In week three the reading I had was titled The Two Sides of Diego Maradona. This article looks at Diego Maradona’s life, how it started, how his career began , and how he became famous and an idol in the people of Argentina’s eyes. The article goes through the different hills and valleys of Diego Maradona’s life, the struggles, triumphs, and looks at who Diego is as a person and who Maradona is in Argentina.
The opening of the article shares a time of praise when Maradona walked back out onto the soccer pitch for the first time as a manager for the El Lobo Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata. You see not long into the article how the people of Argentina put Maradona on a pedestal. They worship him and claim him as a staple of both Argentina and the sport of soccer. After the opening, the article dives into the history of Diego’s life, where his life began, and the living conditions in which he grew up. He was very poor living in a house with dirt floors, no running water, and a roof made from scrap metal. The article goes along talking about how Diego’s natural talent was seen very early in his life and talks about the people that had a big impact on it. This includes his childhood coaches that would sneak him into older age tournaments just because he was that good. Another person in particular who played a huge role in making the name Maradona into the icon it is today was Jorge Cyterszpiler. He became Maradona’s agent and boosted him to new heights in becoming more and more famous. Early in his career Diego seemed to have certain standards or lines he would not go beyond. He was adamant to not put his name on cigarettes and alcoholic products. He said he did not approve of drug taking. Sadly this was short lived since he went down a very dark path of drug and alcohol abuse. A quote that really stands out to me in this passage is… “It’s not hell following paradise, in other words. Hell was in paradise. The one thing enfolded the other from the start. Corruption wasn’t distinct from innocence; they contained each other”. I feel this quote really sums up a lot of Diego Maradona’s struggles. While he wanted to make his life better, become famous, move out of the slums, he still identified with the people living in those situations. He loved the fame and glory he received. If anything, I think from this article, he embraces it. However, I think Diego himself as a person struggled with the fame and the pressure that was put on him. Therefore he broke the standards he used to stand on and fell into drug and alcohol addiction. I think this quote perfectly exemplifies the separation of his two identities, Diego vs Maradona.
