Chill Sports

For many years, there was a hole in Lionel Messi’s heart. Not literally, thankfully, though at times for him it may very well have been, as the pain would likely have been less. Messi, often regarded as the greatest ever to play the biggest sport in the world, had pretty much done it all in his storied career. The word “storied”, in fact, does little to explain the success he’s earned and the joy he’s brought in his 18-year professional career; he’s won the Ballon d’Or award for the best men’s soccer player in the world a record seven times (and may be in line to win his eighth this year), the European Golden Shoe award for the highest-scoring player in Europe a record six times, and holds the Guinness World Record for the most official goals in a calendar year with 91. Even the Wikipedia page solely devoted to a list of Messi’s achievements and honors is so damn long. Along with all of his individual achievements, the “magic man” has also won 40 trophies for club and country. At thi...

Sometimes, a story is simply too good to be true. You enjoy the warm feeling it gives you for as long as you can, consuming all media surrounding it, but inevitably the narrative always flips. You’ve seen it all before: the homegrown rookie doesn’t pan out with their beloved team, the perfect season gets dashed in the final game, a legendary player’s return turns sour, and so on. But sometimes, on those impossibly rare occasions, the perfect story is just that-- perfect . Xavi left his boyhood club of Barcelona on top of the footballing world, winning a historic treble to effectively cap off his career as one of the greatest pure midfielders the game has ever seen and ever will see. Since then, though, his beloved club has been struggling to get back to the mountaintop without him. Image From: Getty Images Xavi left to finish out his playing career in Qatar after the 2015 Champions League final, and to date Barcelona have not raised...