Writing a piece on George Best is both a rite of passage and a baptism of fire. On the one hand, the iconic star provides plenty of fodder on and off the field. From his spectacular goals to pop-star status to losing battle with alcoholism, the facts jump off the screen. On the other hand, [...]
Has any other player been so frustratingly brilliant as Zinedine Zidane? The Frenchman kept a quiet private life to his credit, but his transgressions on the pitch alternate between a rap sheet and a rhapsody. His feet could take down a 40 yard pass like a feather, yet in the blink of an eye bludgeon [...]
Kaka left for Madrid, Maldini retired, and Ancellotti set sail for England. Surely the Serie A has nothing left to offer in terms of entertainment. Wrong. With newfound (read: low) expectations, ‘Dinho has actually looked half decent. He is actually dribbling at defenders instead of gasping for air. Is this a renaissance? A last gasp [...]
Diego Maradona, el pibe diez, Dieguito, the undisputed greatest footballer of all time…from Argentina. I once again refrain from wading into the Diego-Pele debate, but whom did I write about first? Hint. But now onto Diego´s playing and coaching career, prime fodder for dizzying heights and seafloor lows.
So, I begin with a disclaimer. I love and hate statistics. As a graduate of a graduate school, I realize that statistics can cleverly mask value judgments and assumptions. If I feel like cleverly hiding my deontological proclivities, I reach for the graphing calculator. Brian Phillips at the runofplay has a philosophical aversion to such [...]
We´ve been slowly building up the targets, beginning with an Argentine cult legend, then an Italian favorite, and now we firmly set our sights on the game´s all time great Pele, known as “O Rei” (The King). However, in a playing career so impeccable, finding a blemish on his cv was near impossible. But his [...]
The greatness and the gaffe. The genius and the gomer pyle. While we last ruminated on an unknown-outside-Argentina-striker, we now turn our attention to the Italianinternational scoring phenomon known as Roberto Baggio. Or, how Pope John Paul referred to him – “my worst nightmare.”
The Great And…Not Great series will take a videoscopic look at key moments in players´careers, contrasting the superb with the, ahem, not so superb. I begin with a player most of you know nothing about – Boca Juniors legend Martin Palermo.
