While most soccer players are looking forward to a long productive season, Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel worries about his father’s safe return.

Michael Obi was last heard from on Friday, and the Nigerian was confirmed kidnapped by Mikel’s management team by Saturday. So far, no demands or ransom has been mentioned. Michael Obi runs an inter-state transport company in Nigeria.

Mikel pleaded with kidnappers on Britain’s Sky Sports Network: “Please just let him go,” said Mikel. “He’s just an old man, he hasn’t done any harm to anyone as far as I know and I don’t know why he has been taken.”

Good luck to John Obi Mikel for the safe return of his father.

Sauce: The Guardian

New Jersey dudes Steve Lerner, and David Jacobs and Fabian Nicieza want your kids to play games online to fight childhood obesity. But here’s the catch: gamers on their site – FunGoPlay.com – don’t just play games online. The site actually rewards gamers for playing games in the real physical world.

After kids create an account on FunGoPlay, they choose an avatar and get a locker room where they keep track of their stats. They’re able to play single and multiplayer games online, go on quests, play in tournaments, and chat with other members. But in order to get the most out of the site, players have to use “connected equipment” called FGP Sports Gear. Currently, two items have been created – a soccer ball and a frisbee disc – that track how long they’ve been played with. The child plays with the equipment, and is given a level code that coincides with the amount of activity. According to the FunGoPlay site, these connected devices unlock “in-game bonuses like medals, points, PowerUps and special items for their avatar and locker room.” This fall, a football will also join the family of FGP Sports Gear.

This is a great concept. The three fathers noticed when coaching their little league teams that kids would finish their games, then go home and play online games. In order to keep kids outside, the fathers knew they had to incentivize it. If kids wanted to play computer games, let them – but give them a reason to go back outside.

Monthly subscriptions start at $5.95, and the first 10,000 subscribers receive a free soccer ball or disc to get them on their way! Check out the sauce for more information and backstory!

Sauce: NJ.com

Thursday Night, during the Texas Rangers/Oakland A’s game, the unthinkable happened: a man tumbled out of the stands trying to catch a ball and died after a 20-foot fall.

The man, Shannon Stone, was a lieutenant in the fire department for 18 years. He was at the game with his 6 year old son, Cooper (highlighted in the header image). In the second inning, an Oakland A’s player hit a foul ball, and Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton threw the ball up to the stands for a lucky fan to take home. Stone reached for the ball, lost his balance and fell between the stands and outfield. Other fans around him tried to grab him as he went over, but it was too late. All of this unfolded, unfortunately, on live television.

Josh Hamilton is taking the tragedy hard, feeling like it was his fault. He said he could hear Stone’s son screaming for his father after the fall.

David Brown of Yahoo Sports put the tragedy in the most appropriate perspective saying that “this has to be the saddest possible event at a baseball game. A man goes to a ballgame with his son — it’s the ultimate American experience — and he dies trying to catch a ball. It’s hard to comprehend.”

The part that really gets you as a dad – some of his last words, as he was carried out on the stretcher, were “Please check on my son. My son was up there by himself.” And if you’re not already heart-broken, Stone and his son had stopped at a sporting goods store on the way to the game to get Cooper a glove, hoping he’d have the chance to catch a fly-ball.

Sauce: Yahoo Sports

When I clicked on Andy Frye’s “We All Dress Like Our Fathers” article, I thought it’d be another post about how old style’s hot again and hipsters are wearing ironic vintage t-shirts. Blah blah blah.

Turns out the article’s more about sports, life lessons and Ron Hextall. And really, Frye ends up talking more about how kids fight, and how “sometimes the scuffle is part of life.”

Fighting, sports, beer, soccer, hockey, Kojak, Ron Hextall. But no mention of hipster scum. And really, that’s alright.

Sauce: Chicago Now

I know nothing about football. Test me; I couldn’t tell you how many points a team gets when they take a field goal kick. I don’t know how many men are on the field at once, and could only name three or four positions. But, what I do know is fathers, and as it turns out, NFL dads are trying to slowly break the perception that they know as much about fatherhood as I know about football.

CBS Sports talked to four NFL players – Houston’s Derrick Ward (one child), Arizona’s Jay Feely (four children), Seattle’s Chester Pitts (two children) and San Diego’s Philip Rivers (expecting his sixth child).

Ward summarized the state of fatherhood in the NFL, saying “There are good fathers and there are bad fathers in the NFL just like in society. But my bottom line has always been if the individual wants to do right by their kid, they’ll do it.” Ward sounds like a good father regardless of his profession – even saying that post-divorce, “keeping a positive relationship with [daughter] Jaida’s mom is important for Jaida, so I do it.”

You don’t often get that kind of cool-headed logic out of normal dudes, let alone NFL players. Turns out, there’s NFL dads out there that want to keep their kids in a “normal” life, and do the things all fathers do – help with homework, shuttle kids to their soccer practices, and of course, play a little game of catch in the backyard.

We mentioned the Chicago Bears’ Devin Hester and his monthly fatherhood column with Chicago Parent back in January – are we witnessing a new era of athlete? Read the CBS Sports article for some other surprising insight, sauced below.

Sauce: CBS Sports

The Denver Post has an article up about some sons of famous fathers around sports, and more particularly, in the MLB draft.

Trevor Gretzky, for example, prefers baseball over his dad’s Hall of Fame hockey legacy – and was selected in the seventh round by the Chicago Cubs. Gretzky is planning on going to San Diego State college if he doesn’t sign with the Cubs.

The Cubs also drafted Shawon Dunston Jr. in the 11th round – hearkening back to their drafting of Shawon Sr. in 1982.

The Denver Post has a couple of other father-son combos in their Draft Day 2 update, sauced below.

Sauce: Denver Post

Yahoo Sports has been a source of fatherhood articles for us lately, if that gives you a scary idea of the article pool we’re working with. But hey, it’s Friday and a holiday weekend…

Yahoo contributor Mark Paul presents for your consideration, the “best” father-son combos in the MLB.

I don’t know much about baseball, but I don’t know why the Ripken family didn’t make it on the list. I was pretty into Cal Ripken Jr. back when I was in little league. On the other hand, I pretty much used Sandy Alomar’s baseball cards to practice throwing cards like Gambit.

Sauce: Yahoo Sports

Yahoo Sports has a list up of the five best and worst fathers in sports movies. I don’t want to ruin the surprise about who’s on the list, but Ray Kinsella from “Field of Dreams” is on the Worst list. BAM! Take that, Costner!

Also, Rocky Balboa didn’t make the Worst list – though he seems to be on-par with Kinsella. Everything seems to work out for Rocky in every movie, but he sure mindscrewed his kid along the way.