0312 Even The Best May Stumble Comments

American baseball had a counterpart to Best - Ken Caminiti, who played exquisitely for my hometown team, the San Diego Padres. His playing style epitomized the sport for those of us who love it, but his life off the field showed his fatal flaw (I'm not quite prepared to use 'tragic' flaw) . His career ended, he spiralled into a life alternating old-timers games and awards banquets with rehab and court, until he died of a heart attack at the age of 41. His fans and colleagues saw both sides of him and loved him with pity and fear. Thanks for showing the bridge between very different sports of very different nations. And to answer Max, some reasonably good poetry has been written about Caminiti. My own attempt, however, sucked.

Rich Hanson is the sport writer around here, Max. Maybe he'll be inspired... Andy, I intended a contrast, but it all fell apart and I nearly deleted it, I too prefer the second part. George Best was one of those whom one could easily be moralistic about, but those who knew him best (!) really loved him and his company. So there was something worth commemorating despite the self-destruction.

This guy must've been really something. I wonder whether anyone in America could get poets going like this...