Word: soccering
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
DIED. GEORGE BEST, 59, dazzling international soccer superstar whose good looks and shaggy coif earned him the nickname the "fifth Beatle"; of a lung infection, after being hospitalized for a prescription-drug reaction; in London. Long before David Beckham, Best injected sex appeal into soccer, leading Manchester United to its first European Cup win in 1968. But he earned his reputation as a trouble-seeking playboy. Unable to stop drinking, even after a 2002 liver transplant, he called alcohol the "only opponent I've been unable to beat...
...dared to breathalyze him. Yet somehow, he was forgiven by anyone who saw him play. I count myself lucky to have been among them. It is sad that he has gone. Yet somehow the idea of an old George Best never seemed right. He was born to play soccer, and probably, because of those demons, born to die too soon...
Appreciation Even in today's celebrity culture, there are few people whose medical updates lead to newspaper billboards being changed. In late October, I watched the news vendor tear off FINAL VIGIL FOR BEST and replace it with GEORGE RALLIES. GEORGE BEST, whose genius on the soccer field?combined with his antics off it?made him a modern icon, held on that day. But last Friday he lost the final round to multiple organ failure after complications triggered by a lung infection, aged 59. Even generations unborn when he worked his soccer magic lamented the loss of a great sporting...
...Just how great the world will never know. He came from a working-class background in Northern Ireland, one of soccer's minnows, and so never graced the final rounds of the World Cup. Had he done so, many believe he would have passed Pel? as the greatest of all time. He helped Manchester United become the first English Champions of Europe. But Best's story is one of talent beyond any other, yet talent unfulfilled. The demons that drove him to drink meant he was in decline from the day he left Manchester, aged 27. He played for lesser...
...year-old soldier serving in the Black Watch regiment, he heard the guns fall silent along the Western Front on Christmas Day as British and German soldiers emerged from the trenches to greet each other in no-man's-land; they sang carols, swapped cigarettes and played soccer until fighting resumed that afternoon. In 1998, he was awarded France's Legion of Honor for his war service...