KB
Give it a rest Stuart.
OK, so you obviously don't like football and therefore don't care much for footballers. But millions of people do, and whether you like it or not that's why he's got "international celebrity status".
Personally I think Best's is a tragic case that should be highlighting alcoholism and how it can affect and destroy people - sadly too many people don't understand it and seem to think it's just as excuse to wise-crack about someone they see as a drunken waster.
StuartPlymouth posted:
30 years ago he kicked around a ball, earned loads of money....spent it on booze and died because of it after an unwarranted internationational celebreity status.
His odd attempts to reclaim that by selling pictures to NoW are pitiful examples of his last years. Perhaps some people cannot die with grace after years of public disgrace.
This over-exposure is disgusting.
His odd attempts to reclaim that by selling pictures to NoW are pitiful examples of his last years. Perhaps some people cannot die with grace after years of public disgrace.
This over-exposure is disgusting.
Give it a rest Stuart.
OK, so you obviously don't like football and therefore don't care much for footballers. But millions of people do, and whether you like it or not that's why he's got "international celebrity status".
Personally I think Best's is a tragic case that should be highlighting alcoholism and how it can affect and destroy people - sadly too many people don't understand it and seem to think it's just as excuse to wise-crack about someone they see as a drunken waster.
TV
Sombre intro into NWT this afternoon,
There were initial titles, but the headlines did not start with the usual 'thunderclap' and then there was no NWT theme, just a streight cut to Gordon Burns.
It is very sad that he has died, but does a footballer deserve such a change in presentation, when presentation was barely changed for the death of Ted Heath, for example?
There were initial titles, but the headlines did not start with the usual 'thunderclap' and then there was no NWT theme, just a streight cut to Gordon Burns.
It is very sad that he has died, but does a footballer deserve such a change in presentation, when presentation was barely changed for the death of Ted Heath, for example?
DU
Spot on decision- well done News 24. It was expected news, and frankly given the ridiculous extent of the coverage, there simply is nothing else to say.
Let's face some hard facts- he was a great footballer 30+ years ago, but if all he had done was football, today's news would be the first we'd heard of his illness.
This obsessive coverage is simply due to his drinking and his abuse of a donated liver. It's a human interest story but it's been blown out of all proportion.
George Best was a simply fantastic footballer. A far more dignified and fitting death would have been much less public. It would have involved respectful obit reports AFTER his death, featuring his great goals. But that's all been done before his death, and I doubt the public has much appetite to see it plastered across their screens again tonight.
Shame- it's another completely unexplainable mini-Diana effect.
rts posted:
Interesting that News 24 are covering the Bradford conference, while Sky are staying with George Best, with the Bradford conference available via the red button.
Spot on decision- well done News 24. It was expected news, and frankly given the ridiculous extent of the coverage, there simply is nothing else to say.
Kent Brockman posted:
OK, so you obviously don't like football and therefore don't care much for footballers. But millions of people do, and whether you like it or not that's why he's got "international celebrity status".
Personally I think Best's is a tragic case that should be highlighting alcoholism and how it can affect and destroy people - sadly too many people don't understand it and seem to think it's just as excuse to wise-crack about someone they see as a drunken waster.
Personally I think Best's is a tragic case that should be highlighting alcoholism and how it can affect and destroy people - sadly too many people don't understand it and seem to think it's just as excuse to wise-crack about someone they see as a drunken waster.
Let's face some hard facts- he was a great footballer 30+ years ago, but if all he had done was football, today's news would be the first we'd heard of his illness.
This obsessive coverage is simply due to his drinking and his abuse of a donated liver. It's a human interest story but it's been blown out of all proportion.
George Best was a simply fantastic footballer. A far more dignified and fitting death would have been much less public. It would have involved respectful obit reports AFTER his death, featuring his great goals. But that's all been done before his death, and I doubt the public has much appetite to see it plastered across their screens again tonight.
Shame- it's another completely unexplainable mini-Diana effect.
CW
Charlie Wells
Moderator
The BBC One schedule has been altered tonight with a tribute to George Best at 7pm, according to the 1 o'clock news.
I definately think this whole news story has been overplayed in the media. For the past couple of days they've been giving so much coverage that you would have thought he was already dead. In his day he was probably famous enough to justify this amount of coverage, however in recent years he's been better known for his problems with alcohol, and I don't think was worthy of coverage on this scale.
I definately think this whole news story has been overplayed in the media. For the past couple of days they've been giving so much coverage that you would have thought he was already dead. In his day he was probably famous enough to justify this amount of coverage, however in recent years he's been better known for his problems with alcohol, and I don't think was worthy of coverage on this scale.
CA
Do you think, possibly, all your relcutance to accept that this actually is a ''big'' story could be because:
a) Most of you (myself included) weren't even born when Best was actually playing, and as such really couldn't grasp the significance that this has on people of Best's generation.
b) You don't give a toss about football, and have probably never kicked a ball in your lives
c) You have no idea about what makes an interesting news story
Whilst I'm not that fussed, even some of the most braindead members on here coming out with ''this is daft, he's only famous because he got wasted all the time'' must surely be able to see that whilst the audience for this story might not be them, there's a fairly massive market out there who actually genuinely give a damn, and remember Best from his playing days rather than his later struggles with alcohol.
All of this nonsense - amusing though some of it can be - about ''scum alcoholic, he deserved it'' does rather show a lack of understanding about his condition, and a really unfortunate sense of immaturity.
a) Most of you (myself included) weren't even born when Best was actually playing, and as such really couldn't grasp the significance that this has on people of Best's generation.
b) You don't give a toss about football, and have probably never kicked a ball in your lives
c) You have no idea about what makes an interesting news story
Whilst I'm not that fussed, even some of the most braindead members on here coming out with ''this is daft, he's only famous because he got wasted all the time'' must surely be able to see that whilst the audience for this story might not be them, there's a fairly massive market out there who actually genuinely give a damn, and remember Best from his playing days rather than his later struggles with alcohol.
All of this nonsense - amusing though some of it can be - about ''scum alcoholic, he deserved it'' does rather show a lack of understanding about his condition, and a really unfortunate sense of immaturity.
KB
But I don't think the fact he was an alcoholic in later years should negate the fact that he was the best footballer Britain (and arguably the world?) has ever produced, and therefore worthy of fairly widespread coverage.
Like I said earlier, I don't disagree that the coverage before his death was becoming over the top, though influenced greatly by his fluctuating condition. And I too think that News 24 were right to carry the Bradford PC's news conference over Best's death.
But it's nothing compared to the Diana episode. All I'm saying is don't under-estimate just how much this guy was loved, simply for the entertainment he provided as a footballer over the years.
Charlie Wells posted:
In his day he was probably famous enough to justify this amount of coverage, however in recent years he's been better known for his problems with alcohol, and I don't think was worthy of coverage on this scale.
But I don't think the fact he was an alcoholic in later years should negate the fact that he was the best footballer Britain (and arguably the world?) has ever produced, and therefore worthy of fairly widespread coverage.
Like I said earlier, I don't disagree that the coverage before his death was becoming over the top, though influenced greatly by his fluctuating condition. And I too think that News 24 were right to carry the Bradford PC's news conference over Best's death.
But it's nothing compared to the Diana episode. All I'm saying is don't under-estimate just how much this guy was loved, simply for the entertainment he provided as a footballer over the years.
