Saturday, November 26, 2005

I was looking for another you, and I looked round by you were gone

George Best, often regarded as the greatest footballer to have played, died yesterday at the age of 59. If you don't know anything about his history then you must've been living on a desert island [if so then a big 'hello' from me and the new world order and click here to find out more].




It was announced a few days ago that his death was imminent and that there was nothing that could be done for him. He was going to die very soon and that was that, a life wasted? Maybe. Could it have been avoided? Possibly. But I couldn't believe some of the comments I heard over the past few days. Several people at the pub said that they hoped he would die! What? And after he had passed away they said that he deserved it and that it was good news! Their argument was that he'd been given so many chances, been given a new liver [drink related], but had still gone back on the booze, and as that was his last chance then he deserved to die.

I can't believe that anyone would wish someone were dead. We may say it from time to time but do we mean it? Well sometimes.....

At the end of the day [a great footballing cliche] he was a man who had too much talent, too much too young ,and in the end used alcohol to alleviate the pressure on him. Okay he did have some great times in his life, some that we'd give right arms for, but he was a celebrity that men wanted to be and that women wanted to be with, and alcohol seemed like a way out. It seems that the more you are graced with talent the more you are prone to lapses and the need to release. Alcoholism is a disease, one that you can never beat. Even if you stop drinking you will still class yourself as an alcoholic, and temptation is only a bottle away.

I know he was given chances but if you have a self-destructive psyche can you ever do what's best? I don't think so and so we say goodbye to one of the greats, who was always destined to be substituted before the end of the game of life but only after scoring the winning goal and causing the crowd to go wild.

[if you need help with alcoholism, either yourself or someone you know, then click here for info and links]

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I didn't wish the guy dead but I did think that he did bring it on himself.

He was given a second chance to live and chose the bottle when there was no longer the pressure of being a great footballer.

Your right, Alcoholism is a desease, but it can be faught, and in many ways, he just didn't.

But yes, the man died long before he should have and was a football great.

Pynchon said...

At work they have a dead pool. One guy had George Best and he was literally dancing with happiness when the news of George's imminent demise came through, because he was set to win a couple of hundred quid.

Frankly, disgusting.

LB said...

great player. One of the best.

red one said...

I haven't posted about George Best or commented anywhere else about him. I love football, but alcoholism is not something I find it easy to say much about - I've spent some time very close to an alcoholic. But I did want to say that of all the stuff I've seen about George Best this week, yours is the only thing I've seen anywhere to provide a link and point to some info for people who need help for themselves or others. Good for you, Adem. I really mean that.

adem said...

cheers red...hopefully a few visitors will have clicked on the link and maybe learnt a few new things.