This past week has been a scary one in the United States. Multiple terrorist attacks were foiled as a number of bombs were sent in the mail targeting former presidents, politicians, actors and philanthropists. Now that the suspect is in custody, the world is learning more about Cesar Sayoc Jr., the man who authorities think carried out these attempted domestic terrorist attacks.
And he’s got some interesting quirks regarding soccer.
Sayoc, 56, was arrested in Florida just north of Miami on Friday in connection to the nationwide spree of pipe bombs being sent through the mail to various public figures. Targets have included retired politicians Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, current senators Cory Booker and Kamala Harris, news outlet CNN, actor Robert DeNiro and billionaire philanthropist George Soros, a subject of many right-wing conspiracy theorists. All of the targets have been people President Donald Trump has heavily criticized.
Perhaps one of the oddest facts to come out about Sayoc after his arrest is his weird obsession with youth and college soccer. A white van believed to have belonged to Sayoc was confiscated by police and a few pictures of the bizarre images plastered all over the van have begun circling around the internet.
Included on the mail bomb suspect’s van is a phrase “Top Youth Soccer Recruits For Trump,” one of many references to soccer.
@CBSMiami I have some pictures of this van I saw him at a stoplight one day and thought is was very strange. pic.twitter.com/VWUwznJK8k
— Mahmud mohamed (@thereal_mo01) October 26, 2018
The van features photos of a youth team and about a team’s worth of individual players, one of many peculiar bumper stickers. (There also appears to be some sort of UFO on the window of one of the doors.)
Just as bizarrely, the back left window features a U.S. Soccer sticker and a number of references to Carolina-based college soccer programs.
The text reads, as best we can tell:
“TOP YOUTH SOCCER RECRUITS
OU WILL NEVER SEE A MORE BEAUTIFUL PLAC
THAN HEAVEN BLUE NORTH CARO INA MOUNTAIN’S
NORTH AND SOUTH CAROLINA COLL GE S
UNSTOPPABLE DYNASTY
THE HOME OF SOCCER NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP’S
38 OF 72 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS’S PLAYED SINCE
1959 NORTH CAROLINA COLLEGE’S HAVE WON
SPEVARD UNIV. N.C.
U.N.C.CHAPEL HILL
U.N.C. GREENSBORO
DUKE UNIV.
WAKE FORREST UNIV
CLEMSON UNIV
SUPERIOR EXCELLENCE IN ACADEMICS AND ATHLETICS
EXPANDING THE MIND AND YOUR FUTURE
FULL SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE TO QUALIFIED
TOP YOUTH SOCCER RECRUITS STUDENT ATHLETES
TOP YOUTH SOCCERRECRUITS AOL.COM”
I don’t want to guess at anyone’s mental health, but you have to be a little wonky to still use AOL and put an apostrophe in “championships.” Also to attempt to assassinate public figures.
The other back window includes 2017 NCAA soccer rankings for Carolina schools and more references to the Carolinas being the best place for college soccer. As Deadspin pointed out, a man by the name of Cesar Sayoc played 11 matches with the UNC Charlotte 49ers in 1983.
The only good thing about this weird story is that none of the attempted bombings has been able to harm anyone. Let’s hope politicians stop inspiring people to do crazy shit.
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