Jul 8, 1995 Philistines are busting my balls (Ariel Mazzarelli)
Feb 22, 1996 Star Trek (Ariel Mazzarelli)
May 25, 1996 To see or not to see, that is the question (Ariel Mazzarelli)
Apr 30, 1997 Maradona's comeback - in your dreams (Stig Oppedal, Ariel Mazzarelli, Lagloirede)
May 13, 1997 In Defense Of Maradona (Stig Oppedal, Marco Paserman)
See also:
These Are The Days (Ariel Mazzarelli)
La Mano de Dios (Ariel Mazzarelli)
=============================================
From: mazzare@primenet.com (Ariel Mazzarelli)
Subject: Philistines are busting my balls
Date: July 8, 1995
flares@bosshog.arts.uwo.ca (Fabian 'Fabi' Lares) wrote:
>I doubt Maradona commands any respect anymore from most of the players.
This is, of course, a ridiculous thing to say.
>As an argentinian, and an Argentina fan, I'd rather not see the following
>people ever play for the albiceleste again: Maradona, Caniggia & Burruchaga.
Gee, you are just full of personality judgements, aren't you?
I suppose that everyone has a right to his opinion, no matter how inane.
But honestly, where do you get off saying things like that?
If these players can still play at a level good enough for the national team,
we Argentina fans could not give a rat's fart what your opinion is--they
should be on the team.
This is a big problem with Passarella in general--one gets the impression that
if for some ridiculous reason (and a haircut is certainly a ridiculous reason)
he does not like somebody, that somebody will not be on *our* national team.
Somehow, this simple fact--that it is *our* national team--seems to escape
him, and it escapes you as well.
To compound the absurdness of your position, whereas Passarella at least has
a reasonably close personal relationship with all these players, you get your
opinions from the newspapers and El Grafico. Pathetic.
>Argentina's reputation internationally has been damaged by the callous
>actions of these 3, and to try to establish argentinian soccer on the map
>as not being a one man show, Passarella would do good not to call on the
>services of these FORMER stars.
You know, I have not seen Burruchaga lately, so I cannot say much about him.
I presume that Caniggia is still a very good player, but it is true, there
are others that are comparable. But Diego? There is no one like him now,
there was no one like him during the whole 20th century, and there is no
guarantee that we will see anyone like him before we're dead and buried.
I know that he is a little mersa, and he might be a little brash, and oh
isn't he just embarrassing at departmental socials, I mean, really, can't
we get someone with a nice crewcut and absolutely no opinions instead?
Diego is not a fucking commodity you just buy, like a fucking headband. He
is not a fucking flag, and God only knows he is several evolutionary layers
removed from someone like yourself. Diego is simply the greatest player that
ever lived, he is still capable of doing things with a ball that others
cannot even imagine, and until he is finished as a player, we want to see
him on the team. He is *ours*. Every game that He plays is a compendium of
futbol lessons, and if you weren't so socially retarded, to expect everyone
to behave like they came out of a little cookie cutter, you would see this as
well. Instead of bitching about how he is just so cabecita, you know, you
could just shut the fuck up for five minutes and watch him play. And if there
was still an ounce of humanity left in your sorry ass, you would humbly ask
for forgiveness for ever having demanded that he stay off the team.
I was at Boston for the Nigeria game, and I thank Him for deciding to show up
and wave his wand one more time. If FIFA later forces him to leave, well,
that is just the way that goes. They have their motives, and the health of
futbol is certainly not among them. But what are your motives? Do you even
know what a gambeta is? Does the prejudice that obviously pollutes the space
between your ears allow to understand that when he scored those golazos
against the English, you no longer had a right to talk as you do? That you
finally had to acknowledge that there was this cabecita that was far, far
better than you and your ilk?
Now go back to your sorry social circles, wonder aloud why we don't hear
music by that nice man Salieri and bitch about Mozart's deplorable manners.
Only, please, don't talk while the music is playing.
---------------------------------------------
From: mazzare@primenet.com (Ariel Mazzarelli)
Subject: Re: Philistines are busting my balls
Date: July 10, 1995
I see. When Diego is doing great, and FIFA is not suspending him, you love
him. Now that hard times have come, you don't want to see him on the team.
I feel quite differently. You asked, rhetorically I suppose, whether I
subscribed to some theory that the suspension during the world cup was
inappropriate, whether if FIFA's version was in some way inaccurate. Well,
of course it was. For many reasons, from procedural ones (which Grondona
should have challenged) to those of precedence, as a similar offense was not
punished in the same way in 1986. But since it is Maradona, and he plays for
Argentina, we can expect FIFA to react as harshly as it can get away with.
