Love is a beautiful thing. It's the one thing that can bind people together. It's one of the fundamentals in life. Without it, human life and existence as we know it, will die out. Luckily, this will never come to fruition. Love exists everywhere.
Sports can provide a memorable moment. Doing something in front of a sold out crowd can be a memory that forever be cemented in the relationships. Fortunately, there are numerous examples to illustrate this point.
During the ongoing Paralympics, sprinter Alessandro Ossola had one of the best days of his life this past Sunday and it had nothing to do with his racing.
Ossola may have failed to qualify for the final of the T63 100m but the Italian secured a "Yes" from his ecstatic girlfriend after proposing to her in the stands of the Stade de France after the race.
"You’re crazy!" Ossola’s shocked partner Arianna said as he knelt and asked for her hand in marriage in front of a crowd of 40 000 people.
"Our relationship is like a maelstrom because every athlete needs people around them to push them," he told the official Olympic website.
"Sometimes, she believed in me more than I believed in myself, and that’s something truly amazing. ‘You can do it, you can succeed, you can, you can,’ she would say. This is something everyone needs, and I hope that everyone finds someone like her. She is my partner … for life."
Ossola lost most of his left leg in a 2015 motorcycle accident, which also claimed the life of his first wife. He credits sport as providing him with a "way to take action and a way out of a very dark period," adding: "After my accident, I lost a lot – everything but my smile – but sport pushed me to smile more and more."
He reflected on the race by saying, "Some might say today wasn’t an amazing day for me from a sporting perspective. I say it was. At 36 years old, I was competing with the best in the world, and I’m really proud of that."
Ossola, also the founder of the world’s first inclusive padel circuit and a non-profit association tasked with challenging people’s misconceptions about disabilities, hinted that this may be his last Paralympics, having also competed in Tokyo three years ago.
"With what I’ve achieved in these last days at the Paris Paralympics, I feel like I’ve closed that circle. Now, I’m ready to start along a new path because my life isn’t over, and I have many things left to do," he added.
PGA pro, Mark Hubbard, made a Major moment out of an otherwise unremarkable non-Major AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
When Hubbard proposed to girlfriend Meghan McCurley on the 18th green of the famously scenic golf course in Pebble Beach, California, it was a moment that was literally months in the making. The 25-year-old rookie had previously asked her father’s permission and evolved his proposal idea from the initial plan of popping the question via a message on a caddie’s bib, according to The Associated Press (via ESPN.com).
Less was definitely more in this case. Hubbard’s decision to go traditional with the ask in a non-traditional setting was romantic without feeling forced.
In recent years, a lot of teams have invented families for their mascots, having apparently embraced the idea that lots of mascots are better than one mascot.
A lot of the new additions just feel like really creepy afterthoughts but Mrs. Met has been around almost as long as Mr. Met—over 50 years. The two make for a very cute couple and they’re still hot for each other after five decades.
In July 2013, Mr. and Mrs. Met proved the magic was still there with a little PDA after getting caught on the kiss cam at Citi Field.
Super Bowl XLVII was one of the most memorable championship games ever thanks to a surging second-half comeback and a partial blackout that stopped play for 34 minutes after half-time.
Speaking of half-time, that’s actually when things seemed to turn on a dime, with Beyonce delivering one of the greatest half-time performances of all time, the perfect catalyst to turn what had previously been a very one-sided affair.
Nobody appreciated the performance more than music mogul-turned-sports agent, Jay-Z, Beyonce’s other half for more than a decade. The couple proved they were still "Crazy In Love" when they met up backstage after the show.
Beyonce and Jay embraced like a couple of lovesick teenagers. It was truly romantic.
In October 2014, Arizona Cardinals cheerleader, Claire Thornton, got the romantic surprise of a lifetime on the field during a home game against the Redskins. Her boyfriend, 26-year-old Air Force captain, Erick Straub, approached her on the sideline and then got down on one knee, proposing to Thornton in front of over 60 000 Arizona fans. Naturally, she accepted.
The kiss cam is supposed to be romantic but it’s usually as awkward and uncomfortable as you’d expect something that demands random strangers kiss in front of tens of thousands of strangers would be.
It’d be difficult to create a random romantic moment on demand like that but one couple was able to do just that in September 2014. Proving themselves the Montagues and Capulets of California, a Giants-Dodgers couple became a viral sensation when they responded to the pressure of the kiss cam by simultaneously dumping beers on each other.
Planned in advance or not, the moment was absolutely perfect and you get the sense these two are going to last longer than couples who reluctantly plant one on each other after being caught unawares by some random cameraman.
Following a 43-42 overtime upset win over Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, Boise State running back, Ian Johnson, dropped to one knee and proposed to girlfriend Chrissy Popadics, a Broncos cheerleader. It was a romantic moment made especially so by the fact that it was planned yet not planned.
