On December 29 last year, soccer great Pelé died at the age of 82. Wikipedia tells me his real name was Edson Arantes do Nascimento. I remember him from way back when I was but a young thing; it's sad to know that yet another fixture from my childhood has gone. Pelé is considered one of the greatest soccer players—or should I say footballers—of all time. He was functionally ambidextrous on the field and almost guaranteed to score at least one goal per game. I never followed Pelé's career after his soccer heyday, but he was apparently involved in humanitarian work. In 1976, he was in Nigeria during a coup, and he escaped the country disguised as a pilot. Politically speaking, Pelé was accused of being both a leftist and a conservative. I have a soft spot for the harder-to-read celebrities. A national hero in Brazil, Pelé attended the unveiling of a statue of him in 2018. The man played his heart out, but he eventually succumbed to colon cancer. RIP, Pelé. Much respect.
With the passing of years and some maturity, I have nothing but mad respect for him, but I used to have both equal parts respect and disgust for him as he gave the world "Xuxa" while taking advantage of her youth and inexperience. Arguably, she became the bigger star with quadruple his net worth, but a forty-year old having an affair with a 17 year-old just seemed wrong to me back in my younger, more religious days. Now, I realize the two of them brought a lot of good to the world (especially for poor Brazilian children) and both deserve tremendous respect and admiration. Of course, in today's world, he would have been crucified by the Me Too movement and the Woke Crowd. Here's Xuxa's Emotional Message to Pele's Family.
ReplyDeleteHe was a very athletic, complex, and giving man. May he rest in peace.