Britains Greatest Footballer

November 25, 2005 5:30 AM

"I spent of a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars - the rest I just squandered." The man that Pele called the 'greatest footballer ever' has died at the age of 59. George Best was a true british footballing legend. Since the dizzy heights of the his career in the 1960's - his life had been on a steady downward spiral.
posted by mattr (23 comments total)

Wow - I knew I shouldn't have spent that extra 120 seconds checking my links...feel free to remove this. Interesting that we used the same quote!
posted by mattr at 5:32 AM on November 25, 2005

A fucking record! Two mintes!
posted by fixedgear at 5:33 AM on November 25, 2005

Should also have used some time to check my typing 'the his career' indeed....
posted by mattr at 5:36 AM on November 25, 2005

I say keep this post and delete the other one, it's better written in my opinon.
posted by wheelieman at 5:42 AM on November 25, 2005

The person I feel most sad for is his father, watching his once spectacular son die slowly and pointlessly from his own supidity.

Another vote to keep this post alive and unplug the other.
posted by NinjaPirate at 5:48 AM on November 25, 2005

Copy & paste from other thread, in case one gets nuked...

Terrible.

The Cromwell Hospital is a few minutes from where I live. I've stopped by there on my way home a few times. There's no way I'd be allowed in, but it was good to just wait outside for a while. There always seemed to be a few other people (besides the scumbag journalists) there, too. Never a big crowd, just a few silent folk.

To my family, George Best was God whilst I was growing up. Like a true Ulsterman, he put up a good fight, right to the very end.
posted by veedubya at 5:49 AM on November 25, 2005

poor George, rest in peace. No interest at all in football myself, but he was part of my childhood - anyone else remember those Denny Sausage ads he did in the eighties.... mmmm sausages.
posted by twistedonion at 5:50 AM on November 25, 2005

I like this one more as well, let's merge the two.
posted by allen.spaulding at 5:51 AM on November 25, 2005

And ninjapirate, you can f*ck right off. He was stupid in the same way that somebody gets cancer is stupid, or somebody that's mentally ill is stupid. Alcoholism is a disease.

George Best was a great man, and if you want to say something bad about him, I respectfully request that you wait until his body's cold. A lot of people are upset right now, so save the sanctimonious crap for those who are interested in hearing it.
posted by veedubya at 5:53 AM on November 25, 2005

I agree. Ditch my FPP. I just fired it up there as soon as I found out and didnt spend too much time checking out a lot of links. I am man enough to take it.
posted by ClanvidHorse at 5:53 AM on November 25, 2005

ClanvidHorse, if you posted your "talent" link here we'll keep a full set if yours goes down.

And veedubya, you can m*ke me.
posted by NinjaPirate at 5:58 AM on November 25, 2005

talent
posted by ClanvidHorse at 5:59 AM on November 25, 2005

just to correct myself - Cookstown sausages, not Denny... "Cookstown are the Best family sausage"
posted by twistedonion at 6:01 AM on November 25, 2005

So, which thread are we keeping? Where do I put my dot?
posted by benzo8 at 6:02 AM on November 25, 2005

Right now, I really wish I could. You've picked the wrong day to push my buttons, pal.
posted by veedubya at 6:02 AM on November 25, 2005

I'de forgot about those ads though I think they were for Cookstown sausages. Love to see that episode of Wogan again.
Genius.
posted by Damienmce at 6:04 AM on November 25, 2005

Veedubya, I'd agree that Alcoholism is a horrible, horrible disease... but it's not the same league as cancer. It's an addiction.

Calling someone stupid for being an alcoholic is infantile, but they are partially to blame for their own predicament, in the same way that I will be responsible if I end up with lung cancer through smoking.
posted by twistedonion at 6:04 AM on November 25, 2005

.
posted by psychomedia at 6:04 AM on November 25, 2005

.

The BBC correspondent was live outside the hospital..

"As you can see behind me, fans and...camera operators have gathered here..."

Kinda summed up his life after football.

Some video clips of him playing - 1, 2, 3 [all streaming WMV.] Second clip is the double hattrick against Northampton then some nice eary footage.
posted by fire&wings at 6:10 AM on November 25, 2005

Sad. I was surprised by how moved I was listening to the tributes on the radio today.

(besides the scumbag journalists)

Oh yeah, how utterly evil it was of those journalists to keep us all informed about George's health status, then offer obituary and tribute when he passed away. Twit.
posted by jack_mo at 6:14 AM on November 25, 2005

I don't know if you ever visited Cromwell Hospital whilst George was there, jack_mo, but I did, and I stand by my accusation. The way the journos were acting off-camera was a world apart from how they were acting on-camera.
posted by veedubya at 6:23 AM on November 25, 2005

veedubya: grow up. Comparing alcoholism to cancer is asinine and reflects much more poorly on you than ninja's insensitivity.

I'm sorry one of your favorite sports celebrities died, but playing the old "I'll beat you up in real life" thing is a little old and very out of place on MeFi.
posted by Ynoxas at 6:27 AM on November 25, 2005

The INJUSTICE! The SHAME! George Best dies, and no one is talking about his role as drummer for the Beatles before he was tossed in favor of Ringo.
posted by Creosote at 6:28 AM on November 25, 2005