My wife's a Messi fan. I'm Ronaldo. So why did our World Cup bet... #reddit #fifa #redditstories — Transcript

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1. 0:00My wife's a Messi fan. I'm Ronaldo. So,
2. 0:01why did our World Cup bet end with her
3. 0:03selling my dead father's jersey? She
4. 0:04swore Messi was the goat. I said Ronaldo
5. 0:06every time for 9 years. It was our
6. 0:08thing. Then the World Cup came and she
7. 0:09turned it into a bet. If Argentina went
8. 0:11further, I'd sell my whole Ronaldo
9. 0:12collection. If Portugal did, she'd hang
10. 0:14a framed Messi jersey over our bed
11. 0:15forever. I laughed. I thought it was
12. 0:17harmless. I should have asked why she
13. 0:18was the one who suggested it. Most of my
14. 0:19collection was just shirts, but one
15. 0:21wasn't. A signed Ronaldo jersey my dad
16. 0:23bought the year before he died. He saved
17. 0:24for months for it. He had it
18. 0:25authenticated and the dealer registered
19. 0:27the certificate under dad's name, tied
20. 0:28to an email. After he passed, that email
21. 0:30became mine. Anytime that jersey changed
22. 0:32hands, I'd get a notification. Dad set
23. 0:34it up that way so it could never quietly
24. 0:35disappear. I never thought I'd actually
25. 0:36need it. 2 weeks before the final, my
26. 0:38phone buzzed at 3:00 a.m. One line.
27. 0:40Ownership transfer confirmed. I sat up.
28. 0:41I hadn't sold anything. I opened the
29. 0:43certificate portal and my stomach
30. 0:44dropped. Dad's jersey had been
31. 0:45transferred to a new owner. Date of
32. 0:47sale, 11 days earlier. 11 days before
33. 0:49the bet was even decided. I read it
34. 0:50twice. The bet wasn't real. She'd
35. 0:51already sold it. I walked to the closet
36. 0:53where I kept it. The frame was still on
37. 0:54the wall, but behind the glass was a
38. 0:55printed photo of the jersey, not the
39. 0:57jersey itself. She'd swapped it so I
40. 0:58wouldn't notice. For 11 days, I'd walk
41. 1:00past a picture of the only thing my
42. 1:01father left me thinking it was still
43. 1:03there. I should have screamed. Instead,
44. 1:04I stayed quiet because the portal showed
45. 1:06me one more thing, the buyer's name, and
46. 1:07I recognized it, Mr. Hale, the same
47. 1:09dealer who authenticated it for my dad
48. 1:1115 years ago. So, I called him. He went
49. 1:12silent when I said my father's name.
50. 1:14Then he told me everything. A woman and
51. 1:16a younger man had walked in to resell
52. 1:17the jersey. The man did all the talking,
53. 1:19called himself her cousin Vince. But
54. 1:20when Hale scanned the certificate, my
55. 1:21dad's name came up and the registered
56. 1:23email, mine, flagged it on his system.
57. 1:25So, he stalled them, told them the
58. 1:26payout needed 3 weeks to clear. Really,
59. 1:27he was trying to find the person on that
60. 1:29certificate. He'd been holding the
61. 1:30jersey in his safe the whole time
62. 1:31waiting for someone to call. "I wasn't
63. 1:33going to let your father's name walk out
64. 1:34my door," he said, "not like that."
65. 1:35That's when I understood the whole plan.
66. 1:37Sell the jersey through Vince so my name
67. 1:39never touched the sale. Pocket the cash,
68. 1:40almost $30,000, into an account I'd
69. 1:42never seen. Then win the bet so when I
70. 1:44finally noticed it was gone, I'd think I
71. 1:46sold it myself the drunk night of the
72. 1:47final. The bet was the cover story.
73. 1:48She'd built it before the tournament
74. 1:50even started." So, I built one back. I
75. 1:51didn't say a word for 2 weeks. The night
76. 1:53of the final, both our families came
77. 1:54over to watch. Her parents, my mother,
78. 1:56Vince lounging on my couch eating my
79. 1:57food. She was already wearing the Messi
80. 1:59jersey, that shirt she'd won. At
81. 2:00halftime, she stood up, tapped her
82. 2:02glass, and announced the bet to the
83. 2:03entire room. "A deal's a deal." She
84. 2:05smiled at me. "Time to sell the
85. 2:06collection, babe." Everyone laughed. I
86. 2:08didn't. I stood up, too. "Funny you
87. 2:09mention the collection, because dad's
88. 2:11jersey already sold. 11 days before
89. 2:12kickoff." Her smile cracked. "I even
90. 2:14have the certificate." I set the print
91. 2:15out on the table. The transfer date, the
92. 2:17buyer. Vince's face went white before
93. 2:18hers did. "Want to know who bought it?"
94. 2:19I asked. Right then, the doorbell rang.
95. 2:21Mr. Hale walked in carrying a flat black
96. 2:23case. He set it on the table, opened it,
97. 2:25and there it was. The number on the
98. 2:26back, the smudge of ink on the seven.
99. 2:27Dad's jersey, the real one this time. He
100. 2:29looked at her, then at Vince. "These two
101. 2:31tried to sell me this," he said to the
102. 2:32room, "under a dead man's name. His son
103. 2:34was on the certificate the entire time."
104. 2:35The room went dead silent. Her mother
105. 2:37set down her wine. My mother just stared
106. 2:39at her. She opened her mouth, the
107. 2:40excuses already loading. "Cousin, a
108. 2:41favor, a misunderstanding." I didn't let
109. 2:43her finish. I picked up the jersey, the
110. 2:45real one, and hung it back on the wall
111. 2:46where dad put it. Then I turned around
112. 2:47and dropped the divorce papers on the
113. 2:48table, right next to the certificate.
114. 2:50I'd had them ready for a week. "A deal's
115. 2:52a deal."