We talk all the time about the lifestyle that is inspired by soccer and how this not only influences our lives but the direction of Bumpy Pitch and The Original Winger. You can’t have this type of conversation without referencing George Best.

His skills on the filed were undeniable. He was named the 16th best player of the 20th Century, voted 11th at the European Player of the Century and was included in Pele’s top 125 living footballers in 2004. But dude had just as much style and swag off the field. Besides all the awards and attention he received as a player, GQ Named him as one of the 50 most stylish people of the last 50 years and he was often referred to as the 5th Beatle.

Best even opened fashion boutiques (as well as nightclubs) with Mike Summerbee of Manchester  City. I read somewhere that he said he opened the boutiques because it would help him meet even more women. Can’t be mad at that…

George Best actually had a lot of influence on us when we decided to do The Original Winger. As far as we are concerned, he is “the original winger.” We even went so far as to mock up the original logo using the classic “Swinger” font. If you happened to see the site in its infancy, before the changes to the design, we used this logo for a short period of time. It didn’t really end up working…but the influence of Best, the time period and the style associated with him on and off the field was something that we were and are still inspired by.

You know you’re kind of a big deal when you get the comic book treatment.

LA Aztecs!

He even had a limited edition Faberge Egg created for him. Only 68 were ever produced. Wowzers!

Before the Zidane movie where he had a bajillion cameras following his every move for a game, and before the recent Kobe Bryant documentary with the same premise, there was an independent German filmmaker, Helmut Costard, who recorded George Best for a game with eight cameras. This sort of thing was way ahead of it’s time from a cinematic point of view, and George Best was the perfect player to be the center of this attention. The film was called “Fußball wie noch nie” – “Football As Never Before.” Further proof that the legend still influences people to this day, whether they know it or not.

I wasn’t around when George Best was a player. I never got to see his brilliance on the field or see how he got down away from the field. But there are parts of him that inspire what we do and he is brought up in conversations around here on the reg. He’s hands down a legandary dude for many, many reasons.