Real Salt Lake's Robbie Russell Scored 1590 On His SATs, Has Mother Who Was Hit By Shrapnel

Meet bearded on-field Einstein and armed insurrection survivor Robbie Russell. He plays for Real Salt Lake, which takes on Monterrey tonight for the CONCACAF Champions League title. The winner will be crowned the best club team in the region and advance to the FIFA Club World Cup, where Robbie Russell may take over the world. More from The Salt Lake Tribune:

Russell has lived on four continents. He scored a near-perfect 1590 on his SAT before enrolling at Duke, despite the distraction of soccer and the fact that he wasn't a particularly great student. He describes himself as a "nerd," and reads books such as Stranger in a Strange Land, Moby Dick and A Tale of Two Cities just for kicks. He looks forward to going to medical school after his playing days are done. He has lived in a country ripped apart by civil war, and his mom was once peppered by shrapnel from a massive bomb that exploded a short distance away in an assassination attempt on a government minister.

Here's a quick chronology:

Russell was born in Ghana and moved back and forth to the United States during his formative years. When he was 9, he moved with his family to war-torn Sri Lanka, where his father, who was an aid administrator, negotiated with warlords and government officials to get truckloads of food through to refugees. Acts of terror were all around. His mom was walking toward his father's office when the aforementioned bomb exploded.

Sounds kind of like Monterrey.

Monson: Bearded man of the world leads RSL [The Salt Lake Tribune]