And if you don’t know who I’m talking about, read here.
Quite fitting that he passed away on the eve of “24 hour” licensing coming into effect.
I shan’t be mourning his passing much having never been much of a fan of football or domestic violence.
Yeah, reagrdless of how good a footballer he was (I wouldn’t know) I don’t think you can attribute this to aything other than his own stupidity and weakness. It’s a shame that somone who could have been such a great role model for people everywhere ended up being the ultimate soccer cliche.
Poor old George Best. I’m sorry the bloke’s dead.
But come on - he was famous for playing football for a few brief years 30 years ago - before punk, before Thatcher, before the Falklands, before the Berlin Wall came down, before the end of apartheid - and when football was a minority interest.
I was at school in the early 1970s, and only a few of the kids were into football in any big way. These days, everyone from the Prime Minister down has to have a fashionable interest in the sport. The widespread “affection” and nostalgia for George Best that is swamping our news media is out of all proportion to any genuine interest shown in him for at least 25 years.
And since he stopped playing? Just another boorish drunk, living on past glories. Compare him with Ian Botham, who was in some ways the cricketing equivalent - the greatest of his generation - who now spends his time promoting the game, and working for charities. Compare him with Lance Armstrong who overcame a more seious illness than alcoholism, and one that wasn’t self-induced - to reach and stay at the top of his sport for years. Or Steve Redgrave whose commitment to his sport kept him at the top for 5 consecutive Olympics.
I have a couple of friends who are alcoholic, and have known others. Two of my friends have lost family members to alcoholism (one died of malnutrition, the other by suicide), I don’t belittle alcoholism as a problem.
Compare the news coverage of the death of George Best with the likely coverage of the death of the world’s greatest liver transplant surgeon.
The world has lost a great British sportsman; unfortunately this fact seems to have been lost amongst the news of George Best.
Phil
And at least the roads should be a little bit safer now, shame that they had to waste a good liver just to keep a drink driver alive. This is why I won’t carry a donor card, just in case I get mown down by one of these f*cking inebriates and they end up with my internal organs.
Rant Rant Rant Rant Rant…