The Dutch footballer has passed away. It is hard to explain his genius to
anyone who hasn't seen it - but it's like Muhammed Ali: you don't have to like
their sports to see their great gifts.
Personally, I think the contribution of a figure like Cruyff, or Ali, to our
culture is usually vastly underrated - they can somehow represent something,
not easily expressible, that reflects some of our deepest feelings about the
human spirit.
This, from the Guardian, manages some apposite words:
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/mar/24/johan-cruyff-revolutionary-changed-football-richard-williams
Others, like Maradona and Pele, also had genius levels of ability at the
beautiful game, but Cruyff was like its first great thinker who raised the
sport to an art form (okay, that's unfair - I mean something better than is
achieved by most in most art forms).
DL
