Brazilian Pele, arguably the best soccer player ever, passed away. He was the sport’s equivalent of Muhammed Ali, Michael Jordan, Babe Ruth, and Wayne Gretzky.
Absolute legend. He was the reason I started playing and the true icon for all of us.
RIP to one of, if not THE best ever.
8 Likes
Only got to watch him very late in his career when he joined the Cosmos trying to get the US interested in soccer. But some of the old footage of his skills amazes me.
Truly among the very greatest to ever step foot on the pitch. (Would get my vote for GOAT, there would be those who have a differing opinion.)
3 Likes
Even though I was in the half generation before Americans tried to play soccer, everyone knew who Pele was.
His greatness overcame our profound ignorance.
(Ironically, though I never played soccer, I did end up coaching youth soccer for my boys’ teams. It was pretty easy. None of the parents understood the game either, so they watched the game and socialized while I yelled out “RUN!”)
6 Likes
Same. Coached it from 1977-1981. Saw it grow from a few hundred players in the valley to thousands.
2 Likes
I think he was the best Striker/Forward/Attacante, etc But he was a bit one dimensional in that regard. He wasnt particularly distinguished at PKs over the years.
For all-around player it would have to be first Maradona, then recently Messi with his WC win now. Both of these Argentine legends were brilliant at all aspects of the game, save goalkeeping! LOL I got to watch Diego for 4 years at San Paolo. I wonder what he would think of that Stadium being named after him now. I"ll be interested to see what else Messi can do before he “ages out”. Diego never really got that chance.
Maradona’s legacy would have been even more impressive if they powerful teams of northern Italy hadn’t conspired to take him down thru wine, women,drugs, etc. They had to, since they could not stop him at all “on the field”. They literally seduced him into a lifestyle they knew they could use against him… I saw it happen over those 4 years I was stationed in Napoli. And of course we lost HIM not long ago… he was MY AGE. His death has some echoes of the Michael Jackson fiasco all over it, and I need to check up on what Argentine law enforcement did as a follow up.
In any case, RIP to a true gentleman… They just dont make em like that anymore.
2 Likes
Back in the late 70’s, I played soccer for a team that won the states in Massachusetts 2 times and had two players that made Parade Magazine in one year, yet, every time we ran by the football team, the coach would get the entire football team shout “f*****” at us.
So glad to see times have changed.
I heard later, that same coach went to Walpole for killing his wife. What a guy…
I played as a youth and young adult. When I was in high school in Utah in the mid-90s, players from other sports (namely baseball because our seasons were both in the spring) would make fun of us. I never understood why. Can’t fellow athletes appreciate the skill it takes to play other sports?
1 Like
I did as well, coached my son’s team from his first year, age 4, through age 14, stopped when he got into high school. I learned a lot more about soccer than I ever thought you could know, and now it’s actually my second favorite spectator sport. I have 4 former players who played on scholarship in college.
2 Likes
All sports are simultaneously simple and complicated.
My brother was dating this woman from Colombia who wanted to see a baseball game, so I got invited as a fourth rate interpreter. It takes 2 minutes to explain baseball, yet men have been studying and arguing about the fine points forever.
Same with every other sport.
Back to the Ill-fated Bees game date, after the basics of the game were covered, this woman started talking about Tom Brady and how he was such a “beautiful, beautiful man!” (This was at least 12 years ago). I didn’t have to translate, her Spanglish was “sufficient”.
This went on and on, my brother got fed up and decided this relationship had zero future, so we decided to mess with his date, and I told her the “secret” that Tom Brady was actually gay.
Big emotional reaction, we went through all the stages of grief in about 15 minutes, including several minutes of loud weeping. By this point whatever was going on with the baseball game was a distant concern, so we left and took her home.
When we dropped her off, I told her we hoped she had a nice time learning about baseball, and then I told her the Tom Brady info was a “broma”, a joke, and my brother sped off with this Gloria from Modern Family clone screaming at us.
3 Likes
Ok @Ma-ake, I’m sending you the cleaning receipt for the suit I just spit my coffee all over.
The one day in weeks I have to dress for meetings…
1 Like
Gloria is awesome
1 Like