Nick Adenhart: I'm Not Sure What to Say

I've always been overly-sensitive. I cry watching Disney movies. My eyes tear up when I see footage from the '04 World Series or Jon Lester's no-hitter. There are certain Frank Sinatra songs that I cannot listen to if I don't have spare eyeliner with me. Sometimes I'd consider myself a crybaby. It doesn't bother me. It's how I am, and I've accepted that. I also tend to be a bit morbid, which makes a really strange combination. I'm the type of person who is fascinated by stories of serial killers, and then gets misty-eyed for the people who lost their lives.

I, like many baseball fans, had no idea who Nick Adenhart was until I watched the Sox game yesterday and heard Don and Remy talking about his death. Of course, I looked him up on the internet (which wasn't hard to do, as there were plenty of stories about him already). The thing that first popped out at me was the year he was born. This kid was a year younger than me. So was the monster that killed him and his friends.

I have no pity for people who drink and drive, especially after they get caught once and have their license taken away. Everyone makes mistakes, but if you don't learn from your mistakes then you deserve no pity. People like Andrew Gallo are despicable, and I hope he never finds himself a free man again. He doesn't deserve freedom.

So, reading the story about Nick Adenhart got me a little choked up (it's the sensitive side)... and then Fox Sports offered me a link to photos of the crime scene. My morbid side kicked in and I had to click the link (for anyone else like me, the photos can be found here). Perhaps some people would say it didn't look that bad, but it made me feel sick to my stomach. I can only hope that the poor people in the car didn't suffer too much. Sometimes a quick death is the best you can hope for.

This is certainly a sad start to the season. Nick was so young, and he was apparently just putting it all together. The one positive I can take from this is that he went out on a high note. Baseball as a whole is a life for me. I have real life, I have fictional life (which is a collection of the stories I write) and I have baseball life. This event makes baseball life sad. It doesn't matter that I didn't know him, or that I didn't ever see him pitch. He was part of the baseball family, and now he's gone. Who knows what he would have been if he had lived? Perhaps he would have faced the Sox for the AL pennant and gone 9 shutout innings, finally giving the Angels a playoff series win against Boston (in case you hadn't noticed, they haven't had one in a while). Maybe he would have ended up back in the minor leagues. I don't know what he would have been, but I feel it's unfair that this story line was taken away so soon. I hope Nick is peaceful where ever he is.

And of course, this is the perfect time for a public service announcement. Don't let people you care about drink and drive... don't let anyone you know drink and drive, because even if you don't care what happens to them, you're allowing them to put people you do care about at risk.. I know plenty of people who think they drive better when they're drunk, but they're wrong (and stupid). So many accidents like this could so easily be avoided....