Seattle Man Dribbling Soccer Ball To Brazil For 2014 World Cup Hit By A Truck And Killed

A Seattle man had a noble idea leading up to the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. He was going to dribble a soccer ball all the way from the Emerald City down to Sao Paulo, Brazil, arriving in time for the World Cup, to help bring awareness to One World Futbol Project, a charity he was involved with. He was hit by a pickup truck and killed yesterday in Oregon.

The man, 42-year-old Richard Swanson was near Lincoln City, Oregon, a week and a half into his 10,000 mile journey when he was hit by the truck, a sad incident that unintentionally has brought more attention to his charity, but not for the reasons he had hoped.

This story has left me with a lot of questions about the incident. First of all, how do we know that Swanson wasn't just diving to get a free kick out of the situation? And, moreover, since there was contact between him and the truck, did the driver at least get a yellow card? I'd imagine the truck would automatically get a red card for killing a guy, which would also be a serious blow to his team, having to play the rest of the match with ten men.

In all seriousness, though, this is a very sad story, and our thoughts and prayers go out to his friends and family.