Goodbye Nick Adenhart

I remember reading a Bill Simmons article that discussed the quirkiness of the conversations held by announcers during baseball games.

His thesis, as best I remember, was basically to point out that the conversation is always oddly interrupted by the flow of the game. Balls and strikes, batted balls, etc.

It creates an odd flow — an anti-flow really — that is unique to baseball. I thought of that when I read this transcription from former deadspin editor Will Leitch.

It's the Dodger's Vin Scully on Adenhardt.

And if there is one thing I’ve learned in all my years — and I haven’t learned much — but the one thing I’ve learned: Don’t even waste your time trying to figure out life.

Ground ball through for Andre Ethier, and life continues for those who still have it. And with a leadoff single, Russell Martin will be coming up.

But I would say, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to take a moment and say a prayer in memory for Nick, especially for his parents. What a shock to lose a twenty-two-year-old.

Andre Ethier at first base, Russell Martin the batter, James Loney on deck, and the Dodgers try to strike in the second inning against Kevin Correia.

Leitch calls it simple baseball poetry. But it seems inappropriate to me. 

Or maybe the line, "Groundball through for Andre Ethier, and life continues for those who still have it," just seems a little callous.

What do you guys think?

Adenhart's Death a Shocker

I just heard during the O's/Yankees game that Nick Adenhart, a rookie starter for the Los Angeles Angels has been killed in a car crash. The story is up on ESPN.com. What a horrible, horrible story.

The kid was one of the finest pitching prospects in baseball. I was excited to see what he was going to do in the Angels' rotation this year. But this story is way more important than the baseball side. It hurts to see someone my age (I was also born in 1986) rise so high and see them get it all senselessly torn away because some jerk in a hurry couldn't be bothered to drive safely.

This type of thing happens every day. People are so selfish, so caught up in their own personal zone, that they never think of the consequences. The other day, I was on my way out of the Metro on a long escalator. I was on crutches with a broken ankle, and some idiot businessman almost knocked me down face first so that he could get to the top 10 seconds quicker. He wasn't even running to catch a train. He just couldn't wait five extra seconds or maybe even slow down when he was trying to pass the guy on crutches, perched precariously on a step. Are people really that egotistical? Why do we allow others to have that kind of attitude and be self righteous about it?

There are tens of thousands of deaths on the roads every year. A good portion of them may be unavoidable. Machines fail. Vehicles have blind spots. Lighting isn't always perfect. And sometimes the roads are very chaotic and too many people move at the same time in a tightly-packed area. But another large portion is made up of people behaving selfishly who endanger others' lives for the hope of getting to the movie theater five seconds earlier. Drive safely, for the sake of society. This is real life. A wonderful 22-year-old talent just got stolen from baseball, and a 22-year-old man with his priorities straight just got taken from a family. Let's at least examine the part of this story that our culture is responsible for and address it.