Just about the time Tommy Boy Fleetwood was heating up at the U.S. Open on Sunday, the Mexican national team was cooling down following a stunning World Cup victory over defending world champions Germany in Moscow. The party for the fans who travelled halfway around the world just to eat borscht in the dead of summer was just getting started, of course, but amid the tears, singing, proposals, and liver-pureeing levels of vodka consumption, it was a lone grandmother who became the de-facto mascot of Mexico's unlikely group stage triumph:
Sports fans are a superstitious bunch. We know this. Much like Sister Jean's rise to stardom back in March, however, there's just something about the sight on 60-something-year-old woman, plate of food in hand, crossing each and every player the Mexico starting lineup—including goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa, who she blesses not once, but THREE times—that has the entire world (Germany notwithstanding) smiling and, honestly, maybe even believing a little bit too.
But before we go ahead and carried away (too late, I know), remember that Mexico still have two group games left to play and that it's in these games, against South Korea and Sweden where they'll be favored, that they always seem to implode. Here's looking at you, abuela.