Oh! That is the matter. This is our reward for the 16 months that saw the world turn from the inside out.
Sixteen months saw the most reliable of the metronomes determining our weekly routines come to a complete halt for three months, before returning in a strange fashion: no fans, masked coaches on benches and a bar of brick and steel. The noise made from echoes in the revival tents. During sixteen months we realized that sport is really the most important of the unimportant things in our lives.
We can do without it, of course. We proved it. But we are richer than that.
And now we get two A-list, brand-name finalists as our reward.
Brazil v Argentina in the Copa America on Saturday and Italy v England in the Euros. They have 12 World Cups and 24 Continental Championships between them. This is Neymar vs Lionel Messi. It's Italy not playing like Italy vs England not playing like England.
It's an A-list weekend, a farewell before summer break, with the hope that when elite football returns in August, it will look even more like what we once knew as normal.
Make no mistake: That doesn't mean the nightmare is over. We have already lost 4 million of our loved ones. Four million sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, grandmothers, grandfathers, friends, co-workers and strangers. Just yesterday in the United Kingdom, which hosted the Euro 2020 semi-finals and will host the final, there were 32,356 new infections, despite one of the highest vaccination rates in the world. For context, it would be like the United States, which has a population of about five times that recorded 160,000 cases, where the country was in January.
We don't know what's to come. We place our trust in the power of science, the wisdom of researchers and the wisdom of our elected leaders. We hope for the best.
The pandemic may be dominating, but let's not forget the other existential threat to the sport as we know it: the Super League. Less than 12 weeks ago 12 clubs announced that they were going to keep the established order and redesign the structure of the game based on their short-sighted goals and priorities. The rebellion lasted 48 hours, stopped in its tracks by a united front that included supporters first, but also the media, UEFA, FIFA, players, coaches, governments and hundreds of clubs. Stakeholder is what we call them. But he had little stake in the top-secret project that would change the game forever.
That danger is not gone either. Three of the 12 "founding clubs" - Juventus, Real Madrid and Barcelona - stick with their plan, the website is still up, there are still crests and the names of the clubs, even what they say that they have exited. The next battles are yet to come in the battle for control of the game, and they will be fought on the courts, not on the pitches.
In the meantime, we can reflect on this weekend and smile. We get two major finalists, each drenched in history and backstory.
Messi or Neymar - once teammates at Barcelona, now rivals, always united in talent - will win their first major international trophy. They would do it in Maracan, where Pele once starred and where the largest crowd ever gathered to watch a football game: 199,854 according to FIFA, Uruguay saw Brazil break hearts in the 1950 World Cup final was. There will be a smaller number in the stands this weekend, with 6,500 allowed to attend.
Then, at Wembley, where England won their only major international trophy 55 years ago, Gareth Southgate's Three Lions will attempt to make history and show that, as their praises go, football has come home. This is a different England, built on defensive fortitude and tactical discipline, but also respect, humility and inclusion.
Italy, on the other hand, will try to brush off the humiliation of missing out on the 2018 World Cup. This Azzurri side is different too. Deep defense, counterattack and patience went for a moment of inspiration from Roberto Baggio or Paolo Rossi at the other end.
Instead, coach Roberto Mancini has assembled a team that plays like Italy that supposedly will never - some might say never - can play: a dominating midfield, demanding and demanding of the ball. Based on taking risks at both ends of the pitch. They have played 33 games without losing. If Sunday went according to plan, they would not only be European champions, they would be one match away from equaling Spain's all-time record.
It is the biggest weekend in international football this side of the World Cup. Let's enjoy it. We have earned it.