Once Lionel Messi converted his penalty in Barcelona's 3-0 win over Racing Santander on Saturday, he pulled up his shirt to reveal a message scrawled across his undershirt. It wished his mami a happy birthday for all the cameras to see. A nice gesture from a grateful child to the woman who carried him around inside her body for nine months before enduring labor and allowing the world to be graced with his abilities, but also one that the killjoys at the Spanish football federation felt compelled to punish because of their strict rules against shirt messages.
To someone who makes as much as Messi does, a fine of a couple thousand euros is hardly worth caring about and probably something he knew would happen before doing it. Still, that money could have gone to more Legos.
