Messi The Beloved

Our favorite athletes are usually shielded. I mean for as much as we love them, we hardly ever get to really SEE them. Sure we hang their posters on our wall, watch them on tv, heck some of us have actually seen them in action from the stands. Do we really SEE them though? I remember going to a New Jersey Nets v Los Angeles Lakers game in Jersey one night, in other words I got to see Kobe Bryant play.

I could barely see him though. It wasn't like I could see his every facial expression, I was pretty up in the stands. I bring this up because we as fans put our every emotion into these teams and athletes but unless we're a season ticket holder we hardly ever get to really have any type of interaction with these stars.

There is an exception however, his name is Leo Messi. How many times do we see fans run out onto the court, pitch, field, etc for a chance to either make a spectacle or in come cases to try and get as close and really SEE their favorite athlete in the flesh. Not through binoculars or a television screen, rather with their own eyes.

For those few who actually muster up the courage to go out and attempt this almost always failed feat the consequences could be unfavorable (see: James Harrison). Messi however for one isn't James Harrison and he is truly beloved by all soccer fans, who aren't Madristas. In the past few months, twice fans have ran onto the pitch to see this man, this legend Messi.

He hasn't brushed em off, or called for security, he wasn't scared or angered, he simply embraced these fans. In a sports world where every superstar has an entourage and bodyguards, he has become one of the most accessible athletes of today.

What I would do to be able to go on the pitch during a game and give Leo Messi a hug, LEO MESSI!! A story that can be told a million times over and never get old. As is customary at the end of soccer matches or player that is being substituted, their is an applause given by fans to players and by players to fans. I applaude you Messi.