Diego Maradona dead at 60
November 25th, 2020 at 12:29 PM ^
If you haven’t seen the HBO documentary on Maradona do yourself a favor and watch it. Incredible story.
November 25th, 2020 at 12:48 PM ^
Must have been the Hand of God.
November 25th, 2020 at 12:53 PM ^
While he is most famous for his international play, his time at Napoli is what I consider his greatest accomplishment. Winning the league (best league in the world at the time) against the northern powerhouses really showed how he could lift an entire team over the long haul and not just in the context of a 3-week tournament in which there is so much variability.
November 25th, 2020 at 8:51 PM ^
That’s 100% correct. Those Napoli teams were the first from the south to win Serie A. There’s a ton of cultural significance to this that needs historical context to understand.
November 25th, 2020 at 1:15 PM ^
Arguably the greatest soccer player ever during his short peak (2-3 years).
Others have had much more sustained success and a better overall resume (Ronaldo-Portugal, Messi, Ronaldo - Brazil, Pele, Zidane), but in watching videos of this man in his short peak where he delivered Argentina's last World Cup - hard to argue anyone has ever matched that level of greatness.
November 25th, 2020 at 2:46 PM ^
Strong parallel with Mike Tyson. Both those dudes went full supernova for a slice of the 1980s ... right when ESPN was putting sports into overdrive in the collective conscious of society.
Talk to anyone who watched either of those two in his prime, and they'll mostly dismiss the longstanding mediocrity that followed. Because the peak was THAT GOOD.
Kind of eerie that each of them became almost comically tragic later on.
November 25th, 2020 at 1:27 PM ^
The Hand of God.
What a player.
November 25th, 2020 at 2:02 PM ^
dude lived hard. Cocaine is a hell of a drug
November 25th, 2020 at 2:36 PM ^
Don't abuse drugs kids. It may shorten your life.
November 25th, 2020 at 4:14 PM ^
I remember seeing the "Hand of God" goal as it happened in '86. There was not much in the way of soccer on American TV back then, but that WC match was on, probably because of the intrigue of Argentina and England being involved in the recent Falkland Islands war.
His "traffic cone" goal, where he weaved through the England defense like they were just traffic cones, was what was really impressive. The "Hand of God" goal was a huh, what? at the time. It was not clear at the time that it was really a handball, the camera angles were not conclusive, and there was no replay.
November 25th, 2020 at 11:30 PM ^
Unbelievably talented and fun to watch. He got me hooked on World Cup back in the day. Can't watch a game today without remembering him and how he remains a benchmark for greatness.