On Kaká's birthday a quick story about him: @OrlandoCitySC did an open training ahead of the 2015 season for a few hundred fans. The session was short, with autographs after. I was upstairs in the press box at the Citrus Bowl writing. After an hour or so I looked at the field...

Kaká was the only Orlando City player left in the small area around which fans were allowed to stand to get autographs. He stayed until he signed something for every single fan. Was more than 90 minutes before he went back into the locker room and the last fan had a memento.

He did stuff like that every home game. A few times I'd head out to my car a couple hours after a game and see Kaká there signing autographs outside the player parking lot. A genuinely good guy who understood what the fans meant to the game/team/his own career.

I have a real appreciation for someone who was a global superstar at a level that you had to see to understand. The amount of people waiting by the bus at every road stop. The fans running on the field. And yet he always took time for the fans and didn't complain. He got it.