One of the wonderful things about being a sportswriter for 35 years has been getting to see the human side of our sports heroes.
Unlike the typical fan, who watches sports from a distance and rarely has face-to-face contact with college or pro athletes, we get to talk to them at their highest of highs and their lowest of lows. We interview them when they set Olympic records and when they fumble at the 1-yard line, botch a field goal, miss a free throw or shank a penalty kick.
We congratulate them when they get married, have kids, and reach career milestones. They tell us about their families, and we tell them about ours. We often meet their parents, siblings, spouses, and children. We see their heartbreak when they get injured and their grief when they lose loved ones.
We are reminded day after day, practice after practice, game after game that although they might be bigger, stronger and faster than the rest of us, athletes are human beings who are just as fragile and vulnerable as we are.
They are people.
When you boo Inter Miami striker Gonzalo Higuain, you are not booing a robot in a jersey. You are booing a human being. When you boo University of Miami quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, you are not booing a robot in a jersey. You are booing a 21-year-old college kid.
They are people. They are people. It bears repeating.
That notion was never clearer than Monday afternoon, in a packed interview room at DRV PNK Stadium, where Higuain announced that he will retire at the end of this season.
The 34-year-old Argentine star, a guy who has played on the world’s biggest soccer stages with Real Madrid, Juventus and in three World Cups, a guy who has scored more than 300 goals in pressure-filled situations, broke down sobbing as he explained his decision. He also teared up each time he mentioned his beloved mother, who died last year.
His longtime girlfriend and their young daughter watched from the front row. His teammates — many of them misty-eyed — stood in a line afterward and hugged him.
Young defender Aime Mabika got up at the end of the news conference and publicly thanked Higuain for inspiring him, on and off the field. “The biggest thing for me was seeing you demoted to the bench for the first time in your career. You weren’t playing. You weren’t scoring. Seeing how much you put into it, you wanted to go out a champion on your terms, playing well and scoring goals. Getting knocked down seven times and getting up eight times. Thank you for that. It’s been an inspiration, more than you know, for football and life.”
Covering Inter Miami this season has meant having a front-row seat on the Higuain roller coaster.
Higuain, the third highest-paid player in MLS, began the season in a funk. He scored just two goals in the first 18 games, and coach Phil Neville benched him in favor of 21-year-old Leo Campana. Never one to hide his emotions, Higuain’s body language made it clear how frustrated he was. Fans booed when he came in as a sub. They made mean-spirited comments and memes about him on social media.
He has been under the spotlight for his entire 17-year career, is used to the criticism, but said it still hurts.
Some of the harshest abuse has come from Argentine fans. He spent nine years on the national team and was part of three teams that lost in finals, one World Cup and two Copa Americas. In the 2014 World Cup final against Germany, Higuain missed a clear-cut scoring chance and had another goal nullified for offside. He has never lived it down.
Eight years later, an unruly fan berated Higuain for that World Cup performance as he walked to his car in mid-July after Inter Miami lost to FC Barcelona in a friendly at DRV PNK Stadium.
Higuain used the criticism as fuel. He worked tirelessly to get himself in peak fitness, got back in the starting lineup and has scored 12 goals in the past 14 games, including several game winners. He is the undisputed team MVP and a key reason Inter Miami is on the cusp of securing a playoff berth heading into Wednesday night’s home game against Orlando City (8 p.m., My33).
No doubt, many of the same fans who jeered him early this season will be cheering for him as he takes the field Wednesday.
Although he said leaving the game “hurts me in my soul” the one thing he will not miss is the “toxic” nature of social media.
“I don’t think it will ever change because valiant anonymous people will always exist,” he said, sarcastically. “I only ask that people take a moment to think before they make a comment or publish something because they don’t know the irreparable damage they can do to a person. I have suffered it first-hand. It hurt me, but thankfully I had a family behind me to lift me up. Some people can’t defend themselves and don’t overcome it. Five seconds behind a computer keyboard can ruin a person.
“I bring this up because I have this moment, this platform. If I could help even one person by saying it, it will be worth it.”
Higuain isn’t always warm and fuzzy. He has prickly days. He has good days at his job, and bad days. Don’t we all? He’s human. So is Van Dyke. Remember that before you spew venom from a distance.