You exclaim that you know all this stuff about futbol, well then I suppose
you know that FIFA has a very bad, long history with Argentina, which would
take several posts to go into, but can be easily surmised from the fact that
from 1934 to 1954 Argentina was either not present in the world cup, or did
not send a full squad, or had several players playing for Italia. In 1966,
well you know what happened there. So frankly, there is very, very little
reason to believe FIFA now. There were other clear signs of favoritism in the
last world cup (I assume that RSS has already clearly established that Belgium
was screwed against Germany, that Brasil's three goals against the
Netherlands came from two offsides against Romario that were not called and a
foul by Branco that became a foul against Branco, that the Italian referee in
Argentina-Romania forgot to eject a Romanian for his foul against Simeone,
that Bulgaria did not receive a clear penalty kick against the Italians, that
the refereeing in Brasil-Cameroun was ridiculously biased, and let's just say
that is a long enough list). So FIFA is not credible, that is clear.
You want to blame Diego and ostracize him from the team, I want him to come
back and score a nice golcito and scream it into the camera. If he has to go
on a weight loss program, it does not bother me at all (as long as it is not
bad for his health, of course). If nothing else, because every game that he
plays, every second that he is on the field, there is a chance that he will
receive the ball, a quiet hush will fall over the stadium, and once again we
will see something amazing, magical, unique.
And after all he has done for our team, I would never, ever, talk about him
as someone that must be marginalized. As long as he can play as well as he
did last year, he belongs on the team. If FIFA has a problem with that,
then we must demand our satisfaction from them, as much as we can--but we
cannot say to Diego "who knows you?" That is a blend of ingratitude and
blasphemy--the former, for all he has done for your team, and the latter,
for all he has done for futbol. Don't forget that he came back on the team
because something very, very bad had happened, and no one knew what to do.
He gave all of us a little breath and the space to say "Now things will be
different". Do you know the sacrifices he went through? He could have stayed
in retirement, happy with his millions, but he came back, partly for
himself, and partly for you and me. The training, the starving diets, the
kicks in the shins and ankles, the hyenas of the press, the critical eye
ready to observe "he's washed up", and the type of people that my last post
addressed, the type that has always been waiting for him to fuck up to jump
on his back... he took all that on one more time. For himself, for his
family, for the shirt, for you and me. And now you want to ostracize him,
in a categorical way, regardless of his playing level.
Normally I do not bother with those petty spirits that make little mindless
remarks on this forum about him, since I assume (usually rightly) that he has
at some point been responsible for defeating their favorite team, and thus
they are unable to appreciate the magnitude of his contribution to the game.
But you... you should know better.
=============================================
From: mazzare@primenet.com (Ariel Mazzarelli)
Subject: Re: Star Trek
Date: Feb 22, 1996
Anna Warman wrote:
> gfk1843@acs.tamu.edu "George Kleynhans" writes:
>> So Ariel who are the members of the Q-line futbolistas?
>> Diego. Pele. ? Quien mas?
Maybe Moreno (or so say the oldtimers).
>Are these the superbeings you worship?
Let the Mano de Diego touch your heart, let His Foot perform wondrous acts
on La Pelota, and all other categorizations will dissipate in their
irrelevance.
For from His Left Foot flows a stream of materialized nonlinear imagination,
and the very essence of life itself is given to La Pelota as She sublimates
Her Will to the Word of the ancient God of Futbol, Who speaks to us mortals
through Diego, as He did in the past through Pele (and maybe Moreno).
It was when Q suggested that the rather trivial solution to a problem that
the Enterprise was facing was to "simply change the gravitational constant
of the universe" that I realized that Gene R. had indeed seen the '86 WC.
=============================================
From: mazzare@primenet.com (Ariel Mazzarelli)
Subject: To see or not to see, that is the question
Date: May 25, 1996
Score is 0-0. Corner kick for Boca, left side. Veron sends the ball along
the ground to Diego, Who receives the pass in the lower corner of the penalty
area, facing the flagstick and with a defender on His back. In one motion,
He taps the ball with His left foot up to chin height, rotates, and with a
three-quarters scissors kick, He deposits a hard cross with comba into the
goal mouth, where Fabbri is waiting to head the ball in. Since this is Diego
and the D.T. is Bilardo, we must conclude that it was not mere 'luck'.
This crucial bit of futbol data is brought to you courtesy of RSS.
