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November 25, 2020 9:11 AM Subscribe
Diego Maradona, FIFA's player of the 20th Century, scorer of the greatest World Cup goal of the 20th Century, has died following a heart attack at the age of 60.
Outsized talent, outsized demons. Godspeed, Diego, and thank you for making the beautiful game even more beautiful. Rest well.
posted by Capt. Renault at 9:16 AM on November 25, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by Capt. Renault at 9:16 AM on November 25, 2020 [3 favorites]
Video: A video of Maradona serenaded by Manu Chao.
Tweet: Nothing sums up Maradona better than the streets of Naples. Every working-class district has its homage to him, decades after he left Napoli.
Tweet: I have a tradition to watch this from start to end everytime I see it on my timeline.
Article: The lifelong story of Maradona is that the more broken and ugly something is when it enters his sphere of influence, the more beautiful and joyous that thing tends to become. The opposite is also very often true.
posted by vacapinta at 9:28 AM on November 25, 2020 [9 favorites]
Tweet: Nothing sums up Maradona better than the streets of Naples. Every working-class district has its homage to him, decades after he left Napoli.
Tweet: I have a tradition to watch this from start to end everytime I see it on my timeline.
Article: The lifelong story of Maradona is that the more broken and ugly something is when it enters his sphere of influence, the more beautiful and joyous that thing tends to become. The opposite is also very often true.
posted by vacapinta at 9:28 AM on November 25, 2020 [9 favorites]
The hand of God reaches out a final time.
.
posted by nickmark at 9:30 AM on November 25, 2020 [3 favorites]
.
posted by nickmark at 9:30 AM on November 25, 2020 [3 favorites]
保此道不欲盈
夫唯不盈
故能蔽而新成
He who holds on to the Way seeks no excess.
Since he lacks excess,
He can grow old in no need to be renewed.
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 9:37 AM on November 25, 2020
夫唯不盈
故能蔽而新成
He who holds on to the Way seeks no excess.
Since he lacks excess,
He can grow old in no need to be renewed.
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 9:37 AM on November 25, 2020
. 👊posted by automatronic at 9:47 AM on November 25, 2020 [6 favorites]
.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 9:58 AM on November 25, 2020
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 9:58 AM on November 25, 2020
A true Scottish hero :(
posted by gnuhavenpier at 10:10 AM on November 25, 2020 [10 favorites]
posted by gnuhavenpier at 10:10 AM on November 25, 2020 [10 favorites]
Child genius Diego Maradona became the fulfilment of a prophecy, by Jonathan Wilson in the Guardian.
posted by dng at 10:32 AM on November 25, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by dng at 10:32 AM on November 25, 2020 [2 favorites]
A member of my pandemic household is a former professional soccer player from Argentina. A few days ago we were talking about Maradona and he said, "as a man, I don't like him. But as a player, he is the best there ever was."
Today he is heartbroken. We heard before most of the news had it -- like when my mom said he died I did a news search to see if it was true and found only stories about his surgery two weeks ago. Then they put on the argentine tv. Then the phone started ringing with all the people calling to check in him and give their condolences.
I'm not a soccer fan, but this hit our house hard, mostly in the sadness of someone who had it all and lost it, and lost his life too young, to addiction.
.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 10:40 AM on November 25, 2020 [13 favorites]
Today he is heartbroken. We heard before most of the news had it -- like when my mom said he died I did a news search to see if it was true and found only stories about his surgery two weeks ago. Then they put on the argentine tv. Then the phone started ringing with all the people calling to check in him and give their condolences.
I'm not a soccer fan, but this hit our house hard, mostly in the sadness of someone who had it all and lost it, and lost his life too young, to addiction.
.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 10:40 AM on November 25, 2020 [13 favorites]
Sometimes old sports heroes can look a little junior league compared to perfectly-engineered superstars of present day. This was absolutely not the case with the clips that made it into the Maradona documentary last year; I actually rewound a few of the sequences to watch them again and again. Still incredible to watch!
And he was a character, which is another thing we probably don't get enough of (in nonserious places) these days.
