Not the best way to wake up, huh? Cardinal Nation went to bed angry last night after an 8-1 beating from the rival Cubs, the bats didn't hit and the pitches weren't outs on the Redbirds side. Waking up on Sunday was supposed to bring a beautiful morning with the hopes of a Cardinals victory to cap the weekend series. Instead, nature put everything into perspective. All of sudden, the last thing on the minds of Cardinal fans were lame bats and poor pitching. For a couple hours on a lovely Sunday morning, Cardinal Nation went into shock and baseball, once again, took a proper backseat to the harsh reality that there are things more important than a losing streak.
There's no need to rehash the events of the last 24 hours, we've all heard about them more than we needed to. Cardinal Nation and the sport of baseball not withstanding, the tragic loss of Josh Hancock shook the athletic world into it's place, it proved the mortality of superstars, and reminded all of its fans not to take this pasttime for granted.
Receiving the scary phone calls, that come too early in the morning to be good news, left many fans lying in bed remembering the baseball tragedies of the past. It left us realizing that these things happen every day, and made us ask why it gives us goosebumps when it happens to star athletes. In the end, we realize these great athletes aren't better people than any of us, but within them they hold that dream that sports fans have of being great. We go in our backyard and pretend we're on the mound in the bottom of the ninth of a game 7, the world's best hitter is in the batter box and we hurl that fastball without ever giving them a chance to catch up to it. Or maybe we're on the other end and the world's best pitcher is on the mound and we take him 511 feet deep in walk-off fashion.
Childhood dreams that most of us never got to experience. And when one of those lucky few who did experience it pass away in tragic form, a little bit of us goes with them. And we know, as sports fans, that their lives weren't any greater than ours but, nonetheless, we were living through them a little bit. And it's sad to see that go.
It happens every day to great people all around the world, yes. But there are those few instances, like today, that remind us to get back in the backyard and pretend we're Ozzie Smith making diving plays up the middle on tennis balls that come bouncing back off a brick wall. Or pretending we're Willie McGee tracking a fly ball that dad threw off the deck and making a shoe string grab to save a run. Or making like Vince Coleman in a game of hot box with the neighborhood kids, sliding hard into the T-Shirt that made a base. And although we may not actually get out the dusty baseball mitt and the bucket of balls, we are still reminded of those great days. Of those childhood dreams we had. And still have.
Days like this remind us that we won't be here forever for the great Cardinal-Cub rivalry. And those days of playing pick-up ball with the kids around campus aren't going to last forever. All we can really do is use these days as reminders, make the most of what we got, and maybe, just one more time in our growing age, sneak into a basement and pretend we're taking the hill in a game 7 with a St. Louis Championship on the line.
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4 comments:
Another fine piece of writing about a fine young man and a fine sport. Keep up the good work, David, and thanks for reminding us what's important in life.
Nice article. My prayers go out to the Hancock family.
David, I was wondering what route you were going to take with this tragedy. I read this and was simply amazed with what positive thoughts you can come up with in such a time of sadness. It's unfortunate that we need reminders like this to realize what's important in life. Thanks for the simple reminder and my thoughts and prayers are with the Hancock family.
Dave, I was just wondering your opinion on the articles that have come out today regarding the night of Hancock's death. I feel that it is shady reporting on these newspapers. There are no facts and it bothers me to know that Josh's parents are reading these articles. I don't feel that it is necessary to be doing this when the truth will come out eventually. Maybe if someone else was injured, I would understand. I don't know why, but I'm enraged by this reporting and it really bothers me. What are your thoughts?
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