Commentary: Lionel Messi is the ultimate summer romance

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Set us as preferred Everyone knew going in that Lionel Messi would be the narrative centerpiece of the 2026 World Cup.Easily the most recognized name in the competition, Messi is considered by many to be the greatest soccer player of all time and, as the captain of 2022 winner Argentina, he is the reigning World Cup champ.

At 18, he scored his first World Cup goal in 2006 and has competed in every World Cup since.He celebrated his 39th birthday before this year’s knockout rounds began, so it’s not unreasonable to assume that this will be his last.No matter what Messi did, or failed to do, it would be News.

Everyone with even a passing interest in the event knew this.Including me.But I didn’t expect to completely fall for the guy.

He’s a professional male athlete, for heaven’s sake, and I don’t emotionally invest in professional male athletes.Admire some of them, sure; watch with bated breath and then scream in astonishment when they pull off some amazing feat or another, absolutely.

But the only athletes that have ever touched my heart have been women — Nadia Comăneci; Billie Jean King and the Title IX-sparking stars of women’s tennis; Dorothy Hamill; Brandi Chastain and 1999 Women’s World Cup winners; Venus and Serena Williams; Simone Biles; Caitlin Clark.But here I am, at age 62, truly, madly, deeply in love with Lionel Messi.I know, I know, me and half the world.

Which normally would serve as an effective prophylactic.I am habitually wary of super-intense fandoms and the men who inspire them; stadiums filled with people chanting a single name inevitably set off internal alarm bells.

As I have asked several times in columns throughout the years, how many “heroes” must we watch falter under pressure or be exposed for decidedly unheroic acts before we wise up and get out of the pedestal-placeme...