A SEATTLE MAN trying to dribble a soccer ball 10,000 miles to Brazil in time for the 2014 World Cup died Tuesday after being hit by a pickup truck on the Oregon Coast.
Police in Lincoln City, Ore., said 42-year-old Richard Swanson was hit at about 10 am walking south along the US Highway 101 near the city limits. He was declared dead at a local hospital. The driver has not been charged.
Lt. Jerry Palmer said investigators found materials among Swanson’s things listing his website, breakawaybrazil.com.
Swanson set out on the trek to promote the One World Futbol Project, based in Berkeley, California, which donates durable soccer balls to people in developing countries. The company did not immediately respond to a call for comment.
Police said Palmer’s soccer ball was recovered.
In an interview with The Daily News newspaper in Longview, Washington, Swanson said he was a private investigator looking for an adventure while between jobs. An avid runner, he picked up soccer just five years ago and played on club teams and rooted for the Seattle Sounders.
“I felt destined that I should go on this trip,” he said.
His website said he left Seattle May 1, and the trip would take him through 11 countries before reaching Sao Paolo, Brazil, where the World Cup soccer tournament will be played.“It will be a trip of a lifetime where I will push myself further than I ever thought possible,” he wrote.
The website includes a map showing his route.
I’m sorry I know it’s sad but I read the heading and burst out laughing! We all have to go at some point, may as well be dribbling a ball to brazil!
Have to say I did the same, sorry.
I forgive you Paul, it’s alright.
brought a tear to my eye ,because thats the same way my Uncle went :(
RIP
Reminds me of father ted and the dancing priest who danced across America.Mugged every 15 miles.
Sad story but headline does make you laugh.
Me too. Headline reads like a “man walks into a bar…” type of joke.
RIP.
Best headline ever. Sad content in the article but the headline is pure gold.
I can just hear Nelson from The Simpsons.
That’s very sad RIP
Must have been a hard shoulder
It is sad. Was a crazy thing to try to do. He only made it 260 miles.
It was a brilliant idea, making money in his own spare time for a great charity while he attempts an amazing feat, only to meet a tragic end.. and some gimps try and joke about it? If he’d made it he would’ve raised all sorts of funds to help kids in poor countries through soccer. I applaud this man.
Poor Chap, May he Rest in Peace.
Ah ref he dived :p
Didn’t dive out of the way quick enough by the sounds of it !!!!!!!
Cant see the funny side here – man struck and killed by a truck.
Red thumb away idiots.
You knew the man Clifford ??? Or is it that u just have No sense of humour??? …
Phuk up mark you child.
Suddenly the man who once was on his morale high ground resorts to cursing and name calling … I think my work is done here :p
See my earlier comment for details
Hi Clifford,
Red thumbed as Requested.
Cheers
Pat
Your comments make no sense.
Whose comments Niall?
Thanks big pat. Appreciate your honest admission. :)
No problem.
While I actually think some of the jokes on these things go a bit far, I reckon you should have a read of this article. There is some interesting sections in there on humour and indifference to death. Have a read:
http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-things-no-one-tells-you-about-dealing-with-death/
That article sounds like it would bore me to death …. Hiiiyyoo :p
Your a terrible man
NO NEED FOR IT MARK!!!!
After they found his ball rolling down the highway who was the idiot that ran out onto the highway to retrieve the ball and was the ball donated later? If it was, then mission accomplished!
Very sad but i burst out laughing at headline o
Gives a new meaning to a dead ball :-)
Man dies. Everyone jokes. Sad. RIP
..black humour it’s called, quite common..
Is that what it is. It’s ok so
No problem mate
You are welcome
Oh god , I’m going straight to hell!! Burst out laughing at the headline – so bad.
But then when I read they recovered the ball??!?? 10,000 Hail Mary’s wouldn’t save me!
I’m still laughing, quality reading!! Sorry!! ☺
I don’t think that he planned his route correctly. Shouldn’t there have also been a backup team with him during his adventure?
That’s what happens when you call football soccer
Thats a balls
Thank God I’m not the only person who burst out laughing, maybe its the way the headline reads, just seemed very funny even if its not. RIP!!!
It’s insane really, you see many kids having close calls while playing out on the street outside their front doors, he was bound to get into serious trouble travelling all those miles.
Rip
Completely offside
RIP
.. Sorry but this made me fall around laughing ☺
Honestly, I can see the humour in this story but at the end of the day, its tragic.
Potty you didn’t break your bollox It would have had me falling around in stiches
Potty you didn’t break your bollox It would have had me falling around in stiches
so sad :( Rip
you cant pick-up the ball unless youre a goalie
Ron would have made it.
That’s one of the most depressing things I’ve ever read
One of the most depressing things Sean? How about some perspective. You may have been still on the Ladybird series when the Tsunami struck Asia but you were definitely around when the clothing factory in Bangladesh collapsed. A death caused by someone elses neglect when for example a child is killed, now that comes under the description of depressing…… But this is pure Black Adder.
So sad! =(
May he rest in pieces.
Ball burst.
Goal unmet.
Ha ha dumbass
Fair play to him for trying and such a waste of a life. But if any of ye know the roads, innerstates and highways of America, especially with the amount of trucks on the roads, this endevour had to be craziest thing to undertake.
Just goes to show, he had barely started when he got killed.
PS I will be very disappointed if people didn’t make fun of me when I go t!ts up , and most of all I won’t care because u guessed it ..I’ll be dead
Police said they recovered the ball , then there was a sort of a happy ending
RIP
Should have just skydived, would have been safer.