Friday August 26, 2005 5:00PM PT
Diego Maradona |
From
joke teller to
sitcom star, from a
one-time Cincinnati mayor to a
mustachioed therapist, it seems any profession leads to the couch, the microphone, the live television audience -- and the vaunted role of talk show host. Now, Argentine soccer legend
Diego Maradona joins that nattering team, and racks up some points at the Buzz scoreboard.
Maradona's weekly show,
La Noche del 10 (named after the footballer's #10 soccer jersey), debuted last week and immediately shot upward in Search. News accounts described Buenos Aires grinding to a halt, as young and old stopped to watch the great athlete chat it up on the air. Queries on "
diego maradona" raced up 489%, and "
maradona" spiked 236% yesterday alone. Several of the slimmed-down footballer's guests also rose in Search: Italian actress
Maria Grazia Cucinotta (+1,659%) and Brazilian soccer god
Péle (+23%) both spiked, though the disparity in their numbers says a thing or two about what scores online. Finally, proving again that he's no dummy about publicity, Maradona revealed a long-held secret in his second show. It seems that his famous "hand of God" goal in the 1986
World Cup (+62%) did not, in fact, benefit from divine assistance. The splashy athlete acknowledged that he himself punched the ball through the net. For those of you who know
nada about soccer, we'll just say: That's a big no-no. And sure enough, "
hand of god," "
maradona hand of god," and "
hand of god goal" all blasted past the Search goalposts this week. Will the mouth of Maradona continue to speak on in all its televised glory? All signs point to yes.
http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzz_log/?fr=fp-buzz-img
still think he's a talented player except for the cheating moments.
Maradona admits "Hand of God" goal was his own hand.
