The Sports desk is empty Bubba. Raoul Duke will no longer be reporting about the geeks, the freaks, the uppers, the downers, the fear or the loathing of American life.

Hunter S Thompson shot himself at his Owl Creek Farm in Colorado on Sunday night. He was 67 years of age, but some would say he was centuries old in life experience. He lived life on the cutting edge of the counter culture for most of his life, and he was its greatest poet.

Although better remembered for his drug fuelled rampages of the 1970’s, such as Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Thompson first came to fame with his book Hells Angels in which he spent a year living with the notorious motorcycle gang of the same name. Always part of any story he covered, Thompson wound up getting his lights punched out by some of the Angels by the end of the book.

Being part of the story, reporting it raw, dripping in venom with no attempt at objectivity – This was Gonzo Journalism and Hunter S Thompson brought it to the world. His coverage of the US Presidential election race of 1972 (Fear ad Loathing on the Campaign Trail) has been hailed as one of the most honest and scathing reports of just what it is like to be caught in the whirlwind of the political process.

Thompson tried politics himself later on when he ran for Sheriff of Aspen County. If he won he vowed to rip up all the asphalt roads, drive out the yuppies and rename the town “Fat City”. He didn’t win, but with the “Freak Vote” behind him he sure put a scare into some of his more conservative neighbours.

In his eulogy for Richard Nixon, Thompson said that the ex-president should be put in a garbage bag and thrown in the dumpster. This is the kind of comment that shows why he will be missed – no compromise, always state your opinion no matter whose toes you may tread on, and give the audience a laugh in the process.

“When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro”

Overall: 9.9