A lot of discussions and maybe debates are going on as to who is the better football player, Diego Maradona or Lionel Messi.
The question was engendered by the result of the World Cup in Brazil, where Argentina battled for the championship against Germany.
We all know that Messi was unable to hurdle the German juggernaut.
If Argentina had won, the alleluias and the hosannas would have fuelled more of the debate.
My own take on this is that it is a useless and fruitless exercise which would not result in anything positive. It is just like a debate between a believer and an atheist, a Catholic defender and a protestant. Nobody wins or losses, and in the end, everyone is as steadfast in their original position as ever.
In other sports, similar debates have arisen, which remains unsettled up to now.
Who is the greatest heavyweight boxer ever, Rocky Marciano or Muhammad Ali? To settle the question, a movie was made where Marciano and Ali were made to face off. Supposedly, Marciano won the fight by breaking the arms of Ali with his bolo punches.
In basketball, who is the greatest ever, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant or LeBron James?
You can immediately see the futility of the exercise. Jordan never played against Kobe or Lebron. And while Kobe and Lebron have faced off against each other, it is happening only when Kobe is past his prime.
There is really no basis for comparison.
Maradona played against different opposition, different level of skills and different technology.
If you had the occasion to watch films of grand slam championships in tennis, you will probably conclude as I did that Serena Williams or Maria Sharapova would be able to blast off the court the men’s champions of the 50’s and the 60’s.
This reminds me of an email that I received from my Yahoo group. The title is “Arrogant Little Shit”
‘A self important college freshman walking along the beach took it upon himself to explain to a senior citizen resting on the steps why it was impossible for the older generation to understand his generation. ‘You grew up in a different world, actually an almost primitive one’ the student said loud enough for others to hear. ‘The young people of today grew up with television, jet planes, space travel, man walking on the moon. We have nuclear energy, ships and cell phone, computers with light speed… and many more.’
‘After a brief silence, the senior citizen responded as follows: ‘You’re right son, we didn’t have those things when we were young.. so we invented them. Now, you arrogant little shit, what are you doing for the next generation?’
‘The applause was amazing!’
At least this discussion was settled by the audience.
I just would like to add a sidelight during the World Cup finals. The German President, Angela Merkel was present to cheer her team. Either she is a rabid soccer fan or she just knows what leadership is all about. Her presence may just have boosted the morale of the German team to a great extent.
If the Gilas Filipinas do good in Spain, will our President be there?
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