Editor’s note: Amy Bass is a professor of sports studies at Manhattanville College and the author of “One goal: one coach, one team and the game that brought a divided city together” and “Not the triumph but the struggle: the 1968 Olympics and the creation of the black athlete,among other titles. The opinions expressed here are solely his own. Read more reviews on CNN.
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It would be a shame if all that remained to be said about Pelé was a collection of clichéd phrases attempting to sum up an unparalleled life, an unprecedented career.
But as news of his death at 82 began to spread around the world, it seemed there was nothing left to write that hadn’t been written; nothing to say that has not been said.
Just as Pelé – born Edson Arantes do Nascimento – never needed introduction, he no longer needs explanation, he is an athlete who transcended his sport and yet wore it on his sleeve; a Brazilian who transcended his country, and yet never left it.
Growing up in poverty in Bauru, Pelé learned the game from his father, using a stuffed sock or a grapefruit as a ball. In 1958, aged just 17, he burst onto the international pitch, becoming the youngest to score in a FIFA World Cup match and, with victory over Sweden in the final, he put Brazil on the world sports map – an international icon. born.
Indeed, Pelé, observes historian Brenda Elsey in an essay on South American football, “transcended national identity to embody an image of pan-African success”, perhaps especially when members of Santos FC visited the Nigeria and Mozambique in the 1960s. “The fact that the managers of the Brazilian team also came from poor neighborhoods and difficult circumstances”, explains Elsey, “created a solidarity with the players of the southern hemisphere”.
While committed to the country and the team, he stayed with Brazil’s Santos FC for around 19 years, scoring 643 goals in 659 games (despite lucrative offers from Paris St. Germain and Real Madrid, and a canceled Inter Milan deal due to fan protests in Brazil) — he also existed as a singular figure, the greatest of all time with his unmatched record of three world championships (1958, 1962, 1970) and , according to Guinness World Records (and let’s be clear: his goal tally has always been up for debate, with friendlies and exhibitions to boot), 1,279 goals in 1,363 matches.
Rather than retiring fully once his time with Santos and the national team ended, he brought his talents to New York, playing for the Cosmos from 1975 to 1977, his stardom attracting new fans and huge crowds to games. of the North American Soccer League.
As the league eventually folded, Pele’s impact on American culture before and after his time at the Cosmos, whether he starred in Pepsi commercials or visited the White House, gave Johnny Carson a football tutorial or starring alongside Sylvester Stallone in the 1981 film “Escape to Victory,” has been solidified.
For all of this and more, baptizing Pele as the greatest of all time, the GOAT, has been comfortable practice for far longer than anyone on the current U.S. Men’s National Team (many years). .
And yet, in recent weeks, after the conclusion of what must be considered one of the greatest football games in history – as well as one of the greatest league finals in all of sport – some pundits and fans alike have crowned Lionel Messi as football’s definitive GOAT, with Cristiano Ronaldo, Diego Maradona and, yes, Pele, fading somewhat into the background.
With the death of Pelé, that transfer of power is on hold, at least for now, giving us time to not only remember football’s original international superstar, the rare iconic athlete whose nickname is synonymous with the game he played played, but to think a little about what it is means to be the greatest.
At one time in sports, being “the goat” was nothing an athlete wanted – it meant someone who missed a strike, forgot to score, or dropped the ball at the worst possible time. Now, in all its glaring all-caps glory, a GOAT is the best there is and, most importantly, ever was, sparking fierce debate around a cast of characters from different sports and different eras: Wayne Gretzky, Babe Ruth , LeBron James, Mariano Rivera, Abby Wambach, Michael Jordan, Serena Williams, Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, Allyson Felix, Michael Phelps, Babe Didrikson, Jack Nicklaus, Billie Jean King, Al Oerter, Margaret Court, Muhammad Ali, Simone Biles – and so on again and again.
At one point Ali, whose self-proclaimed nickname was actually “The Greatest,” owned the rights to “GOAT, Inc.”, which his wife Lonnie started in 1992. Ali then sold it for around $50 million. dollars to entertainment company CKX in 2006, which bought an 80% stake in Ali’s name and likeness.
But the GOAT criteria are unclear, at best, with deliberations and arguments about what it means to be the greatest after a spectacular victory, a retirement or, yes, a death. Is the GOAT the most decorated? Longest ranked number one? Is it a question of statistics? Glow? Creativity? Most titles over time? Most titles in a year? Most titles in one day? Biggest salary? Most mentions?
There are, of course, no sort of real, obvious, undeniable measurements for the greatest of all time. Sport just doesn’t work that way, especially when it comes to a figure like Pelé, whose cultural and social impact is felt not just in football, but around the world. Yet, while there may not be one way to delineate the larger, the conversations that ask, “Who is the GOAT?” can be as essential as they are absurd because of what they tell us about who we are and what we care about.
Any reference to Pelé as ‘one of the greatest’ is ‘disrespectful’ tweeted Thursday, football writer Fernando Kallás. “If you don’t feel like calling him the GOAT, just be sorry for his loss, talk about his accomplishments, blah blah blah. But don’t use his death to question his place in as GOAT.
Indeed, among current and former presidents of several countries, as well as celebrities and fans, posting grief-filled testimonies about the legend, it was Neymar, perhaps Pelé’s greatest apparent Brazilian heir, who best sums up the reasons for Pele’s GOAT status forever and ever. . “Before Pelé, ’10’ was just a number… football was just a sport,” he posted on Instagram. “He turned football into art, into entertainment. He gave a voice to the poor, to black people, and above all gave visibility to Brazil… He is gone, but his magic remains. Pelé is ETERNAL!!”
That might be the best we can do then to declare a GOAT: Life After Game Over – life after, well, life is over. But Pelé, let’s remember, was never “just” the GOAT. He was, and always will be, O Rei — the King.