According to Johnson, he had a ring in his room at the time and was planning to pop the question to Popadics when they returned to their hometown in California following the game. "The moment just hit," Johnson told reporters. "There was no better time."
In February 2012, the Patriots were coming off a second Super Bowl loss to the Giants in as many tries. Though it was surely tough for all of New England, few seemed to take it harder in the immediate aftermath of the game than Brazilian supermodel, Gisele Bundchen, the wife of Pats quarterback, Tom Brady.
She had reportedly ignored a fair bit of heckling from opposing fans but eventually broke down while waiting for an elevator, infamously blasting what she perceived as a lack of help from her husband’s supporting cast, according to the New York Daily News' Joyce Chen and Janon Fisher. Bundchen caught some criticism from people in sports who make it their business to tell women they should be seen and not heard but Brady himself has never apologised for his passionate and outspoken wife.
Bundchen’s comments definitely didn’t do much to dissuade a media pile on following the gut-wrenching loss, which probably sucked a bit for Brady in the moment. Looking back, however, it’s hard to imagine he doesn’t appreciate how romantic the whole thing was.
When the Vancouver Canucks lost to the Boston Bruins in Game 7 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals, the city of Vancouver briefly descended into anarchy, as frustrated hockey fans took to the streets to riot.
It was an unusually ugly scene in Canada, whose people haven’t historically embraced arson and generalised destruction (in times of both celebration and sorrow) in the same way for which Americans have been known.
From the middle of that madness emerged one of the most iconic photographs and romantic moments in sports history. The "kissing couple" became an immediate viral sensation after their surprisingly intimate moment surrounded by riot police on a Vancouver street was captured by a Getty photographer.
Shakira's romance with former FC Barcelona star, Gerard Pique, was still relatively young when she found out that she was expecting. However, in the nine-ish months, she and Pique had been reveling in all of their expectant-parent glory.
Milan Pique Mebarak was born on 22 January and after keeping photos of the baby under wraps for a little while, the songstress released his first photo on her own instead of cashing in on first-picture offers from magazines.
Instead, she asked for donations to Unicef. There's nothing like a cute father-son pic mixed with a little bit of goodwill.
These days, we're all so excited to see anyone but Lance Armstrong winning the Tour de France that Bradley Wiggins' post-win antics seem like a dream come true. It was only fitting that the champion commemorated his special moment with a super sweet kiss from wife, Cath.
Wiggins certainly had plenty to be proud in 2013, when he became the first Brit ever—in 109 years of competition—to win the Tour de France, according to the Daily Mirror.
When you contrast Wiggins with the surly, self-centered Armstrong, it's even more touching to see the guy celebrate with his adorable family in the immediate aftermath of his biggest career accomplishment.
Back in 2005, AHL forward, Chris Mueller, sought a creative way to propose to his girlfriend, Katie Goltz. It would have helped if he learned how to spell "marry" before plowing it into the field. Alas, there was nothing he could do once, "Will you mary me?" was set in stone (or grass).
In the end, he got what he wanted: Katie said yes and she even thought it was cute that her man couldn't spell, according to ABC Action News.
Jason Sehorn may never have achieved the acclaim of Tom Brady during his NFL career but his engagement story is much better.
Way back in 1998, the former cornerback proposed to his model-actress wife live on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
Leno set it up perfectly by asking a completely oblivious Harmon if she was dating anyone at the moment and she giggled and acted embarrassed for a while (while Elton John looked on awkwardly) before Sehorn appeared from backstage and popped the question.
They're one of the most famous celebrity-athlete couples on the planet, so it's only fitting to wonder how they met and where they shared their first kiss.
David Beckham and former Spice Girl, Victoria, weren't always as glamorous as they appear now. The two met at a charity event back in 1997 and began dating, though, they kept it a secret for months. Perhaps that's why they shared their first kiss at a simple old pub near his mother's house, according to OK Magazine.
As for the secret to their healthy marriage, Beckham told the magazine, "I made her fall in love with me by giving her more wine."
Tennis' bona fide power couple have one of the best how-we-met stories in all of sports.
The 1999 French Open was a special time for each of these superstars. Not only did they both win at Roland Garros that year but that's when Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf met.
Agassi—who had just divorced Brooke Shields—had long admired Graf from afar. At the time, though, he had a bad-boy reputation, which put him at a disadvantage.
So, according to InsideTennis.com, Agassi did what any smart guy would—he wrote her a heartfelt note about his true feelings for her. The move clearly paid off, as they've been married for 23 years. Men of the world: take note.
Love can exist in any form. This can range from a hug to a public and passionate defense. Love is everlasting and it can take place in any situation. Love is so strong that everyone searches for that one person who makes them feel all giddy inside. Someone who will always be there for them and to be supportive.