Ariel
*********************
Maradona returns and inspires Boca to win
__________________________________________________________________________
(c) 1996 Copyright Nando.net
(c) 1996 Reuter Information Service
BUENOS AIRES (May 20, 1996 - 12:23 EST) - The return of Diego Maradona
plus a game at home to the worst team in the competition helped Boca
Juniors to a 4-1 win which ended their miserable run in the Argentine
championship at the weekend.
Maradona, who had been out of action for a month because of injury,
was not fully fit but still did enough to inspire his team to a
comfortable victory over Argentinos Juniors.
Boca had taken only one point out of a possible 12 in his absence and
results had included a 6-0 drubbing at home to Gimnasia La Plata, the
worst home defeat in the club's history.
Striker Claudio Caniggia was among the scorers against Argentinos
Juniors, who have gleaned only one point in their 10 matches.
"I wanted to show Boca that we are still alive and still have
possibilities," Maradona said. Despite his optimism, Boca are in fifth
place and six points adrift of leaders Lanus with nine games left to
play.
Lanus, who have never won a major title, beat Belgrano 4-2 to take
over the lead from Estudiantes, who were held to a goal-less draw by
Independiente.
========================================
From: Stig Oppedal
Subject: Maradona's comeback - in your dreams
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997
I Was Sitting In A Sauna, I Felt Very Drowsy And Remembered That I Had
The Very Same Dream A Few Hours Earlier (It Was A Murder Mystery And The
Killer Had Slipped Me Some Sleeping Pills, So I Fell Asleep In The
Sauna, But When I Woke Up I Solved The Case), So I Figured I'd Just Go
To Sleep & Let Things Happen & Solve The Case Again, But This Time When
I Woke Up I Was Watching A Champions League Match Between Arsenal And A
Combination Of Juventus & Fiorentina, Batistuta Scored And It Was 3-1 In
The 88th Minute And Arsenal Had A Free Kick In Their Own Half Which Tony
Adams Of All People Hoofed Forward But Then Juvefiore Counter-Attacked,
Maradona Was At The Edge Of The Penalty Area With The Ball At His Feet &
His Back To Goal & A Defender In Tow, But He Flicked The Ball Around And
Blasted It Into The Top Left-Hand Corner & The Commentator Went "GOL! GOL!
GOL! GOL! GOL! GOL! GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL MARADONA!", I
Was Excited But Bewildered Since I Thought That Maradona Played For Boca,
Then We Were Live In Argentina And Maradona Scored On A Lob From 20
Meters & Ran To The Boca Fans To Acclaim Their Applause, His Teammates
Were Very Happy But Diego Wouldn't Accept Their Congratulations So On
The Way Back To The Kick-Off He Walked Alone With Nine Team-Mates Behind
Him.
A Genius, And Alone.
---Stig
PS. He's not even my favorite player, but the one I dream of most often;
I'm sure Ariel has an explanation. My previous Maradona dream was sometime
last year - Argentina played some team or another while a herd of cows
grazed nearby, then the two worlds collided! Diego did great as a cowboy.
--------------------------------------------
From: mazzare@primenet.com (Ariel Mazzarelli)
Subject: Re: Maradona's comeback - in your dreams
Date: 1 May 1997
>I'm sure Ariel has an explanation.
Indeed, I don't even need to consult the committee to explain this one:
We all dream of being Diego.
In fact, the envious ones really get some trauma out of this condition,
because, naturally, they must deny it. If they are married or have a
girlfriend or boyfriend sleeping next to them, sometimes they are awakened
at night by her or his mumbling in her or his sleep
"Diego Diego Diego DIEGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL"
and that makes them even more envious; you can imagine how ugly the scene
gets if His name is brought up during sex. Some of them also carry a bit of
a negative experience, having lost a girlfriend to some Argentinian, and
then the envy just gets to be too much and they have to go to a clinic
and get lots of prozac.
However, if you dream of Him and post about it and enjoy the dream and
enjoy watching Him play, then not only do you not need any treatment or
prozac, you can in fact rejoice that you are visited by His image and
see His maginificent golazos and gambetas while you get your rest.
-------------------------------------
From: lagloirede@aol.com (Lagloirede)
Subject: Re: Maradona's comeback - in your dreams (speaking of dreams)
Date: 4 May 1997
The backlash against Maradona is wholly expectable. The man, we all
know, is a genius at what he does. The recognition of that genius is a
humbling experience for many of us. To see Maradona then go out and
seemingly "waste" his genius excites an almost biblical rage. What kind
of a moron, we might ask, dumps on a gift from God? The very hubris
of it seems unfathomable. And because it is hubris, we expect a fall
from glory--after all, the Greeks taught us that's the way things work.
