Santo Maradona

I'll admit that I probably wouldn't rant about Diego Maradona's idiocies (like here) if I kept my Brazilianness under control. But I can't do it.

Recently Diego "Che" Maradona flew into a violent tizzy with a few of his buddies when they missed a flight to Argentina from Rio de Janeiro. In fact, they tried (obviously futilely) to beat down the access hatch to the plane. Maradona was apparently a little upset that the plane had not been held for him. The Argentinian consul in Rio had to come down and convince the federal police to let the hooligans go.

The BBC/Reuters bits are totally "neutral."

Since I don't believe objectivity in the here and now is possible, I will call the O Globo piece refreshing. Sadly, the google/babelfish translation of it is terrible.

The AFP bit at Yahoo includes these damning words:

Maradona was in Brazil to take part in a charity match on Wednesday with Brazil's former football star and now coach of Japan, Zico.

According to CBN Maradona had already ruffled feathers when announcing just before kick-off for the game in aid of Rio's poor children that he wouldn't be playing.

He finally turned up surrounded by a posse of bodyguards for the fixture [sic] at Zico's football school which ended 4-4.

Keep on modeling that old world peace, Mano de Dios.