When discussing the best of the best, the person that comes to my mind in football [soccer] is Earnie Stewart. Earnie Stewart exemplifies what is the best in football [soccer] as a player and as a person. In order to talk about Earnie Stewart, it would be great to examine the life and times of this prolific player.

  Earnie Stewart was born in the Netherlands in 1969 to an African American Father and his Dutch Wife and was raised in the Netherlands. He has played in the Netherlands and the USA since he started his career in football in 1988. He was to continue playing football [soccer] as a midfielder until his retirement in the year 2005. His career took him to clubs such as VVV-Venlo, Willem II, NAC Breda, and DC United and he scored seventy nine goals in four hundred and eighty four appearances.  

Earnie Stewart was also a notable midfielder in the United States Soccer [Football] Team from 1990 to 2004 and his career saw its ups and downs. An example of the ups and downs was in the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the game between the USA and Colombia. I saw the game while spending a summer vacation with my wife at a hotel in Miami Beach. It was a blessing to have been able to see this game yet it was saddening. I will never forget how Earnie Stewart scored the goal that gave the USA a victory over Colombia. [Unfortunately, I remember seeing the Defender of the Colombian Football [Soccer] Team Andres Escobar score an own goal. I remember the Colombians screaming obscenities and vows to kill Escobar. Later on I found out about Escobar being killed from the Univision News Programme]. I will never forget how Earnie Stewart decided to allow himself to be interviewed by Univision to express his condolences for the family of Escobar, the Colombian National Football [Soccer] Team, and the nation of Colombia. In this same interview, he condemned the violence in football. People like that deserve the best of the best in athletics. 

Earnie Stewart was able to play in the 1998 and 2002 FIFA World Cups and was able to prove to the world the art of grace under pressure. People like Earnie Stewart are lacking in the sports millennium especially when money has been the object and has clouded the judgment of others. 

Currently, Earnie Stewart is working as a Technical Director of NAC Breda [which is a club associated with the highest football league in the Netherlands called the Eredivisie.