A man rises up, becomes proud, suffers defeat, and then is resurrected
in a state of absolute grace and absolute humility. That's all fine; it's
acceptable; it follows the script. Everyone wants to hear Maradona say,
"I have a gift, I was wrong to squander it, now I promise to devote myself
to that gift." Or, equally likely, we want to see him die in shame so that
we can all pity him the way actors do Richard Burton.
But to see this genius running about doing damnfool things and then
pulling himself together on the field to show us that, yes, he is still
a genius, still thumbing his nose at lesser mankind and getting away
with it--it's maddening. It breaks all the rules we non-geniuses make up
to comfort ourselves.
And so naturally we turn on Maradona. Hey, they turned on Mozart.
Those of you who say, This is unfair; Maradona should be judged
for his talent as a soccer player . . . well, it won't ever happen. Once
you call a man an artist, you demand that his life have art in it. The
life of Maradona is one of gigantic glory and shattered expectations--
expectations that exceeded our imagination in the first place--and if
our treatment of such a life seems unfair, it is also perfectly and even
predictably human.
===================================
Subject: Re: In Defence of Maradona
Date: Tue, 13 May 1997 20:11:45 +0200
From: Stig Oppedal
Ariel Mazzarelli wrote:
> [In defence of Diego Maradona, by Eddie Veale
> Reproduced from Living Marxism issue 70, August 1994
> http://www.informinc.co.uk/LM/LM70/LM70_Maradona.html]
What makes players like Maradona or Cantona transcend the football pitch
is that they are open to interpretation. I mean, it's hard to see
the likes of Kohler, Zola, or Ronaldo as anything but what they actually
are.
My Diego, as envisioned in that dream I wrote about, is a lonely Diego;
a genius, but alone. Look at Stoichkov and Hagi: the all-time football
legends in their respective countries, they have at least one true peer
- each other; Romania v Bulgaria in Euro96 was practically Pacino and de
Niro in "Heat". For Diego there is no such person who can relate to him
as an equal, who can say: "I know how you must feel". He is set apart
from humanity by genius, ego, and a host of hangers-on; he is seperated
from his team-mates by the mere fact that he is Maradona. Nor has any
other football legend experienced what he has: the eternal glory of
Mexico'86, the intense pressure and pleasure of the Napoli years,
chronic cocaine addiction, endless controversies, a sensational
comeback, ignomious World Cup exit, the pain of getting kicked down
again and again and again by players and officials alike. Not even in
marriage has he found an equal; "my wife would be nobody without
Maradona."
Eddie Veale's Diego is a revolutionary Diego: football genius, social
crusader, and anti-capitalist symbol of freedom all rolled into one. The
article was not so much a defense of Maradona as an attack on "the
Establishment", football and otherwise, using Maradona as a battering
ram. Scraping away the layers of total rhetorical overkill (and noting
that the Argentinians weren't "robbed" of Diego in WC94, and that they
met their match in Romania), you can distinguish the portly contours of
this footballing Che Guevara; champion of the wronged, unafraid to
challenge the powers-that-be, yearning for social justice.
There are many different versions of Diego; you most likely have one
yourself. But the real Diego is the one no one can truly know.
---Stig
"You bastards gave me paint
and I will paint you dry" - "Frans Hals" by McCarthy (1986)
------------------------------------
Subject: Re: In Defence of Maradona
Date: 14 May 1997 12:07:58 GMT
From: mdpaserm@login1.fas.harvard.edu (Marco Paserman)
>Eddie Veale's Diego is a revolutionary Diego: football genius, social
>crusader, and anti-capitalist symbol of freedom all rolled into one.
Football genius? No doubt about that (Maradona e` mejo 'e Pele`,
amo fatto un mazzo tanto pe' ll' ave`)
Social Crusader? Maybe
But anti capitalist symbol of freedom? It seems to me that Maradona has
benefited from the capitalist system just as much as anybody else (actually,
much much more). Or maybe I missed all those Ferraris driving through the
streets of Napoli (ugh!) that he so generously distributed to the population?
Look, when Maradona was bought by Napoli, there were several pseudo-
intellectuals that criticized the huge transfer fee, claiming that it could
have been spent on much more useful things for the city of Naples. " he will
give Napoli the illusion of being able to compete with the rich north, but
the true problems of the city will remain unsolved". As much as this was
cheap demagoguery, the prediction turned out to be true. But is this
demagoguery much different from Eddie Veale's one, representing Maradona as
a symbol of freedom and a champion of the oppressed? Maradona was a football
genius (maybe still is). Other than this, he was also a man full of
contradictions, easy to take advantage of, and a symbol that everybody would
like to manipulate to his own personal advantage. Let's leave it at the
footballing genius...