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By Kayla
It's a trend all over the world in all sports, professional and amateur. Anytime an athlete rises to prominence with their display of skill, talent, and grace people take notice and begin making comparisons to players who rose to fame before them or with them. There have been plenty of debates and comparisons in the football world. Recently the most prominent debate seems to be that of the Pele vs. Messi debate, mostly because Pele himself can't stop talking about it.It's no secret that Pele is pretty outspoken. When he's not giving advice to budding football stars, he usually likes to remind people that he is the best footballer in the world, although a threat seems to be on the horizon. Lionel Messi has been suggested many times to be the footballer to touch the untouchable. So how does Pele respond? As anyone who's legacy is threatened would respond: by bagging on the opposition. The general consensus: Pele doesn't like being compared to Messi and he never shies away from a chance to cut down the young Argentinean.
The most recent gem he's provided is that Messi would need to score more than 1283 goals (Pele's career total) before Messi can be considered better than Pele (also that Pele hopes Neymar doesn't end up like Messi by performing well for his club but not delivering the goods for his country).Like the fool that I am, I started to do the math to break it down statistically. Then I had a revelation. Comparing statistics is ridiculous in this instance. Not only is Messi's career far from over while Pele's is fading from memory everyday, they also represent two different eras of football. The game has changed drastically since Pele ended his career in the late 70's. Also it's not fair to compare two totally different players. They have their own individual styles that work for them and them alone. Plus, I hate doing math.
Pele has been atop his throne for quite some time, but it's inevitable that someone else will come along. That's certainly not to undermine the wonderful career that Pele had, but time will bring about a new player who will rise to the same amount of fame and success, if not surpass it. Messi is a legitimate threat to Pele's legacy. In short? I hate debates on who is the better player, Pele's record won't forever stand, and math sucks. Hard.
By the way, Happy Birthday, Messi. Hope you wished for many more goals in your career, even though Pele wouldn't bow to you if you scored a billion. But hey, can you blame Pele? Wouldn't you be pissed if you earned the right to refer to yourself in the third person and it was in danger of being overtaken by an atomic flea?
Kayla is a writer, co-editor & co-founder of The Captain's Armblog. She enjoys eating too many sweets, writing, and defending Fernando Torres. Send her digital candies to thecaptainsarmblog@gmail.com
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