A man of love, compassion, empathy & integrity. I miss him everyday. I will always be proud that i volunteered to bring ❤️ & Change to the 🌎 https://t.co/2q5et6qnfh
🚨🇦🇷 Lionel Messi was asked which country he dreams of facing in his final FIFA World Cup after scoring a stunning brace in Argentina’s 2-0 victory over Austria:
🎙️ Reporter: “Leo, after your brilliant performance today, if you could choose one country to face before the end of your World Cup journey, who would it be?”
🗣️ Messi: “Portugal. Without a doubt, Portugal.
Not because it would be easy, actually the opposite. They have a fantastic team, world-class players, and they are always competitive. But for me, it would be special for another reason.
I have shared this era with Cristiano Ronaldo for almost two decades. We have pushed each other, competed against each other, and experienced so many incredible moments in football. Yet somehow, we have never faced each other on the biggest stage of all — the World Cup.
I think football fans around the world would love to see it, and honestly, I would too. Not because of the rivalry people always talk about, but because of the respect that exists between us after so many years.
When you spend your entire career being compared to one player, you understand the greatness of that player better than most people. Cristiano has had an extraordinary career, and sharing the pitch with him at a World Cup would be something very special.
If this is my last World Cup, then facing Portugal and Cristiano would be a beautiful way to close a chapter. Two players who defined an era, meeting on the biggest football stage in the world. That is something every football lover would remember forever.”
🎙️ Reporter: “So Portugal is your dream opponent?”
🗣️ Messi: “Yes. Portugal. Because some moments are bigger than football, and that would be one of them.”
{@beinsport}
The Lessons I Learned from My Dad
I am not the man my father is.
I am trying. Some days closer. Some days farther.
He never sat me down and explained these lessons. He lived them. I’m still learning them.
Show up.
The kitchen table. The hospital room. The funeral. The picket line. The call from the son who won’t answer.
Show up.
Most days that’s the whole job.
My whole life I watched him do it. Not for cameras. Not for headlines. Not because there was something in it for him. He showed up because someone needed him.
I learned that grief doesn’t make you special.
My father buried a wife and daughter. He buried a son. Yet he never treated grief as a claim on other people’s sympathy. Instead, it made him notice theirs.
A mother who lost a child. A father sitting beside a hospital bed. A kid scared about what comes next. A son who lost his mother, his sister, his brother.
He always noticed.
I learned that power is not the point.
The people who chase power eventually confuse the office with themselves.
My father never did.
Whether he was a county councilman, a senator, vice president, or president, he was the same man.
The title changed.
He didn’t.
I learned that family comes first.
The train from Wilmington wasn’t symbolism.
It was every night.
He read to us. Showed up to games. Sat through hospital rooms. Waited up for children who were lost.
And when the day came that the country and the family could not both have him at full strength, he chose family. He relinquished the last chapter of how he wanted to be remembered. And he never complained about it.
Most of all, I learned that love is not soft.
Love is discipline.
Love is showing up at one in the morning when nobody is watching.
Love is answering the phone.
Love is staying.
Love is getting back up after life knocks you down and doing it all again tomorrow.
That love saved my life.
I’ve failed at many of these lessons, sometimes in very public ways.
He loved me anyway.
That’s the last lesson.
I am not trying to become my father.
I am trying to carry what he gave me.
And if I can do that, even imperfectly, that will be enough.
Happy Father’s Day, Dad. I love you.
Barack: You told me all those years ago that you couldn’t promise me the world, but you could promise me an interesting life. Of course, you outdid yourself and managed to give me both.
Eight years in the crucible, and not once did you melt from the heat. Not once did you let it harden you. Instead, you used it to reveal your truest essence: your stubborn optimism and unflinching courage, your dazzling brilliance and unpretentious decency, your ferocious work ethic and absolutely unshakable moral fiber.
During the Dodgers postseason run, Clayton Kershaw opened his home to Jack Dreyer and Emmet Sheehan so they wouldn’t have to stay in a hotel, while his wife Ellen and their four children returned to Texas for the beginning of the school year.
During this time, the three built a real connection off the field.
"Over a handful of nights out by the beach and evenings spent by the fire pit, Kershaw connected with teammates a decade his junior. They talked about life as much as they did baseball."
Dreyer said it felt "surreal" having these moments and living with Kershaw.
Sheehan admired the way Kershaw treated them saying: "He treated you like a teammate and like a peer and not like a little kid, which he could have.”
That’s what a championship environment looks like.
Clayton Kershaw has been removed from Team USA’s roster for RP Jeff Hoffman - marking the end of his professional baseball career.
Thank you, Kersh, for all the memories! 💙