There are few moments that I’ll never forget: marrying my incredible wife Anna on the Bayou St. John bridge, the birth of our child Eugene.

But the best moments of them all? Nothing tops the New Orleans Saints ending 50 years of misery by winning the Superbowl in 2009 and Liverpool wiping out a 30-year drought by lifting the league trophy in 2020. And now, just this past Sunday, Liverpool clinched their 20th league title by dismantling Tottenham 5-1.

Forget government-led mass surveillance, the dwindling of my stock portfolio, or the terrifyingly casual way climate scientists now just shrug and say, “Good luck.” I don’t have the mental bandwidth for all that doom and gloom when my team — MY TEAM — is crushing it this season.

Okay, so US citizens are getting deported with no due-process, but did you see Mohamed Salah has 28 goals and 18 assists in the Premier League this season? And with five games left, too!

Yes, the stock market may be teetering on the edge of recession territory, and the impending fascism of my country’s government looms large, but hey, Liverpool haven’t lost when I’ve worn my lucky red kit. What’s a little financial collapse compared to the thrill of a 92nd-minute goal from the man who is chaos, Darwin Nunez?

To all those naysayers out there wringing their hands over “important issues” like the world’s richest (and most powerful) man breaking into government systems and downloading our personal data, I’d like to offer this counterpoint: sports.

While the world burns, I’ll be here, cheering, screaming, crying, and holding my pee in until halftime while the athletes who don’t know I even exist get paid more money a week than I’ll see in several years kick a ball in the back of a net. The only Project 2025 I’m worried about is extending Virgil Van Dijk, Mohamed Salah, and Trent Alexander-Arnold’s expiring contracts (sign the thing, Trent!).

And it’s not just about the games. It’s about the camaraderie. The togetherness. The shared experience of forgetting all your problems for two to three hours. The arguing with contrarians on Reddit (we don’t do Xitter). The one guy in the group text who always asks, “What channel is the game on?”

Universal healthcare? I don’t have time to worry about that. My illegal stream is freezing, and it looks like the other team is about to score! Shit! I missed a goal!

Sure, you can call it escapism. I prefer to think of it as “focused optimism.” The planet’s future looks bleak, but my team’s immediate future? (We don’t have to talk about the Saints or the Pelicans). Bright as stadium floodlights on a Champion’s League game night.

Even as civilization as we know it crumbles, at least I’ll always have this one incredible season to look back on. And really, isn’t that what life’s all about?