Yet Another Cycling Forum

Off Topic => The Pub => The Sporting Life => Topic started by: PeteB99 on 25 November, 2020, 04:48:16 pm

Title: Diego Maradona RIP
Post by: PeteB99 on 25 November, 2020, 04:48:16 pm
Aged 60.

At his best he played some of the best football I've ever seen.

Sadly too many demons in the end.
Title: Re: Diego Maradona RIP
Post by: De Sisti on 25 November, 2020, 05:00:00 pm
Sky News reported that Johan Cryuff sent in a tweet of condolence (even showed a screenshot of the tweet).  ::-)  What happened to checking facts for accuracy?
Title: Re: Diego Maradona RIP
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 25 November, 2020, 05:08:42 pm
Taken by the hand of God.
Title: Re: Diego Maradona RIP
Post by: citoyen on 25 November, 2020, 05:24:35 pm
At his best he played some of the best football I've ever seen.

For all the adulation heaped on Messi, he has never made the same impression on me as Maradona did. That might just be an age thing though.

I don't think I have ever enjoyed a World Cup so much as Mexico 86. The whole hand of God business was really just a bit of pantomime villainry. It would have been a travesty if Argentina hadn't won that year.
Title: Re: Diego Maradona RIP
Post by: Peter on 25 November, 2020, 07:58:34 pm
It's a shame that the hand goal is remembered for the wrong reason.  It was a terrific piece of conjuring and we were lucky to be alive to see it - Crispin's Day or not.  His second goal was absolutely breathtaking.  I'm reminded of the sensational diving header Alan Shearer scored against Scotland, only to have his brilliant effort eclipsed by Paul Gascoigne 's sublime lob and volley.

Two out of three Geordies, there: Diego would have wanted to be a Geordie, too!  Sadly, he had a lot of other stuff in common with Paul, but thank Milburn  for the memories!
Title: Re: Diego Maradona RIP
Post by: bobb on 25 November, 2020, 07:59:23 pm
Proper old skool footballer. Booze, drugs and getting up to all sorts, but still somehow managed to be one of greatest of all time.

Hated the little cunt though 😋

RIP
Title: Re: Diego Maradona RIP
Post by: Peter on 25 November, 2020, 08:02:50 pm
He spoke highly of you, too!  :)
Title: Re: Diego Maradona RIP
Post by: Hot Flatus on 25 November, 2020, 08:40:00 pm
(https://i.ibb.co/SBvLQbD/Screenshot-20201125-203822-Whats-App.jpg) (https://ibb.co/x654mWK)
Title: Re: Diego Maradona RIP
Post by: DuncanM on 25 November, 2020, 10:00:22 pm
But you know he would bend it into the top corner! ;)
He showed up to talk at the Oxford Union a few years after he retired and performed many keepie uppies with a golf ball while wearing loafers!
Title: Re: Diego Maradona RIP
Post by: Hair_Today_Gone_Tomorrow on 26 November, 2020, 09:45:19 am
Scored a handball goal in 1986 world cup ( not saying I or most people wouldn't have done the same, but its still cheating)

Thrown out of 1994 World Cup for taking banned drugs

Cocaine Addict

Numerous criminal offences - alleged or proven

Mafia links

Adulterer



Whilst he was undoubtedly a great footballer ( not as good as Pele, Duncan Edwards and others in my opinion)
Title: Re: Diego Maradona RIP
Post by: Peter on 26 November, 2020, 01:54:12 pm
Do you do funeral eulogies professionally?!  There are many people whose sins are encompassed in your list (which I can't  confirm, but don't  dispute) but  Maradona had footballing genius on the credit page of his ledger.  I think you are a bit quick off the mark (and probably a Manchester United fan?)!
Title: Re: Diego Maradona RIP
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 26 November, 2020, 02:38:04 pm
Not only Gascoigne but living la vida Pantani!
Title: Re: Diego Maradona RIP
Post by: citoyen on 26 November, 2020, 03:44:18 pm
probably a Manchester United fan

There's an insult!
Title: Re: Diego Maradona RIP
Post by: bobb on 26 November, 2020, 03:45:11 pm
..... but  Maradona had footballing genius on the credit page of his ledger.

This seems to be a common theme all over the media. Gushing tributes to a man who was, by all accounts, a complete arsehole. But hey! Not to worry! You can be as big a prick in life as you like - just as long as you're good at football...
Title: Re: Diego Maradona RIP
Post by: Peter on 26 November, 2020, 04:53:19 pm
I agree with that, Bobb, and I certainly don't look to the media for  guidance on sentiment or morality.  But first there is the tragedy of his death and the reminder of his artistry and brilliance.  Isn't that ok for a couple of days- a little sympathy for basically a tragic life?

