I somehow missed this news and just realized a few days ago he had passed.
I never liked him as a writer. He was always so negative and seemed to delight in the Lions failures. Not as awful as Rob Parker but close.
But something I've been thinking about in reading eulogies and what not....in reality it was the guy's public persona. I've been exposed enough to semi-public and high profile folks to realize persona does not equal person.
Sometimes when people die you see everyone following the adage "never speak ill of the dead", but it struck me that people who were on the other side - his peers, players, and sports executives - who knew him as a great guy, someone who was very warm and charming.
That certainly never came through in his work. It's like someone wrote about him, when he came to town the #1 guy (Mitch Albom) had his niche as Mr. Positivity, feel good and smarmy. He made a decision early in the 80s he was going to be the opposite - he was going to be a critic, the voice of opposition.
Anyway, not directly related but this just kind of reminded me that there are always people in our lives - neighbors, co-workers, guys at your gym - who in reality you have no idea what they are going through at the moment. As you get older you realize it's best to believe the best for others and just extend lots of grace by default. You just never know the real story, except for the handful of people who are closest to you.
