I remember Socrates (Sócrates Brasileiro Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira) for many things -
The long legs.
The short shorts.
The beard.
The back-heels.
The one-step penalty kicks.
The way he could stroll around the pitch with complete calm, cool and non-chalance.
But -
He was so much more than an image. He was the real, beautiful deal.
He was the face and the captain and the soul of that yellow-shirted, blue-(short)-shorted, dazzling Brazil team of 1982 that many people believe was the greatest team to not win a World Cup.
He was the man who may have played a game at its highest level but still found time DURING his career to become a doctor.
He was the player-doctor who chose to finish his career in Brazil when Europe begged for him – and then used his status and his sporting victories to promote and celebrate and demand democracy – when it could have cost him his life.
He was the player-doctor-activist who chose – CHOSE – to live life to its fullest – drinking and smoking and enjoying its moments, knowing that life was truly as short as a 90 minute game and maybe it didn’t really matter how careful you were.
Of all the players to have ever played the beautiful game of futebol, the Brazilian Socrates came the closest – with perhaps the exception of the great Johan Cruyff – to being a true philosopher.
A true philosopher like the ancient Greek Socrates – his namesake.
My goodness he was named so aptly.
What a towering figure in the world of soccer.
I refuse to say he will be missed.
He cannot be missed for he already made his mark. He made it with every breath, every sip, every puff, every word, every back-heel.
What is there to miss? Don’t MISS Socrates.
Don’t mourn him.
Don’t R-I- P him.
He was always at peace – whether he was strolling around the pitch in his early days or having a beer in a Brazilian cafe after it was all over.
Remember him.
That’s all.
Remember him that way.
For he lived like a true philosopher.
Philos.
Lover of wisdom.
Lover of life.
He lived.
He lived well.
He played.
He played well.
And now he is gone.
But not forgotten.
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Socrates
