'There was one occasion when I decided I would give up the booze forever – but it turned out to be the worst 20 minutes of my life.''
Such a remark might have been funny in different circumstances. But it was a sad attempt at self-deprecating humour by George Best, a soccer player of pure poetic genius in his prime, long after he had turned into a bloated and tragic alcoholic, his sporting talents long since squandered.
George's increasingly desperate attempts to poke fun at himself, during the tortuous years of his drink-sodden decline, only add to the pathos of his life story.
Now another new biography of Best has hit the shops. In an offbeat sort of way, it just might be of benefit to angsty Irish parents, worried that their second or third-level offspring are already imbibing too much alcohol.
Of course the reality is that a countless number of Irish fathers and mothers are in no position to moralise to their teenage sons and daughters about the evils of the demon drink, given their own propensity to imbibe so much of the stuff.
TCD Freshers' Week was in full swing over the past few days. But it was difficult not to overhear some uneasy parents at a weekend get together, nervously clutching their gin and tonics and sipping their Merlot, bewailing the amount of alcohol consumed by students marking the start of the academic year.
Source:Gerard O'Regan, Irish Independent, 23/09/13
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