Chrisitine Sinclair is trending on Twitter. (Associated Press)
Drugs do her. #ChristineSinclair
The news cycle is fast, but what's even faster? The Twitosphere. For those of you not on Twitter, you missed what was easily the most entertaining media coverage of the FIFA Women's World Cup so far.
Since Sunday's opener I've been waiting for the Women's World Cup to trend on Twitter (a lot of people mentioning the event on Twitter at the same time). You know what came up first? Canadian captain #ChristineSinclair.
The media buzz is not surprising given the way Sinclair refused medical assistance for a clearly broken nose and went on to score a picture-perfect free-kick.
As Rhian Wilkinson said after the game: "There are broken noses, and then there's what happened to her - really, [her nose] is going a different way in the middle," she said.
"[Sinclair] came back on and she had the composure to softly touch the ball into the top corner - she's really a top-class athlete."
Little did Sinclair know, however, that while she was being medically tended to (thanks to @kaylynkyle for the pic), she was becoming a legend, à la Chuck Norris.
It all started with Daniel Squizzato (@cdnsoccerblog), who writes for Canadian Soccer News. He was watching the England-Mexico game yesterday, when the presenter kept praising Christine Sinclair and in his "mind she then took on superhuman qualities," he told me (aptly over Twitter).
"So I threw out a bunch of tweets in the style of those Chuck Norris 'facts' and people seemed to catch on."
"Surprisingly I was sober," he added.
Well people caught on, indeed. And the new 'facts' are still streaming in today (granted they are making less and less sense as the days go on). In fact there are now actual websites dedicated to what's been called "Sinclair-isms".
A photo of the mask Sinclair will wear against France on Thursday.Here's a round-up of my favourite Sinclair-isms so far (and of course feel free to comment with your own at the bottom of this page).
20. She'll be wearing a mask, but it's to protect the other players from her. #ChristineSinclair (@CdnSoccerBlog)
19. Chuck Norris wishes he was #ChristineSinclair. (@vcarneiro)
18. When #ChristineSinclair goes on vacation, the sun gets a tan. (@SCGJamie)
17. The word "sinclair" means "run away in terror" in 35 languages. #ChristineSinclair (@that_twisted_cm)
16. When #ChristineSinclair laughs, the stock market goes up. (@SCGJamie)
15. Reason FIFA takes bribes is cause half of their budget goes to replace the netting in games #ChristineSinclair plays in. (@whitecapsbeat)
14. Donald trump asked to see #ChristineSinclair 's birth certificate just to prove she's human. (@califax)
13. The Post Office is back to work because #ChristineSinclair wanted to mail some post cards to her friends and family (@PrairieboyAlex)
12. Can't take any credit for the Christine Sinclair/Chuck Norris facts. But they are all true because #ChristineSinclair is never wrong (@KIM_Notorious)
11. The kinetic energy generated by #ChristineSinclair at full stride is used to power a small children's hospital in Cambodia. (@JasonTO)
10. If #ChristineSinclair passed you the ball, you would put it on your resume
(@Gregair13)
9. Al Gore invented the Internet so he could watch #ChristineSinclair highlights on Youtube (@whitecapsbeat)
8. #Christine Sinclair can't go within 500 meters of a pool. She hates diving that much (@cdnsoccerblog)
7. When you open a can of whoop-ass, #ChristineSinclair jumps out (@Kim_Notorious)
6. Drugs do her. #ChristineSinclair (@Lord_Bob)
5. It's called a "dead ball" because #ChristineSinclair killed it (@7semiao)
4. The CSA is short for #ChristineSinclair Association (@pompeycanuck)
3. The Vancouver riots were only allowed to happen because #ChristineSinclair was out of town (@cdnsoccerblog)
2. Considering how easily she undid a Berlin Wall, [#ChristineSinclair] could have single-handedly ended the Cold War (@cdnsoccerblog)
1. Instead of autographs, she gives her fans heart. It's OK, she's got plenty to spare. #ChristineSinclair (@CdnSoccerBlog)
Of course if you want to follow the #ChristineSinclair tweet-a-thon, you can follow Anjali on @anjalinayar or just type in the search term ChristineSinclair on twitter.
