It was a time of great drama for a teenaged NYC-area sports fan in the mid to late 1970s. Reggie Jackson and Billy Martin brought championships and Shakespearean tragedy to the
Bronx. Joe Pisarcik established a new low for the
Giants football franchise. The
Rangers appeared in a TV commercial for Sassoon jeans. Bill Cartwright and Marvin Webster made for a brief 'Twin Towers' at the
Garden. And then there were the Cosmos, led first by Brazilian Pele and then Italian Chinaglia (
both pictured, right). Growing up in a suburban town full of NYC fugitives, seeing the Cosmos play at Giants Stadium was like sitting in on a sun-filled, booze-fuelled session of the UN. Funniest were the South Americans, who hissed at Chinaglia, called him lazy, and then danced in the aisles when he scored a goal. The great Giorgio passed away at the age of 65 yesterday.
Filip Bondy of the
NY Daily News recalls a classic Chinaglia line:
I am a finisher. That means when I finish with the ball, it is in the back of the net.
Indeed.
Riposi in pace, Giorgio.
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