a building by Gary Neville, he cuts a contrasting figure to the other homeless men that preceed him. They, as well-meaning and nice as they seem, cannot match Hall’s obvious wit and conviction. 

Christian "Chucho" Benitez left us too soon. On July 13, 2013 he entered a hospital in Doha, Qatar with abdominal pains. He never left.

We will probably never know what happened in that hospital, and his cause of death has been disputed.

What is not in dispute is that Chucho Benitez was a great player. He played the game with a joy that is rarely seen, exuding an infectious energy all around the pitch. 

More than a buzzer beater, more than a last second touchdown, more than a walk-off home run, a last second goal absolutely stuns you more than anything else in sports. Real soccer fans will understand how unbelievably difficult it is to score. The factors that have to align, the luck that has to be present to make a last second strike ring true is enough to make a atheist drop to his knees and look up to the skies with tears in his eyes. The crowd gets it; the players get it; the coaches get it as they collapse into each others arms: last minute goals make life worth living.