How is it that things so profoundly human routinely break our hearts?
Jackson McClure is a boy from northern Kentucky who last December was diagnosed with leukemia, three weeks after his 11th birthday.
There are no words to cover the pain in that sentence. There is nothing a world of best intentions can do to vanquish that hurt. Our shared humanity gathers at the gate, praying and doing what good we can. A perverse gift of grief is the tangible love it can produce. There’s a lot of love going on right now, for Jackson McClure.
I don’t know him or his parents, Doug and Shawna. A Mobster e-mailed me yesterday, to share their story. He directed me to a website, Caring Bridge, where I found enough goodness to keep me going and hopeful for a good long while.
Joey Votto made a video for Jackson, himself a ballplayer. Joey Votto does lots of good things for people, almost all of which he does anonymously. I don’t know what he’d think of me telling on him this way. I’m guessing he might be a bit embarrassed. He gave Jackson a 60-second video tour … at the batting cages adjacent to the Reds clubhouse and out onto the field. He wished Jackson the best.
Votto is a good man.
The UC baseball team cut another video. Individual players, a dozen at least, wished Jackson the best. Meantime, seemingly all of Northern Kentucky has rallied to Jackson’s side. We’re only as good as the way we treat each other.
Doug and Shawna are staying with Jackson in his hospital room now, seeking miracles and praying that the invincibility of the human spirit makes its presence known.
Here is Jackson’s Caring Bridge page. It includes this note, from Doug:
“Baseball and sports in general may seem inconsequential compared to real life, but the notion of brotherhood, teamwork, and picking up your teammate.... well, that is my favorite part.
Joey Votto and the Reds did not need to do this.
JD and the UC Bearcats did not need to do this.
But they know that when someone is down, you pick them up.
AND PICK UP JACKSON, THEY DID.’’
Prayers to Jackson and his family. May his future include ballfields.
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WHY THE RAYS ARE THE RAYS. . . They just traded their starting SS Willy Adames to Milwaukee for a couple middle relievers. Yahoo!:
“Adames joined the Rays organization as a prospect in the David Price trade, took over the starting shortstop job in 2018 and had his best year in 2020 as they galloped to a pennant. He is seemingly beloved not just in his own clubhouse, but around the game.
“The moves are what they are: calculated. An unending Tetris game to keep the maximum amount of talent in stock on a limited roster and an even more limited budget. They have moved into a sort of post-loyalty, post-jersey-buying mode of operating where they promise wins in return for never expecting today’s hero will be around to hear tomorrow's ovation.''
Tampa makes a living operating this way. The Rays have no problem dealing popular players in their primes. Blake Snell, anyone?
Why? Partly because they have little regard for appeasing their (tiny) fan base. Bob Castellini has always worried about What The Fans Will Think when considering trades. It’s a big reason the club waited too long to deal Todd Frazier and Aroldis Chapman, among others.
Because the Rays don’t draw flies unless they’re playing the Red Sox or Yankees, their front office doesn’t ever consider fan sentiment when doing a deal.
Oh by the way, they’ve currently won 11 in a row and own the best record in the AL.
I’M TORN ON THIS ONE. . . Celebrate the general and all-consuming joy? And apologize for it? One, both, neither?
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The PGA of America tweeted out an apology Monday night, to Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka, for that sea of humanity that engulfed the pair at the 18th Sunday.
What do you think?
Part of me – the OG part, admittedly – watched that mob scene and cursed the entitlement it demonstrated. People these days think they can do whatever the hell they want. It was selfish, immature and foolish. Golf doesn’t behave that way. A great thing about the Masters is, that sort of rolling scrum would never happen there.
The other part of me thought it was cool.
A country just beginning to kick up its heels post-Covid was getting reacquainted with unhesitant joy, and what’s so bad about that?
Life and truth are rarely black and white, but rather subtle shades of gray. The crowd could have had fun while also showing more respect. The two shoudn’t be mutually exclusive.Your take.
More:Paul Daugherty: For Gerry Faust's players, a lifetime of loyalty and love
MOBSTER LEN e-mailed after Mickelson’s W, with a top-10 list of sporting events that made him the happiest:
1. Knicks winning Gm. 7 vs. the Lakers in the 1970 Finals ... Willis Reed limping on to the floor just before tipoff, Willis hitting his first two jumpers and the overall greatness of Walt Frazier that game...36, 19(???) & 7;
2. Celtics defeat the Lakers in Gm. 7 of the 1983 Finals;
3. Reds wining Gm. 5 of the 1975 playoffs when Bench hit the opposite field HR to tie it in the bottom of the 9th;
4. The Knicks winning the 1973 Finals ... Clyde teamed up with Earl “the Pearl;”;
5. Duke defeating Butler in the 2015 NCAA Championship game;
6. Ali defeating Frazier in “The Thrilla in Manila”;
7. The Warriors winning the Championship in 2015 over the Cavs;
8. The Warriors winning their record-setting 73rd game in 2016 against Memphis;
9. Kobe going for 60 in his final game, and
10. Phil winning his 1st Major @ Augusta
Here was my list, with an asterisk indicating the events I witnessed in person:
* Jack winning '86 Masters
Pirates winning '71 Series
* Redskins beating Cowboys in '72 NFC title game. (I was 15, with my dad at RFK Stadium.)
* Redskins beating Broncos in '88 Super Bowl
* Jordan from the corner as Heels beat Georgetown
* Lewis beating Ben Johnson in the 100 m Olympic finals in South Korea
* Rulon Gardner monumentally upsetting the Russian wrestler Alexander Karelin at the Sydney Olympics
* Kerri Strug landing that vault on a bad ankle in the ATL Olys, to clinch women's team gold for US
* Tiger winning '18 Masters
* EDavis HR off Dave Stewart in Game 1, '90 Series
I welcome your lists.
TUNE O’ THE DAY. . . Some bands don’t age well. Guys you really liked back in the day you won’t listen to now. Bachman Turner Overdrive, anyone? I loved these guys when I was in my late teens. Now, not so much. But I still like this tune of theirs.
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