Maradona/Maran Tuna

No need to deify Maradona
By Gabrielle Marcotti, NST 17/11/2007

Diego Maradona was the greatest footballer I have ever seen play. His feats were so great that that they often slipped into the inexplicable, if not the supernatural. And. Like many outside England, I am open to the idea that the Hand of God truly was at work that day 21 years ago (if not on the first goal, certainly on the second).

But the actions of the “Church of Maradona” lie somewhere between the tiresome and the moronic. Its act is wearing thin. It claims to have 40,000 faithful who follow its Ten Commandments(which include such pearls as “spread the miracles of Maradona around the world” and “if you have a child, give them the gift of Diego as a middle name”), celebrate the Maradona Christmas (his birthday on October 30) and the Maradona Easter (the day he scored the second goal against England.

Last week, two couples were ‘married’ under the ritual of the Church of Maradona.

This is just silly. Even Maradona seems mildly embarrassed by this. There are many other ways to celebrate him, ways that do not involve making a mockery of the Christian faith.

Maran Tuna

Back in 1986, during the World Cup in Mexico, my grandparents were down in Sarikei staying with us.
It was also during the times of the RTM live telecast of the WC matches. As you guess it, Maradona was on everyone’s lips. Me old grandma was no exception. Away from the highlands of Bario, she and tepu’ delai’(late grandpa- God bless his soul) were introduced to the world TV.

Whenever Maradona’s name was mentioned, she would ask ‘is he our Maran Tuna?’. You see, some guy back in Bario, from Pa’Lungan if I am not mistaken, goes by the name of Maran Tuna. You can’t blame her, Maradona/Maran Tuna.
Say it once, say it twice… it sound the same to her

So, we would remind her that it is not the same guy… well, it would go on until they left for Bario, wonder if they went back and told people back home that Maran Tuna won the World Cup…he..he..he

Oh.. back to Maradona.. I would remember his shimmy, a left, a right and a run….
He was what you would call, back in Sarawak or up in the northern parts of Borneo, pendek-pendek tapi tagap-tagap…(short but strong like a buffalo) hard to knock of the ball… Maradona was about 170cm like Micheal Owen and they were the short men of football, but that’s about the height of most of the locals here…me included but they are some other guys back home (shorter still) pendek-pendek tapi tagap-tagap playing good football…

Back to Maradona… sorry seems going of course every now and then…
Adoring him like a superstar is one thing, but adoring him like a god is way too much… I bet he himself knows that… with all the substance abuse, health threatening moments and all

Well, you can’t away anything from him, he was the best player of the World…(through Pele’s fans would denied that) I think they are the joint Greatest Player…well, whatever…