He must have hurt a lot of people along the way but he might qualify as an idiot-savant.  He certainly wasn't Stalin - otherwise he'd have played for Leeds.

But your basic point is fair and I've given you A* - only missing ** because Diego had even better hair than you!
Title: Re: Diego Maradona RIP
Post by: DuncanM on 26 November, 2020, 05:10:23 pm
There was a brilliant movie released a couple of years ago just called Diego Maradonna. The story told in that is basically his time in Naples, and how in many ways, Naples was both the making of him on the field and the breaking of him off it. It's worth watching if you get a chance. How much artistic license is taken is hard to say, but I think it's fair to say that the mob ran Naples then, and dropping a young man from a poor background into that environment to be hero worshipped was never going to end well. And let's face it, the tributes are to his talent and achievements on a football field in the late 80s - the rest of the Maradonna story is basically a disaster. I'm not sure you could find a player who has been regarded as the best in the world who hasn't been a complete egotistical arse - I wonder why that might be?
Title: Re: Diego Maradona RIP
Post by: hatler on 26 November, 2020, 08:37:08 pm
Pele ?
Title: Re: Diego Maradona RIP
Post by: bairn again on 26 November, 2020, 08:54:56 pm
I reckon Maradona was the best ever player whose career I recall pretty much from from start to finish.  My earliest memories of games are from the early 70s - by then Pele was very much in the twilight of his career and Cruyff had been on the scene for a while by then, Rolls Royce though he was. 

Maradona led a good-but-not-brilliant Argentina to the World Cup in 1986, and Napoli to 2 scudettos thats not been achieved before or since.  While Messi has won the European Cup and Ronaldo is a phenomenal athlete who won Euro 2016 Id say that they're not quite the player Maradona was in his pomp. 

Aye, he cheated England but don't let that blind you to genius.  Fenwick tried to kick seven shades of shite out him and thats cheating too so dont accidentally sound like Peter Shilton unless you really want to fly with the crows.   

Edit - Ive long believed that Shilton's anger generally stems from the fact that in 1986 and especially in 1990 he knew he was the weak link in the England team.  He'd no spring in his legs and in both the "hand of god" incident and the West Germany free kick that spun over his head in Italia 90 he was found wanting (he also saved 0 pens in the 1990 SF shootout and never looked like saving one). 

That 1990 England team had top class players in every other position and were a top quality GK short of winning the World Cup (the other two were Woods and Seaman both probably better bets at that stage esp Woods who had also been in the 1986 squad along with Gary Bailey). 
Title: Re: Diego Maradona RIP
Post by: Wowbagger on 26 November, 2020, 09:08:24 pm
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/nov/26/maradona-the-footballer-had-no-flaws-maradona-the-man-was-a-victim

That's a sublime piece of prose.
Title: Re: Diego Maradona RIP
Post by: Peter on 26 November, 2020, 09:37:49 pm
Aye, thanks for that, Wow.
Title: Re: Diego Maradona RIP
Post by: Sergeant Pluck on 26 November, 2020, 10:12:58 pm
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/nov/26/maradona-the-footballer-had-no-flaws-maradona-the-man-was-a-victim

That's a sublime piece of prose.

And a translated piece of prose, at that.
Title: Re: Diego Maradona RIP
Post by: Deano on 26 November, 2020, 10:13:50 pm
Yeah, a lovely piece, thanks, Wow.

RIP Diego :(
Title: Re: Diego Maradona RIP
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 26 November, 2020, 11:21:30 pm
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/nov/26/maradona-the-footballer-had-no-flaws-maradona-the-man-was-a-victim

That's a sublime piece of prose.

And a translated piece of prose, at that.
And it shows! In a good way – it's hard to imagine a British journalist writing like that (though possibly an American might).
Title: Re: Diego Maradona RIP
Post by: FifeingEejit on 26 November, 2020, 11:30:07 pm
He was linked to playing in a friendly on the wrong side of Tannadice Street
https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2018/jan/18/the-forgotten-story-of-when-diego-maradona-signed-for-dundee

Alas (?) the most famous and best player to sit in the Dens Park main stand remains Pele. (Schoolboy World cup 1989)

