Dowbrigade

Diego Armando Maradona, one of the greatest soccer players of all
time, lies unconscious in an exclusive Buenos Aires clinic, debating
between life and death. Outside, on the street, thousands of his faithful
fans have mounted a 24-hour vigil to cheer, pray, console each other
and try to catch a glimpse of any friends, family, doctors or anyone
else involved, however peripherally, with their idol.

Mardonna’s career is the stuff of legend. He arrived on the national
scene in his native Argentina at the age of 13, when as the captain of
a youth team called "The Cebollitos" he won regional and national championships.
He turned professional at 16, and at 17 was called to the national team
for the first time.  He won his first world championship at 19,
as captain of the Argentine youth team.

His greatest performances came on the biggest stage of all, the 1986
World Cup, won by Argentina. He was the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
In a quarterfinal game against England he scored the legendary "Hand
of God" goal, where a protested but not sanctioned illegal touch with
his hand allowed him to score the first goal.  Later in the same
game he scored probably the most brilliant goal in World Cup history,
taking the ball deep in his own end of the field and single-handedly
faked, juked, twirled and left in the dust 9 of the 11 members of the
English side to score the deciding goal.

In soccer-mad Argentina, where "futbol" is a religion, Maradona is a
god. His fans are legion, and worship his every move, on and off the
field.  They supported him through transfers to 3 Argentine teams
and many teams in Spain and Italy as well.  They supported him through
his much publicized struggles with drug addiction. They even founded
an actual church in his name in Buenos Aires. Today outside the clinic
the TV news interviewed sobbing fans crying "Diego, we can’t go on without
you" and averring in so many words "Diego is like a god. We worship him"

His soccer career was cut short by injuries and arrests. He blew millions
on cars, bad investments and gifts in a spectacular example of financial
mismanagement which rivals the record of Mike Tyson. Finally, in 2000,
at the end of his rope, his health failing and his fortune almost gone,
he retired
to Cuba as a personal guest of Fidel Castro, to "take the cure".

The press could never get enough of Diego, who supplied them with succulent
quotes on topics as diverse as his sports legacy: "Whatever happens,
whatever people say, everybody knows that #10 on the National Team will
be mine…..forever"; on the social issues of the day: "I don’t have
anything against homosexuals. I think it’s OK that they exist, because
that just leaves more women for those of us who are Machos"; or politics:
"George Bush is a murderer. I prefer Fidel Castro. The Americans shouldn’t
be surprised at Bin Laden, since he was "invented by the Yanquis, to
fight the Soviets"

Maradona was admitted to the hospital Sunday after leaving a soccer
match between his beloved Boca Juniors with "arterial hypertension."
Rumors are flying that he had suffered another cocaine overdose, and
neither his doctors or his family are denying the rumors.  Still,
it seems everyone in Argentina is still pulling for him, they still consider
him a god.

The Dowbrigade feels this is one of the most egregious cases of wanton
misplacement of fame and respect in the history of sports.  For
us, Maradona is the scum or the earth, not worthy of the respect due
the lowest low-life begging for spare change in the gutter.  Again
and again he has defrauded his family, his fans, his team and his country.  He
is a terrible example to kids and young athletes, a human car wreck
who has wasted his tremendous talent and thrown away innumerable chances
to redeem himself.  It is inconceivable to us that the Argentines
still see him as an idol; worshipping Maradona is worse than worshiping
the devil, and he belongs in jail or in some sort of zoo.

It’s not that we have anything against drug addicts.  In fact,
some of our favorite figures are drug addicts, from famous figures like
DeQuicy, Crowley, Burroughs and Keith Richards to personal acquaintances
like Stan the Methadone addict or Ned the "Gentleman Junkie".
But Maradona is a disgrace to drug addicts everywhere, and deserves whatever
he gets. In our opinion he serves only as an example of how early fame
and weakness
of character
can combine
to turn a promising athlete into a terrible destructive influence on
a generation of sports fans.

Of course, we hope he recovers, but we find the continuing adoration
of this sleazeball a blight on soccer, his native land, and modern sports
in general. We expect our readership in Argentina (if such a thing exists)
will flame us flagrantly for saying so, but that’s the way we see it.