In a way, it’s a little sad that Eddie McGuire will be remembered for all the wrong reasons. Many have only seen the fall without seeing how he got to the top in the first place. This is particularly the case if you’re under about 35 years of age. If that’s the case, you’ve likely only heard about racism and how terrible he is.
Understandable, as they’ve been the biggest headlines, but you likely missed him at his best, and therefore have only part of the story.
We’ve all heard the cliffnotes history of Ed – Broadmeadows boy, smart head on his shoulders, worked hard, became a journalist, and grew to become one of the most influential members of the footy fraternity and, indeed, the Australian entertainment industry.
Unfortunately, along the way, Ed made a few mistakes, and they are what people gravitate toward, particularly when they need to justify their negative opinion of the man. It’s genuinely amazing how so much good can be forgotten when something bad occurs. It is almost as though any positive is automatically disregarded when there is something negative to focus on.
We all put our foot in it occasionally, but when Ed puts his foot in it, he stomps in it in a big way, then walks his way back through it. He also does it in front of a lot of people. He goes from all is well to up to his eyeballs in crap pretty quickly.
And some things are too big even for someone who’d proven relatively bulletproof until that point.
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