Men

Sunday marks what could be the end of an era, as the NFL sees two of its greatest players face off for likely the final time: Brady vs Manning.

NFL fans around the world should realize how lucky they've been to have watched two of football's greatest players. (The same thing said of David Bowie by Twitter's @JeSuisDean holds true for this rivalry: "If you're ever sad, just remember the world is 4.543 billion years old and you somehow managed to exist at the same time as Brady vs Manning.")

Neymar has been making all sorts of headlines recently, which in and of itself is not unusual. He's one of the most famous soccer players in the world. It would be weird if Neymar wasn't making headlines.

The headlines that Neymar is generating at this particular moment, though, are quite interesting, as it seems half of them are reporting that he had talks with Real Madrid regarding a possible move. The other half are, obviously, reporting that hell will freeze over before the young Brazilian engages in such talks with Los Blancos.

Ronaldinho is not retired. Not yet. We're happy about this, because someone who loves the game as much as he does should be able to play forever. We know that this will not be the case, but we want him to go on as long as possible.

At some point in every superstar’s life they were normal. It’s hard to imagine that someone so perfect, so often worshipped by society as an example of what we should be, could ever be normal. With being normal comes doubts and insecurities, timidity and apprehension. Maybe that’s why people so often dream about their own ascension into stardom, because it’s so hard to believe.

Sometimes we forget how truly global soccer's reach is, how extremely footballing superstars have burrowed into the global consciousness. Then we see a picture of a toddler (here we are just guessing) Messi fan wearing a plastic bag painted to look like a Lionel Messi Argentina jersey. 

A kid in Iraq .. pic.twitter.com/ZfOEpUCNvw

— Leo Messi (@messi10stats) January 16, 2016

Scoring goals is Chicharito's business, and business is most definitely good. Fans flocked to see Brazilian side Internacional take on Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez’s Bayer Leverkusen in the Flordia Cup this past week. Chicharito duly provided the spectacle they’d been hoping for with a brace and a stunning volley that unluckily crashed off the crossbar.

Well this isn’t going to help stop any rumor mills. 

Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale have been painted as rival teammates who don’t get along ever since Bale arrived at Madrid in the summer of 2013. 

It makes sense, considering they are superstars in a team defined by its image that has been shaped around Ronaldo for the past 5 years. Gareth Bale is younger than Ronaldo, incredibly talented, and a British star. All of which make Bale a threat to knock Ronaldo off his perch as the alpha of Madrid.

A moment's silence for Cristiano Ronaldo, if you would. Lost in the hullaballoo of all things Lionel Messi, the revival of Wayne “The Boy Wonder” Rooney and our own personal dreams of winning the Powerball jackpot is the sad tale of Cristiano Ronaldo's past week.