2008 Woodie Awards
Nothing can beat heart!
Patrick Swafford
Issue date: 3/17/06 Section: Sports
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I've done a lot of thinking over the past week. Most people who know me will tell you that I'm the biggest damn sports fan there is. I go to the trouble of making sure I know as much as I can about everything. I even went as far as to have Abbey Breit and Suzi Terrell teach me stuff about volleyball last semester. I love sports. I love this job.
News broke about a week ago. Minnesota Twins' Hall of Famer, Kirby Puckett, was dead at the age of 45. I was never a Twins' fan; in fact, I hated the guy for what he did to the Braves in game six of the 1991 World Series. The huge catch on the wall, the homer to send it to a seventh game, winning the seventh game. I thought I was going to be sick. It took me a while to admit that the man could flat out play. It's like the old saying goes, "Don't hate the player, hate the game."
This entire week, I've read dozens of stories about how great a guy Kirby was. Jim Leyland, the manager of the Detroit Tigers said that Puckett was a "big kid in a big uniform, but he played the game like a Little Leaguer."
Story after story came though the internet about how he loved the game of baseball. It was never a business to him; it was his passion.
That got me thinking. Just what are we doing with our lives? There are some tremendous athletes on this campus. I'd start naming a few, but I'd be typing forever. Besides the athletes, someone from this campus, someone that is reading this column, is going to be famous for doing something they love.
I might end up on ESPN. Daniela Pappano might make the Canadian National Softball team and help upset the United States. We could see Josh Moten tearing the gridiron up on Sundays or Walker Russell and Courtney Bradley shaking hands with David Stern at the NBA Draft. The list goes on and on. The one thing that is common in all of these people is that they love what they do.
Since I've started this job, I can't tell you how many times I've done a post-game interview with an athlete that had a huge smile on their face. It's those people that you can't help but love, not because of their talent, but because of their heart.
News broke about a week ago. Minnesota Twins' Hall of Famer, Kirby Puckett, was dead at the age of 45. I was never a Twins' fan; in fact, I hated the guy for what he did to the Braves in game six of the 1991 World Series. The huge catch on the wall, the homer to send it to a seventh game, winning the seventh game. I thought I was going to be sick. It took me a while to admit that the man could flat out play. It's like the old saying goes, "Don't hate the player, hate the game."
This entire week, I've read dozens of stories about how great a guy Kirby was. Jim Leyland, the manager of the Detroit Tigers said that Puckett was a "big kid in a big uniform, but he played the game like a Little Leaguer."
Story after story came though the internet about how he loved the game of baseball. It was never a business to him; it was his passion.
That got me thinking. Just what are we doing with our lives? There are some tremendous athletes on this campus. I'd start naming a few, but I'd be typing forever. Besides the athletes, someone from this campus, someone that is reading this column, is going to be famous for doing something they love.
I might end up on ESPN. Daniela Pappano might make the Canadian National Softball team and help upset the United States. We could see Josh Moten tearing the gridiron up on Sundays or Walker Russell and Courtney Bradley shaking hands with David Stern at the NBA Draft. The list goes on and on. The one thing that is common in all of these people is that they love what they do.
Since I've started this job, I can't tell you how many times I've done a post-game interview with an athlete that had a huge smile on their face. It's those people that you can't help but love, not because of their talent, but because of their heart.