Saying Goodbye to Diego Maradona

"He was overwhelmed by the weight of his own personality. Ever since that day when fans first chanted his name, his spinal column caused him grief. Maradona carried a burden named Maradona that bent his back out of shape. The body as a metaphor: his legs ached, he couldn't sleep without pills. It did not take him long to realize it was impossible to live with responsibility of being a god on the field, but from the begining he knew that stopping was out of the question. 'I need them to need me,' he confessed after many years of living under the tyrannical halo of superhuman performance, swollen with cortisone and analgesics and praise, harassed by the demands of his devotees and by the hatred of those he offended....The pleasure of demolishing idols is directly proportional to the need to erect them." -from Soccer in Sun and Shadow, by Eduardo Galeano

Given my affinity for soccer, and Argentina, and the man himself...I would be remiss if I did not take a moment to say a few words today, in light of the untimely passing of the greatest soccer player in history: Diego Maradona. Some say Pele is the greatest of all time. Others say Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. Names like Zidane and Cruyff also make the list. But today, that debate hardly seems to matter. And anyway...Diego Maradona was the greatest and always will be. 

He was also one of the most spectacular hot-mess, train-wreck celebrities ever. An outspoken, egotistical, coke-addled tabloid lighting rod who had the power to make an entire nation -- the whole world, at times -- swell up with pride one moment and then palm its collective forehead in frustration the next. 

In a country the size of the U.S., with the variety of wealthy domestic sports leagues we have, each with their own varied history and deep fan base, it's a bit hard to imagine what someone like Diego Maradona means to a nation like Argentina. You need to understand, first and foremost, that like most South American countries (and most countries in the world, really) football is their most important sport, by far. There are plenty of Argentine tennis stars, and rugby stars, and I'm sure they excel in some other sports, but soccer-futbol is their religion. Full stop. 

You also need to understand that Argentina has a serious inferiority complex, and a chip on its shoulder. Before the Great Depression, Argentina was an economic powerhouse to rival the U.S., but they've never really recovered from their economic fall from grace or their wounded national pride. Furthermore, Argentines pride themselves on being descendent from Europeans -- Spanish, Italians, even Germans -- rather than the local indigenous population, which, they feel, distinguishes them amongst other South American nations. It was a country in need of a talisman, and Diego came just at the right time.

 

Times were especially dark for Argentina during the 1970s, as political turmoil came to a head in 1976 with a military over-throw of the government. It was during this time Diego Maradona was rising through the ranks of professional soccer and becoming noticed. Though he did not play in the 1978 World Cup, which Argentina hosted -- and won -- by the 1986 World Cup in Mexico he had made a name for himself internationally, having played with Barcelona and Napoli, and would have been a legend if he'd never played another season.

However, the 1986 World Cup was his crowning achievement. He essentially took a mediocre national team, grabbed them by the scruff of the neck, and led them to victory on the greatest stage in international sport. Along the way, he gained back some measure of international pride, stealing a victory against England -- which many saw as payback for a brutal defeat years earlier in the Falklands War -- by committing the most famous hand-ball goal in history called "The Hand of God" play. His performance in the 1986 World Cup is one of the most glorious achievements in all of sports. 

Diego Maradona's importance to the people of Argentina is rivalled only by the revolutionary Che Guevara and surpassed only by God (probably). Furthermore, despite the spiral of drug-addiction, scandal, and ill-health began for him in the late-1980s and plagued him throughout the rest of his life, he leaves with him a legacy of victory and leadership that can never be tarnished, and his importance to the legacy of the game of football is immeasurable.

Just watch a few grainy videos of Maradona playing in the 1986 world cup, or for Napoli, and you will understand why he is considered one of the greatest of all time. Maradona was a classic "number 10 man," an attacking mid-fielder who is responsible not only for scoring goals but also for slowing the ball down and making plays, setting up others to get in position to score. He played that role to a T, but he also had the ball-handing ability of a circus performer, coupled with ferocious speed, a low center of gravity, and -- perhaps most important -- a supreme fearlessness and superhuman confidence in his abilities.  

That he died at age 60 is sad, but it's not tragic. He had had health scares before, and trouble with his heart, which was attributed to his cocaine use. Late in his career (2008 or 2010) he had a stint with the Argentine national team, which didn't work out so well, before attempting to coach in the middle east for a while. I would love to have lived in a world in which the legendary Maradona -- the player -- could have developed into a world-class coach and led Argentina to another World Cup Championship...but that's not the world we live in, and that guy would not have been the Diego Maradona we knew and loved and -- I'll admit -- chuckled over in the sports page more than once, with a jovial, "Ah, Maradona..."

True greatness in any human endeavor is a rare and misunderstood thing. We raise people up above the herd for having talent, or they rise on their own. At the top of the heap, they shimmer and gleam, for all to see. But because we can see them more clearly, because they stand out, we begin to see their flaws. They themselves live under a tremendous burden, the burden of fame and adulation. They become addicted to it, precisely as their fans, the people, become more critical and more demanding. It burns some people up. Others manage to survive and even thrive.

Diego Maradona reached god-like status for a time and will never be forgotten as long as soccer exists, and possibly long after. As long as the history of the game lives on and it's myths and legends are alive, centuries after anyone who ever saw him play is dead, the name Maradona will still be spoken, the way we speak of Achilles and Odysseus. 

So, goodbye Diego Maradona. Everything you got, you earned. You were the Golden Boy from Villia Fiorito who commanded the love of the multitudes and stood before kings and your name will be spoken throughout the ages. You did what you were sent here to do, so rest in peace.