A great man?

[gary baldy]

I know this has been done but i am sick of hearing of George Best as a "great man'. Outside football what has he done that makes a great man - apart from drink driving (a despicable crime) assaulting a police officer and beating up a bloke in a pub?

[bobtheduck]

andy hughes holmes has more money than you and is famous your narky remarks would carry more weight if the above were not true :)

[ELVIS68]

So he made a few mistakes in his life, I hope when Wacko Jacko dies you`ll be saying the same about him.....now that is one sick f**ker who gets treated like a god.

[LADYLUX05]

Let the man rest in peace it is not doing any good debating whether he was a good man or a bad husband.

[haysi06]

each to their own - george best would have what he did on his conscience. live and let live is what i say

[Drisgirl]

Ianess - I dont mind being in the minority.I picked you up because you you said it was a silly waste of life.

Who are you or anybody to comment on how someone lives their lives.As long as it is the boundary of the law what is it to you.

George Best didnt ask for thousands of people to line the streets of Belfast to show respect - it became apparent after he passed on and the family along with the authorities accommodated the ordinary man woman and child of Belfast.

What exactly is you peoples grievance.Did it take money out your pocket.Did anyone force you to watch it on the TV.?

Do you have a problem with a man dying in fact without turning it into a 'what was so great about him' debate.

He didnt ask for a 'state' funeral.It was simply the best way to accommodate all the people who wished to pay their respects.

Sometimes - just sometimes I wonder............

[Drisgirl]

Chessman P.S it was on the 2.12.05 and Tony Blair wasnt there:)

[Drisgirl]

Egg on my face it was on the 3.12. 05 - oops.

He still wasnt there!!

[Chessman]

Thanks Drisgirl, i'm a bit behing with the times, I apologise.

[ianess]

Drisgirl.......have you actually read the original question on this post?
IMHO and only my own, which I am perfectly entitled to hold, as are you yours, George Best was indeed a great footballer but his well documented activities away from football would have caused the average man in the street to be locked up and the key thrown away. Nevertheless he was a character, a loveable rogue if you like,who actually in his own way managed to united his troubled country, but please do not ask me to accept that he led a full and worthwhile life.
Can we agree to disagree on this one and not degenerate into personal nit-picking?

[stevie_c2it]

So, bobtheduck, can I just clarify your position on Andy Hughes rather eloquent and concise summation on this topic?

In your eyes Andy�s views �would carry more weight� if he had �more money� and was �famous�???
Surely this type of �anybody who is famous and rich must be better than the rest of us� type thinking, is exactly what Andy is questioning?
I can�t wait for the three days of mourning, and day off work when Jade Goody leaves this mortal coil, (I should live so long!) after all she�s on the front page of dozens of magazines, has her own TV programme and pots of cash!

[Drisgirl]

ianess - I am sorry if you thought I ws nit-picking.I can assure you I wasnt.Youre right lets leave it begging to differ.

Of course I read the original Q but as always the thread goes off on a tangent.

The mans not even cold.

I am going to give him the respect I would give to any other and let him RIP.Amen.

[surfer mike]

Linda, you should know by now..sweeping generalisations is sort of what a lot of people do generally quite a lot..

[luckyboy]

Is george best a '' great man'' well like everything gary that's subjective, i cannot see why sportsmen cannot be termed great, or is that term to be exclusively the domain of classical actors, musicians, soldiers, poets and politicians...yes he was flawed, but you would be hard pressed to find anybody in the public eye past and present who isn't! elvis presley and john lennon are considered great by a lot of people me included, but both had flaws aplenty...But personally i don't share the general cynicism and always try to also look at the more positive side of someones character, and there's plenty there if people care to look further than the old tabloid cliches, coming from a small housing estate to becoming for a time the greatest footballer in the world and putting northern ireland on the world map for positive reasons rather than the usual sectarian bloodbath quite a epitaph. i thought his funeral was very moving the people of belfast giving a local boy the send off they thought he deserved, thats good enough for me.. just what the fellow countrymen of messrs maradona, pele and cruyff will do for them when their time will come.

[tigga]

i agree with lindapinda there are many selfless things that Mr Best did for the community and charities that the general public are unaware of, obviously these arent all headline news so we only hear about the bad things, tabloid filters again -scandals sell more papers.

Yes we should leave people be or live and let live as others have said. I am not even the slightest interested in football so i am neutral about the man, but it seems to me that many more people respect him than not and that is totally up to them to do without one or two miserable farts grumbling about it.

gary baldy - who are you exactly ?.

[gary baldy]

Tigga -you go first.

[lindapinda]

Thanks tigga,I appreciate your comments.

[kick3m0n]

just to add some balance here...another great sportsman died the same weekend as Best did. his name was Richard Burns, and he died at age 34, after a long illness due to a brain tumour. He was Englands only ever World Rally Champion and a truly great driver. Without exception everyone who knew him said he was a fantastic guy, and there was nothing bad to say about him at all (unlike Best). The only coverage worth any note that this tragedy has received is from Top Gear on Sunday night. I watched it with tears in my eyes, and am still saddened by this horrifically premature death.

In this regard, I agree with Gary Baldy, whatever Bests status or abilities on or off the pitch, I've found the coverage of his death and funeral to be voyeuristic, mawkish and excessive (much like Diana's death infact). He was not a great man, he was a great footballer, a great dad perhaps, but I can't see what he did to be elevated to such a god-like status (and I speak as a huge fan of his football skills). He could be a role model to young people in as much as he is a great example of how NOT to live your life. The drink driving, the views on giving women a slap, the assault charges, the turning up drunk for work (as a footballer or as a pundit, take your pick), do not make a great man.

[jimmer]

broken arms, black eyes all her hair cut off in the middle of the night. What a charmer good old gerorgie was:

http://football.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,9753,1650 475,00.html

[tigga]

Me ? Just a working class bloke who doesnt begrudge a dead man the respect he gets and deserves, whoevers opinion it may or not be.