The record collection of 1,230 different soccer balls

A Mexican soccer fan broke a Guinness World Record by amassing a collection of 1,230 different soccer balls.

Rodrigo Romero Saldivar of Puebla said his collection began in 2006, when he was attending the World Cup in Germany and bought a ball so he and his friends could play while they weren’t watching the games.

Saldivar said his collection started to grow as he bought balls from various stores in Mexico, and he later branched out into buying balls internationally online and joining social networking groups dedicated to collecting.

Saldivar’s collection bested the previous record of 861 soccer balls, which was set by Argentina collector Fernando Fuglini.

“Luck does not come by itself; you find it and if you set your mind to it and fight for your dreams, the doors and roads become easier,” said Saldivar.

Deer removed from classroom of a school

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) said Officer Kaleb Stratton responded to Westside Elementary in Springfield on a report of a deer inside the building.

The TWRA said the deer had apparently forced its way into the school through an emergency exit. The white-tail buck was “in good spirits” and allowed Stratton to lead it to an exit, the school said.

The deer was estimated to be between 2.5 and 3.5 years old.

Massive GPS drawing breaks Guinness record

To raise awareness of men’s health, a British cyclist broke a Guinness World Record for the largest continuous GPS drawing by bicycle in 12 hours (individual).

Anthony Hoyte, nicknamed the “pedalling Picasso,” covered a distance of 66.48 miles on the streets of London and used a GPS tracking app to create a massive image of a man with a moustache. Hoyte told Guinness he experienced some difficulties early on with unexpected road closures.

“Luckily, the key bits — the eyes, nose, mouth and ‘tache — went to plan. There were a few more issues towards the end — but I was less concerned about that as the shape of the hair isn’t critical,” Hoyte said after his ride.

Rare Pacific football fish washes up on the beach

A visitor to a San Diego beach snapped photos of a deep sea-dwelling Pacific football fish washed up on the sand. Jay Beiler thought initially that the creature at Black’s Beach, in the Torrey Pines area of San Diego, was a jellyfish.

Beiler estimated the creature was about a foot long. Ben Frable, collection manager for the marine vertebrate collection at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, said the creature was a Pacific football fish, a deep-sea dwelling species of anglerfish.

“This is one of the larger species of anglerfish, and it’s only been seen a few times here in California, but it’s found throughout the Pacific Ocean,” Frable said.

Published in Dawn, Young World, December 11th, 2021