George Best

[Gill 05]

They're saying his hours are numbered now, bleeding complications means he can't recover.

Such a shame :-(

[OBonio]

Great footballer who threw his life away. Not sure what all the fuss is about.

[kick3m0n]

watching him die under the spotlight has been horrible - it feels voyeuristic and nasty. I feel so very sorry for his family and friends, it must cause added distress that they just don't need. It is a very sad and untimely end to a life that could have been so different. However, having lived with an alcoholic father and also being close to someone who's organs were donated after their very sudden death, I find it hard to have sympathy for Best himself. I do understand people's view that his alcoholism is an illness, and I understand he didn't ever blame anyone but himself for how his life turned out, but my personal experiences do not give me much empathy for him, just for those who've had to live with him and now have to watch him die.

[Gill 05]

i

[Gill 05]

I understand where your coming from OBonio, but to watch a member of your family die is bad enough without it being headline news as well.

[loopey]

apparently he wanted it to be done publicly to warn people what alcohol can do.

[Artemis]

A truly great footballer who I had the privelege to watch many times in the 60's. A sad loss. As he said on his last radio interview, he wouldn't have lived his life any differently. He lived life to the full. Not many of us can say that. His legend will live on as long as the game is played.

[kick3m0n]

bit nauseated by the "wouldn't have lived his life any differently" quote. Typically selfish alcoholic comment.....forget the poor sod who's organ you got, just abuse it as you did your own. Any kind of decent human would at least have expressed regret for taking something so precious, (that could have meant an entire LONG life for an other recipient) and for not treating it as the amazing gift of life that it was. For him, it was just extended opening hours until the same inevitable conclusion.

[clairio]

He's a drunk, it's what happens. I have no sympathy, he knew the bobby.

[Artemis]

kick3m0n Hope your life is a full and joyous as his.

If it makes you sick, so be it. Enjoy your life now, you don't know what is round the corner.

As for his liver transplant, I'm sure he wouldn't have received it if he wasn't deserving of it. Our genes are what we are. Do we blame our ancestors? If we have an accident are we less deserving of treatment. Because as we all know accidents are preventable.

[hollie1586]

i totally agree with clairio!! he has abused the liver that was transplanted. the drinking after the transplant has started off all the problems he has now. somebody else could have got the liver that he has got now and made better use of it. millions of people have to wait years for transplants and die in the process of waiting and i think that it is disgusting that he got one almost straight away because of who he was which was a man who kicked a ball around a field and got paid for it. i have no sympathy.

[kags]

He was thrust into the type of lifestyle that any of us would struggle to cope with; how arrogant to judge whether someone's life is more worthwhile than anyone else's? He has a disease - not one it is easy to be sympathetic with if you lack the imagination to think it could be you in that position. But still a disease.

[haysi06]

oh get off your high horses! he was a drunk etc... if it was your father would you say the same thing? Lets show some compassion.

And before you say anything, yes I know what it is like to have an alcoholic as a father, and yes I know what it is like to lose some close as well . forgiveness will bring you peace

[ianess]

kick3m0n..........100% in agreement with you.
Very sad situation for all involved.
'Nuff said.

[haysi06]

hollie- gal its a pity you have no sympathy - imagine it was a member of your family - you'd turn it down? I doubt it,

[Artemis]

There are some very arrogant and unforgiving people on this thread. George Best did not get his new liver because of who he is and anybody who thinks that does not know anything about medicine and transplants. The anti-rejection drugs have been the problem. As you may know they lower the immune system, which in turn leaves the body open to infection(heard of AIDS?).

[hollie1586]

everyone is entitled to their opinion, and that is mine

[paddy_36]

How interesting to see that you only get 3 stars if you agree with Gill 05...

Yes, it's a shame that George Best is dying, but I don't have much sympathy for him. I also have a close relative who is an alcoholic, and if they were suffering as Best is now, I'm not sure I would be particularly sympathetic to them either. I would certainly feel it's at least partly self-inflicted. Best had plenty time and money to try and help himself, but he chose not to.

I don't know the man at all, and wouldn't pretend to for a second, but I'm pretty sure he doesn't want anyone to feel sorry for him.

[Oneeyedvic]

So he was an arrogant alcoholic who used to go drink driving (most recent was in Jan 2004 - 2 years after his kidney transplant), had countless affairs and allegedly hit his wife.

But of course he was a great footballer, so none of the above mattered.

[kick3m0n]

but Artemis you miss the point. An alcoholics life is NOT full and joyous. they are dependant on alcohol and that is an addiction and indeed a curse. This myth perpetuated that drunks are full of joy and good times is a nonsense. When they wake up the next morning with the shakes, or can't remember where they are. When they have people taking advantage of them and having no stability in any relationships...ahh the joy, Id' mad not be be jealous of that life, eh?. It's the alcoholics themselves who perpetuate this myth. far better that than to admit to and face up to the shame, and horror of what their lives have become.

If it had been my alcoholic father? I'd feel the same - I was nearly in that situation, but a heart attack spared everyone the trauma. As I said at the top, I appreciate others will feel differently, but my personal experiences ahve led me to this point. As for peace, I am at peace, I have no need to forgive anyone. My father chose his path, destroyed a family, kept another one a secret, and died young, estranged from all of us. His life, his choice. You can't chose your family, as they say.