Maybe it’s the equivalent of my spring training, but the more soccer events I get to attend, either D.C. United training or heading downtown tonight for the U.S. Soccer Foundation gala, the more pumped I get for the upcoming soccer season (MLS, WPS, whatever) and the World Cup. Even my son will play on his first team in a few weeks time.
In any case, getting to attend tonight’s gala was a treat, highlighted by a fantastic speech by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who was presented with a custom made set of yellow, red and green Adidas boots, and he promptly shed his own shoes to put them on. Priceless.
The gala also celebrated and raised money for the work that D.C. United’s charitable arm has done with it’s after school programs, and Washington Freedom owner Maureen Hendricks accepted an award for what she and her husband, John Hendricks, have done for the game.
Once he started speaking, Tutu complimented the event’s emcee, Drew Carey — “This is the first time I’ve gotten to see you in person. You’re quite handsome, actually,” — and finished by nearly bringing the crowd of a few hundred to the brink of tears describing how God must cry when he sees the “horrendous” things happening in such places as Darfur and Zimbabwe. But with in his unique style, with his one-of-a-kind smile, he changed the tune, “Ahhh, did you notice? Did you notice? A smile breaking over God’s face because God looked today and God saw the U.S. Soccer Foundation, and the things that they do for these wonderful kids around here. And God said, ‘Hey, that’s why I created them. They are vindicating,’ and a smile breaks over God’s face like the sun shining through the rain.”
Hard not to smile after that.
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