.
posted by grandiloquiet at 10:49 AM on November 25, 2020 [3 favorites]
And he was a character, which is another thing we probably don't get enough of (in nonserious places) these days.
.
posted by grandiloquiet at 10:49 AM on November 25, 2020 [3 favorites]
As an English-person-by-marriage (and training), I am sad to see a worthy opponent gone too soon.
posted by jb at 10:52 AM on November 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by jb at 10:52 AM on November 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
Maradona's (second) goal against England*: English translation of the Argentine commentary: "thank you God...thank you for football...for Maradona".
*And of course it's a tribute to his iconic genius that I don't need to say when, or where, or what his first goal was, right?
posted by Pink Frost at 10:53 AM on November 25, 2020 [4 favorites]
*And of course it's a tribute to his iconic genius that I don't need to say when, or where, or what his first goal was, right?
posted by Pink Frost at 10:53 AM on November 25, 2020 [4 favorites]
Him and George Best are playing keepie-uppie on a cloud.
posted by scruss at 11:00 AM on November 25, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by scruss at 11:00 AM on November 25, 2020 [3 favorites]
.
posted by From Bklyn at 11:20 AM on November 25, 2020
posted by From Bklyn at 11:20 AM on November 25, 2020
.
posted by JoeXIII007 at 11:28 AM on November 25, 2020
posted by JoeXIII007 at 11:28 AM on November 25, 2020
He was one of the good ones and will be missed.
"I am the number one fan of the Palestinian people. I respect them and sympathize with them. I support Palestine without any fear."
Diego Armando Maradona, 1960-2020
Legend.
.
posted by Ahmad Khani at 11:52 AM on November 25, 2020 [3 favorites]
"I am the number one fan of the Palestinian people. I respect them and sympathize with them. I support Palestine without any fear."
Diego Armando Maradona, 1960-2020
Legend.
.
posted by Ahmad Khani at 11:52 AM on November 25, 2020 [3 favorites]
For those who don't visit YouTube, the second goal against England is something to see.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 11:54 AM on November 25, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 11:54 AM on November 25, 2020 [2 favorites]
Reading back, I might not have been entirely clear, that second goal against England is the one that is FIFA's World Cup goal of the century. It's well deserved, and Argentina went on to win the World Cup.
It's some of the greatest individual work you'll ever see, and you have to remember this isn't the start of the tournament or anything. This is the quarter finals, and England were by no means a bad team. Maradona was just unplayable when he hit his stride.
Here's an interview with Lineker (who scored for England that day) about the goal in 2006.
posted by MattWPBS at 12:13 PM on November 25, 2020
It's some of the greatest individual work you'll ever see, and you have to remember this isn't the start of the tournament or anything. This is the quarter finals, and England were by no means a bad team. Maradona was just unplayable when he hit his stride.
Here's an interview with Lineker (who scored for England that day) about the goal in 2006.
posted by MattWPBS at 12:13 PM on November 25, 2020
Him and George Best are playing keepie-uppie on a cloud.It's 15 years to the day since Best died.
posted by fullerine at 12:40 PM on November 25, 2020 [2 favorites]
When I was growing up playing soccer in the 80s Maradona was like the Jimi Hendrix of soccer players. ( After Pele perhaps )
posted by Liquidwolf at 1:36 PM on November 25, 2020
posted by Liquidwolf at 1:36 PM on November 25, 2020
Him and George Best are playing keepie-uppie on a cloud.
I'd like to think of them with their arms around each other drunkenly singing, alternating between 'Brasil, decime qué se siente?' and 'Spirit in the Sky (Georgie Best)'.
[Also obligatory 'Pele good, Maradona better, George Best').
posted by Pink Frost at 2:29 PM on November 25, 2020
I'd like to think of them with their arms around each other drunkenly singing, alternating between 'Brasil, decime qué se siente?' and 'Spirit in the Sky (Georgie Best)'.
[Also obligatory 'Pele good, Maradona better, George Best').
posted by Pink Frost at 2:29 PM on November 25, 2020
As a friend said to me, "now God truly is dead."
