Eamonn Puts It Best

Published on November 26, 2005 By O G San In Current Events

I had planned to pen an obituary to George Best, who died yesterday at the age of 59. It was my intention to focus on his Protestant awkwardness, a trait he shared with this humble author. However, having read Eamonn McCann's excellent tribute in today's Irish Times, I've decided to provide a link to his piece instead.

What an insightful article it is, with a very rare "to your extreme credit" given to Eamonn for his use of the phrase "no guru, no method, no teacher."

It's interesting to speculate on McCann's assertion that Best, along with Van Morrison and Alex Higgins comprised "three of maybe half a dozen authentic geniuses of popular culture to have emerged from Ireland in the last half-century."

So who are the remaining three Irish geniuses? Shane MacGowan is an obvious choice, as is Brendan Behan. As for the final spot, well why not give that to Eamonn himself?

Comments

dharmagrl

on Nov 26, 2005

I can't begin to express how sad I am that sweet Georgie has gone to rest. He was my first crush, my first introduction to football, my first brush with celebrity....he had my heart the same way he had the hearts of millions of others.

There will never be another George Best.

shadesofgrey

on Nov 28, 2005

Thanks for the link. The Belfast Telegraph had a similar article a couple weeks back about Higgins and Best (http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/opinion/story.jsp?story=668562)

Also, I think that if you are talking Irish pop culture geniuses of the last half-century, you've got to have Bono in there, no?

O G San

on Nov 29, 2005

Thanks for that Meghan. On a similar theme here is a link about the connection between Van the Man and the Big Man. Link

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