I’ve been to a few San Antonio Missions games at Wolff Stadium, and here’s a quick list of pros and cons.

PROS - Minor League Baseball games are fun, the Missions do a lot of fun promotions (including the best fireworks I’ve ever seen at a minor league park) and they’ve got the greatest mascot ever, the Ballapeno. He’s a baseball playing jalapeño. This is us. Missions games also feature HENRY THE PUFFY TACO, which is exactly what it sounds like.

CONS - literally 3,000 degrees at all times

Watching clips from Missions games eliminates their only Con, so break out the tissues and enjoy this clip of a dad returning home from the Army to surprise his daughter during a ceremonial first pitch. It’s heartwarming. 3,000 degrees of heartwarming.

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Reigning UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva is already one of the most likable stars in professional sports, but in case there were any stragglers out there who didn’t like Spider before, this video’s about to change all of that. Twelve-year old Joao Pedro is suffering from a bone disease called Epiphysiolysis that has left him bound to a wheelchair for the past 9 months. Doctors aren’t sure if he’ll ever walk again, which is obviously a terrible reality for any child to face, let alone one who loves sports.

One of Joao’s idols in Silva, so a friend reached out to Silva’s doctor, Eduardo Picanço, for an autograph to help lift the child’s spirits. Dr. Picanço and Silva did him one better and agreed to go meet him in person. And sure, we’ve seen plenty of these videos, but damn it all to heck if Joao’s reaction doesn’t just melt your heart.

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Damn you, Cincinnati Cyclones. Just when I thought I’d make it through a day free of allergies, you had to go and surprise the Gallardo family before Saturday night’s game against the Evansville Icemen by bringing out their father and Army sergeant Phillip Gallardo. His 12-year old daughter and 11-year old son thought they had been randomly selected to drop the puck before the ECHL game in Covington, Kentucky, but they were surprised when their father joined them at center ice, as he had returned from Afghanistan.

Gallardo hadn’t seen his family in more than a year, so naturally the reaction was eye-watering. Good lord, I don’t ever get tired of turning into a pile of sentimental mush from watching these videos. I would watch just about any sport in the world if I was promised that I’d get to see a family surprised by a soldier coming home. The soldier doesn’t even have to be related to that family, he can just walk up and be like, “Hey, I’m back from hell, how’s it going?” and I’d have to cover my eyes and run out of the room.

Well done, Cyclones.

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