⚽️
posted by nevercalm at 4:30 PM on November 25, 2020 [2 favorites]
⚽️
posted by nevercalm at 4:30 PM on November 25, 2020 [2 favorites]
Here's a video obit The Guardian put together:
https://twitter.com/guardian/status/1331777751427162117
posted by Ahmad Khani at 6:48 PM on November 25, 2020
https://twitter.com/guardian/status/1331777751427162117
posted by Ahmad Khani at 6:48 PM on November 25, 2020
If I was in a white dress at a wedding and a muddy ball arrived... I would stop it from the chest, without thinking about it.
posted by adept256 at 12:25 AM on November 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by adept256 at 12:25 AM on November 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
.
I'm born in 1981, the first person who I knew about, outside of my family and kindergarten, was Diego Maradona. It's so sad to think about him not being out there anymore.
posted by Kattullus at 3:58 AM on November 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
I'm born in 1981, the first person who I knew about, outside of my family and kindergarten, was Diego Maradona. It's so sad to think about him not being out there anymore.
posted by Kattullus at 3:58 AM on November 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
.
for the greatest player to have ever worn a Spurs shirt, in the prime of his career
(in a testimonial for Tottenham legend and fellow Argentine Ossie Ardiles, but still...)
posted by hangashore at 9:37 AM on November 26, 2020
for the greatest player to have ever worn a Spurs shirt, in the prime of his career
(in a testimonial for Tottenham legend and fellow Argentine Ossie Ardiles, but still...)
posted by hangashore at 9:37 AM on November 26, 2020
Being a game primarily played with the feet, it turns out that futbol players 'talk' with their hands. What I mean by this is that you can 'see' a lot about a player's personality in their body language (this certainly happens in other sports too).
So, eg, you can see the controlled power in the movements of O Fenômeno, the clinical endings of Robben, the dancing play of Ronaldhino, etc.
The live play I've seen of Maradona always relates such a naturalness with the ball. You can see it in that warm up video posted above. It's what enables the slaloming runs, especially his most famous one. It's not like he has expert control over the ball...it's like the sphere is an another appendage being pushed and pulled in the regular flow of his motion, in a parabolic coupling that follows wherever his joints go.
I'm a Messi guy. And comparisons are obvious, numerous and in a lot of cases accurate. But it's different in how Maradona related to the ball (and by extension the game more generally). I feel like Messi is always moving from a subliminal need to dominate in spite of his diminutive size. He's willing the contours of the game to the shape he desires and deposits all of this in the back of the net.
Maradona, on the other hand, he just loves to move and the ball is along for the ride. He wants to go fast, to feel the wind strain to catch up, he wants to see his opponent lost in his dervish, on the wrong foot as he goes by. And then he realizes he's made it to the goal and he resigns himself to ending the 'game' the way it must.
posted by Reasonably Everything Happens at 10:30 AM on November 26, 2020 [6 favorites]
So, eg, you can see the controlled power in the movements of O Fenômeno, the clinical endings of Robben, the dancing play of Ronaldhino, etc.
The live play I've seen of Maradona always relates such a naturalness with the ball. You can see it in that warm up video posted above. It's what enables the slaloming runs, especially his most famous one. It's not like he has expert control over the ball...it's like the sphere is an another appendage being pushed and pulled in the regular flow of his motion, in a parabolic coupling that follows wherever his joints go.
I'm a Messi guy. And comparisons are obvious, numerous and in a lot of cases accurate. But it's different in how Maradona related to the ball (and by extension the game more generally). I feel like Messi is always moving from a subliminal need to dominate in spite of his diminutive size. He's willing the contours of the game to the shape he desires and deposits all of this in the back of the net.
Maradona, on the other hand, he just loves to move and the ball is along for the ride. He wants to go fast, to feel the wind strain to catch up, he wants to see his opponent lost in his dervish, on the wrong foot as he goes by. And then he realizes he's made it to the goal and he resigns himself to ending the 'game' the way it must.
posted by Reasonably Everything Happens at 10:30 AM on November 26, 2020 [6 favorites]
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