Title: Re: Diego Maradona RIP
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 27 November, 2020, 01:47:20 am
(https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/1e68256248d65f0ce126f510c6e643e01c9eaffa/0_0_5445_3630/master/5445.jpg?width=1010&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=7ea7aead16b1e1cb798a006132e9b144)
Possibly the world's worst statue of Maradona? It's in Calcutta. There's a statue of Pele in Bangalore which is equally bad – in fact the two look remarkably similar.
Title: Re: Diego Maradona RIP
Post by: spesh on 27 November, 2020, 06:41:28 pm
(https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/1e68256248d65f0ce126f510c6e643e01c9eaffa/0_0_5445_3630/master/5445.jpg?width=1010&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=7ea7aead16b1e1cb798a006132e9b144)
Possibly the world's worst statue of Maradona? It's in Calcutta. There's a statue of Pele in Bangalore which is equally bad – in fact the two look remarkably similar.

That's a better likeness than the Emanuel Santos-perpetrated bust of Ronaldo.

Title: Re: Diego Maradona RIP
Post by: mattc on 27 November, 2020, 10:00:20 pm
Pele ?
And Messi.

It's not difficult!
Title: Re: Diego Maradona RIP
Post by: DuncanM on 28 November, 2020, 01:50:19 pm
Pele ?
And Messi.

It's not difficult!
Messi should be in jail for not paying tax (and in a footballing sense has been threatening those trying to run Barcelona every time they do something he doesn't like for the last decade).
Ronaldo (the Portugese one) is obvious.

I don't know a huge amount about Pele (he was playing in MLS by the time I was born), but he does have this absurd "1000 goals" claim that includes pre-season friendlies and a whole bunch of other non-competitive games.
Title: Re: Diego Maradona RIP
Post by: Thor on 28 November, 2020, 05:40:25 pm
There was a brilliant movie released a couple of years ago just called Diego Maradonna. The story told in that is basically his time in Naples, and how in many ways, Naples was both the making of him on the field and the breaking of him off it. It's worth watching if you get a chance.

Tonight, Channel 4, 9:30pm
Title: Re: Diego Maradona RIP
Post by: mattc on 28 November, 2020, 05:52:00 pm
Messi should be in jail for not paying tax (and in a footballing sense has been threatening those trying to run Barcelona every time they do something he doesn't like for the last decade).
It's up-to you, but in my mind that has got zip to do with cheating on the pitch.
Title: Re: Diego Maradona RIP
Post by: DuncanM on 28 November, 2020, 06:03:57 pm
Messi should be in jail for not paying tax (and in a footballing sense has been threatening those trying to run Barcelona every time they do something he doesn't like for the last decade).
It's up-to you, but in my mind that has got zip to do with cheating on the pitch.
Sure, but the original comment was about the best player in the world typically being an egotistical arse.
As for cheating on the pitch, there can't be many players where their opponent has the boots that broke their ankle in a display case.
Title: Re: Diego Maradona RIP
Post by: mattc on 28 November, 2020, 07:21:03 pm
Ah OK - I probably skim-read that bit of the discussion.

Re: ankles
I've never seen the challenge that bust Diego's, but I gather it was "bang out of order" as we might say in Blighty! I wouldn't wish that on anyone - you can mark a guy out of the game without seriously injuring him :(
Title: Re: Diego Maradona RIP
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 30 November, 2020, 09:07:08 pm
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EoAQjuGXcAQKS9Z?format=jpg&name=medium)
Messadona
Title: Re: Diego Maradona RIP
Post by: Duckfoot1606 on 01 December, 2020, 03:10:39 pm
Ah OK - I probably skim-read that bit of the discussion.

Re: ankles
I've never seen the challenge that bust Diego's, but I gather it was "bang out of order" as we might say in Blighty! I wouldn't wish that on anyone - you can mark a guy out of the game without seriously injuring him :(

Unfortunately they couldn’t mark him out of the game, which is why they resorted to kicking him out of it instead. In no way am I defending the hand of god thing, but the ankle breakage came 3 years previously, so the concept of kicking him out of the game was well established.

A
Title: Re: Diego Maradona RIP
Post by: Snakehips on 02 December, 2020, 09:36:41 am
How one Spanish woman footballer chose to honour Maradona during the minute's silence .... (https://www.repstatic.it/video/photo/2020/11/30/743596/743596-thumb-full-720-spagna_la_calciatrice_non_omaggi.jpg)
Title: Re: Diego Maradona RIP
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 13 December, 2020, 01:53:32 pm
The Maradona and child (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/13/the-maradona-and-child-naples-honours-its-hero-with-nativity-figurine)
Elvis Costello was decades ahead of them.
http://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/index.php/Chewing_Gum