Sad day

For San Diego Padres fans, today isn't so much sad because of the passing of Christopher Reeve (although of course that's sad too), but rather because of the death of Ken Caminiti. He struggled mightily with personal demons and made terrible lifestyle choices, but he was also the heart and soul of the Padres' team that went to the World Series in 1998 (where they were swept by the Yankees, but never mind), and was probably one of the more popular athletes in San Diego during my lifetime. Perhaps it sounds a little foolish to take someone who admitted to using steroids and had drug and alcohol problems when he played (eventually serving jail time) and then say "what a great guy he was" after he dies young. I dunno, maybe it exemplifies everything that's wrong with American sports, and there's probably a lesson here about professional athletes being needlessly put on pedestals for their accomplishments, but for today at least it just strikes me as a sad waste of a life of someone who helped bring fleeting joy to a city whose sports teams have often been synonymous with mediocrity.