Losing Nash this Time? Not so Great

I'm pretty sure I remember raising a cold frosty Busch beer in honor of Damien Nash's decision to leave the University of Missouri and make a wild, and seemingly impossible attempt to land in the Big Leagues of Football. Why not toast? The most highly touted prospect in my Mizzou era, supposedly one of the best high school football players ever to play in St. Louis, ends up being hardly-a-starter who wouldn't run hard, couldn't hit holes, gained only 792 yards on a not-very-good team that couldn't pass the ball. To be honest, the Damien Nash era was over and most MU students were either happy or too busy laughing at the idea of Nash in the NFL.

Losing Nash this time, however, plays a little differently. Nash died last Saturday hours after playing in a charity event basketball game to support his brother's heart disease. This time the Damien Nash era is literally over, and there won't be any bottle raising unless it's in honor. Nash recently wedded and had a seven month old child, was looking at landing a prominent job in the Denver Bronco's backfield, and many friends have been quoted as saying the past few weeks were the happiest weeks of Nash's life.

Without getting philosophical, these type of things are simply weird...and tragic. It proves that no matter who we are, whether it be fans or athletes making millions of dollars or simply somebody trying to help out a charity, we can never take our life, or any one else's, for granted.

Best wishes to the entire Nash family.