The most-watched man in America right now is a 39-year-old from Rosario, Argentina, who barely raises his voice. The World Cup is here, on our own soil for the first time — the United States, Canada and Mexico — and Lionel Messi is playing as the defending champion in his sixth tournament. He does not trash talk. He does not pound his chest. He leads from behind, they say, which is a polite way of saying he lets the ball and the trophies do the talking.
Messi has won the thing men spend their whole lives arguing about, eight Ballon d’Ors, a World Cup, more or less every honor the game can hand a person, and he has done it while looking, most of the time, like a shy man who would rather be home. He is the best argument I know against everything the U.S. is currently trying to sell boys about what a man is.
