Sad

I have to write something on this...

On late Wednesday night as I was reading something, snacking, and generally wasting my time, I had the tv on for some background noise. I glanced up every couple minutes. I happened to catch the highlights of the A's-Angles baseball game. Nick Adenahart, the Angles top young prospect, had pitched six scoreless innings in his first start of the season (and the fourth major league game he'd ever pitched in). A little while after I woke up on Thursday, as I turned on the channels and flipped through the channels, I stopped on ESPN. I was shocked to see that same pitcher I had seen a few hours before had been killed in a car accident. What made it even more astonishing was that he was probably killed right about the time I had seen the highlights of the game.

It was very eery to watch the postgame interview of him. He talked about how excited he was and how he finally felt like a major leaguer. How he had always dreamed about pitching in the major leagues and after so much work he finally fulfilled his dreams. I couldn't help but be dumbfounded by the fact that he was dead only an hour or two after the interview.

There are few situations that I could imagine that could be more sad. It's horrible to see how excited he was about his first start and then realize it will be his last. To think about the long career he would have had and think that he won't get that chance. Or to think he's just 22. He was just starting his life. It is breathtaking how much potential for great things there were and that in the span of a couple hours, from when he pitched to when he was killed, all that could be forever snatched from him. It's amazing to me to think that all that could change while I was sleeping.

I don't know why, this story just seems to get to me more than most do. Perhaps its because he was killed by a drunk driver who ran a red light. (Adenhard's two passegners were also killed.) To me it is just stunning that with one simple act, or one simple decision, how so many things can change and so many people be affected. Or that just a few hours before this pitcher had everything, had everything to look forward to, that all that could be gone so fast.

It's not surprising to me that the drunk driver had a prior drunk driving arrest and had only received a suspended license. Like usual, police don't really care about a drunk driver until they actually hurt someone. Makes complete sense to me...

The most unjust part to me seems that while the driver selfishly killed three others, he was not hurt himself.

I know there were many, many other people who had their lives cut short like this just today. And everyday. I don't know why, this just really made me think.

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.