My community is fortunate enough to have all types of sports. In the professional realm we have our hometown Kansas City Royals and Kansas City Chiefs. This week, we lost a member of the Kansas City Royals baseball team. Yordano Ventura was a 25 year old starting pitcher who brought at times both joy and frustration for fans. A talented baseball player who had a real gift was taken too soon.
Normally I'm a very private person regarding grief and tragedies. I'm not a touchy-feely person so I generally steer clear of such topics. However, this loss for our community family has stuck a cord with me. This young man was the same age as my youngest child. It's a horrible loss for his family. I cannot imagine having to bury a child. For us fans, baseball players become a part of our own family. With 162 games in a season, we regular watchers allow those players into our living room for well over 100 games each season. That translates to at least 300 hours and it almost feels as if we know them. Even more so than other celebrities because we all have an emotional attachment to our teams and are constantly rooting for a win.
Ventura was just like one of our own kids; both exciting and at times frustrating to watch. But I do know that whenever we were headed to a game, the interest level went up a notch when we knew he would be pitching. He helped bring a lot of pride to this city when they won the World Series in 2015. The media has mentioned that signs were placed on a memorial at the stadium that say he was traded to the Angels. I love this analogy. Yordano, you'll always have home-field advantage now. Thank you for the many hours of enjoyment you brought into our homes these last few years.
In this crazy mixed up country of ours right now, sports is an oasis for many of us. It's an escape from the nutty politics and other issues facing us daily. This tragedy is a reminder that life can be cut short in an instant and we need to always be mindful of what's important.
Normally I'm a very private person regarding grief and tragedies. I'm not a touchy-feely person so I generally steer clear of such topics. However, this loss for our community family has stuck a cord with me. This young man was the same age as my youngest child. It's a horrible loss for his family. I cannot imagine having to bury a child. For us fans, baseball players become a part of our own family. With 162 games in a season, we regular watchers allow those players into our living room for well over 100 games each season. That translates to at least 300 hours and it almost feels as if we know them. Even more so than other celebrities because we all have an emotional attachment to our teams and are constantly rooting for a win.
Ventura was just like one of our own kids; both exciting and at times frustrating to watch. But I do know that whenever we were headed to a game, the interest level went up a notch when we knew he would be pitching. He helped bring a lot of pride to this city when they won the World Series in 2015. The media has mentioned that signs were placed on a memorial at the stadium that say he was traded to the Angels. I love this analogy. Yordano, you'll always have home-field advantage now. Thank you for the many hours of enjoyment you brought into our homes these last few years.
In this crazy mixed up country of ours right now, sports is an oasis for many of us. It's an escape from the nutty politics and other issues facing us daily. This tragedy is a reminder that life can be cut short in an instant and we need to always be mindful of what's important.
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