Chris Jones

It’s hard to imagine a more fraught combination for what was supposed to be a fun Friday night: Seattle’s Pride celebration will feature a World Cup match on June 26 between Iran, where homosexuality is punishable by death, and Egypt, where homosexual activity is punishable by up to three years in prison.  
When FIFA’s schedulers announced the Pride Match pairing after December’s draw, it felt a little like a sick joke.

In the summer of 1988, when I was 14 years old, I went camping with my family not far outside Toronto. We emerged from the woods and I wandered over to a newspaper box by the side of the road. Through its cracked glass, I saw a front-page picture of Wayne Gretzky, weeping. He’d been traded from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings. I followed my idol’s lead and burst into tears.
Gretzky, back then at least, was more than a hockey player to Canadians.