Stuart Scott

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Sitting here watching ESPN getting ready to ride the trainer and I hear about Stuart Scott passing.  May God Damn this sort of thing!  Cancer.  Always always takes a guy like him and leaves jerks to inherit the landscape of good health.  

My hands keep going up to my eyes.  The corners of my lips turn down and quiver.  Why am I so affected by this particular death…this particular person?  Why has this tipped me over this morning?  Why am I sitting here crying while I watch ESPN’s retrospect instead of quietly thinking “another one bites the dust.”?  I can’t really say.  I did not know the man apart from what I saw on TV or at the Heroes Gala last year—almost one year ago exactly.  I don’t know what he was really like apart from what was presented to the public.  I don’t know that he was especially more important than anyone else in the world…any better person, or father, or even broadcaster.  But something is making me really sad about this today. 

Maybe it doesn’t matter how important or good a person is to the world.  Maybe it only matters how good or important a person is to you.  Or how a person positively affects your life or the way you look at the world.  And then maybe it is our responsibility and privilege to pass that affectation on to others.  The vast majority of us can only reach a limited number of people, after all.  I guess Stuart Scott must have affected me in a pretty big way.  I know I liked his presence on ESPN.  I know I liked his on-air personality.  I was impressed that he took time to come to the Gala last year, looking as thin as I’ve ever seen him.  I was impressed that he was so magnanimous and seemed to take the event very seriously.  He was passionate when he spoke and very gracious when people pressed him for autographs or photos.  Maybe it is because I sensed genuineness in him that I am so sad today.  Genuine people are, in my opinion, uncommon in these times.  And for some reason, I think he was a genuine guy.  BooYah.  

I am not a fan of celebrity, or being famous.  I think it breeds egotism in almost every case.  And I don’t think that anyone in the world “deserves” recognition for doing good things.  That is not a socialist statement, either…or maybe it is…I don’t really care…it’s just a stupid word.  I just think that people should all do good things and be fulfilled by the knowledge that maybe those things enriched someone else’s life in some way.  So—I don’t think that we should necessarily glorify Stuart for anything in particular.  But I do hope…I very strongly hope that people remember him and let his life and his work be reflected in the way they live.  

They say that cancer doesn’t discriminate when it takes people away from us.  I don’t know…it just doesn’t seem that way to me after today.