The animatronic Pelé
Hardly anyone would be able to guess who Edson Arantes do Nascimento is. Do you know? Thought not.
Pelé (or Edson Arantes do Nascimento) is hero-worshipped the world-over, hell, Wikipedia tells me he’s known as “O Rei do Futebol” (The King of Football).
The New York Times, in a piece called “Trying, Again, to Turn Pelé Into Profits” provides some insight as to just how valuable his name is:
"The man, Édson, is 65, but Pelé as a character is 50," Paulo Ferreira, the chief operating officer of Prime, said last week in an interview, referring to Pelé's given name. "For the first time in his career, he is building a brand around his name. In the past, many of the things he did were not professional; he was always trying to do something with friends, but it wasn't good business for him."
“His worldwide appeal is similar to that of Muhammad Ali — Pelé is the greatest, but not The Greatest — but without the religious and political controversies.”
He’s wheeled out at every World Cup opening ceremony, at any important Fifa event. But, something’s been bothering me since this year’s opening ceremony: what is Fifa going to do when Pelé dies? Are they going to get the folk at Madame Tussaud's to fashion a wax model for them to wheel out when they need to? Or are we going to see an animatronic dummy of the man? Realistically I think we’ll get to watch grainy video clips with Fifa execs looking all misty-eyed when they talk about the world’s greatest ever footballer.
Some random Pelé facts (courtesy of Wikipedia):
· In 1970, the two factions involved in the Nigerian Civil War agreed to a 48-hour ceasefire so they could watch Pelé play an exhibition game in Lagos.
· Pelé was the first sports figure featured in a video game with the Atari 2600 game Pelé's Soccer.
· After the World Cup in 1962, wealthy European clubs offered massive fees to sign the young player, but the government of Brazil declared Pelé an "official national treasure" to prevent him from being transferred out of the country.
· Pelé was one of the first black people to be featured on the cover of Life magazine.
· Pelé has presented trophies at the Brazilian Grand Prix race several times, but in 2002 he was waving the checkered flag to signify the end of the race and missed the race winner Michael Schumacher crossing the line.
· Tarcisio Burgnich, the famous Italian defender who marked Pelé in the 1970 World Cup Finals: "I told myself before the game, he's made of skin and bones just like everyone else — but I was wrong".
Pelé (or Edson Arantes do Nascimento) is hero-worshipped the world-over, hell, Wikipedia tells me he’s known as “O Rei do Futebol” (The King of Football).
The New York Times, in a piece called “Trying, Again, to Turn Pelé Into Profits” provides some insight as to just how valuable his name is:
"The man, Édson, is 65, but Pelé as a character is 50," Paulo Ferreira, the chief operating officer of Prime, said last week in an interview, referring to Pelé's given name. "For the first time in his career, he is building a brand around his name. In the past, many of the things he did were not professional; he was always trying to do something with friends, but it wasn't good business for him."
“His worldwide appeal is similar to that of Muhammad Ali — Pelé is the greatest, but not The Greatest — but without the religious and political controversies.”
He’s wheeled out at every World Cup opening ceremony, at any important Fifa event. But, something’s been bothering me since this year’s opening ceremony: what is Fifa going to do when Pelé dies? Are they going to get the folk at Madame Tussaud's to fashion a wax model for them to wheel out when they need to? Or are we going to see an animatronic dummy of the man? Realistically I think we’ll get to watch grainy video clips with Fifa execs looking all misty-eyed when they talk about the world’s greatest ever footballer.
Some random Pelé facts (courtesy of Wikipedia):
· In 1970, the two factions involved in the Nigerian Civil War agreed to a 48-hour ceasefire so they could watch Pelé play an exhibition game in Lagos.
· Pelé was the first sports figure featured in a video game with the Atari 2600 game Pelé's Soccer.
· After the World Cup in 1962, wealthy European clubs offered massive fees to sign the young player, but the government of Brazil declared Pelé an "official national treasure" to prevent him from being transferred out of the country.
· Pelé was one of the first black people to be featured on the cover of Life magazine.
· Pelé has presented trophies at the Brazilian Grand Prix race several times, but in 2002 he was waving the checkered flag to signify the end of the race and missed the race winner Michael Schumacher crossing the line.
· Tarcisio Burgnich, the famous Italian defender who marked Pelé in the 1970 World Cup Finals: "I told myself before the game, he's made of skin and bones just like everyone else — but I was wrong".
The more I see, the less I know
The more I like to let it go
People need the cover of another perfect wonder where it's so white as snow.
Finally divided by a word so undecided and there's nowhere to go
Snow (Hey Oh) Lyrics – Red Hot Chili Peppers: Stadium Arcadium
posted by BOb at
15:29
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