Daily Schmankerl: James says ‘adiós’ to Bayern for Chelsea (Diario LOL)

James Rodriguez says ‘adiós’ to Bayern Munich—except it’s ridiculous bullscheiße (Diario LOL)

Ah, Diario LOL — it’s been a while! But Don Balolol’s slow brother is back with a doozy: alas for Real Madrid, Bayern Munich will soon activate the option to by the Colombian star. But there’s a hitch: Bayern don’t really want to keep James. They want to sell him! To Chelsea! Or maybe Arsenal...

But “WHY?” you ask? Simple:

James is not very much to the new coach, Niko Kovač’s liking. The German coach prefers a different profile for his new project, and once James is the German club’s property, he will be declared available for a transfer.

So Chelsea looks like the best place for James, says Diario LOL. Obviously, that’s where he’ll go. There, the masters of the transfer market have spoken. See, it’s real news now! Magic!

Lol.

That time I gave Messi a ribbon from my mom

One reason I love soccer is that the sport never ceases to surprise me. That is both true of the good and bad. As for the bad, well, Germany’s stunning 2-0 defeat to South Korea will undoubtedly go down in history. But there is good, too. Even the superstars of soccer can surprise us, sometimes in touchingly human ways.

The biggest superstar of them all, Lionel Messi, just surprised me. After Argentina’s 1-1 match against Iceland, a reporter in the mixed zone told a bemused Messi about a red ribbon his mother had given him to give to the superstar. You can see the rest yourself:

I admit, I was expecting the camera to catch him tossing it in a trash can or something horrible. It turns out that the same reporter reminded Messi about the ribbon after Argentina’s game against Nigeria. Messi remembered: he was wearing it on his foot.

I just — wow.

The elite professional soccer players we watch and idolize on our screens are so far removed from everyday life — from ours or anyone’s, really — but every now and then you catch a glimpse of how incredibly human many of them remain. Whether it’s Joshua Kimmich and Mats Hummels riding their bicycles to Bayern’s end-of-season party, or Lionel Messi graciously accepting, and then actually wearing, a lucky red ribbon from the mother of a random reporter he met in the mixed zone after a game — I don’t know about you, but that humanity captivates me every time.

Mexico celebrates with South Korea’s consul outside embassy

Oh, and did you hear he did a shot of tequila with the locals. Yeah, about that:

Stay thirsty, mis amigos! So very, very thirsty!

Belated birthday greetings to Schnitzel01!

Our own Schnitzel01 sent us this picture of the epic Bayern Munich cake he received on his birthday back on June 24:

Kansas City was feeling the vibe

The World Cup brings so many people together in celebration and sportsmanship. Here is the crazy scene in the heart of Kansas City’s “Power and Light” neighborhood, not far from where our own Sir Phil lives. The place went wild with reveling Mexico fans and sure looked like a great time: