Over the next few days, even if you are a casual fan, you will see story after story about Josh. In case you missed it last night, Josh had his coming out party at the MLB All-Star Game's Home Run Derby.
Early in the night, I was bored by the event. After Chase Utley disappointed I was ready to run a 'remote marathon' and check out everything from HBO to Food Network. By good fortune I was drawn back to ESPN for Josh's 1st round and that's all I needed to see.
ESPN has beeb hyping Josh for good reason. He has 95 RBI at the break and his story of personal recovery is amazing. I'll leave that to the professionals but trust me, just google Josh Hamilton and heroin and you will find plenty of information. I heard my favorite reporter, Erin Andrews (that's a post for another day) interview Josh and heard him discuss his dream of being in this derby. I listened as they discussed he was using his 71 year old American Legion Coach to pitch to him and then I watched in awe as he hit 28 BOMBS out into the night including 13 in a row!
This is where the sports part of the story ended and I hope I didn't lose my readers who don't like sports.
What I witnessed was transcendent of sports. It truly was the triumph of the human spirit. As I sat, nauseous from the anesthesia and wishing it was time for another dose of pain meds I watched one man triumph where he was doomed to fail. I watched 50,000 fans of baseball rejoice in the moment and I watched Josh's fellow MLB Players watch with delight like I did as an 10 year old in Veteran's Stadium as my heroes did the same for me. They gave me hope. Last night, Josh gave me hope. Not just hope for the things that I can do, but hope for what we all can do.
Josh has dragged himself up from the bottom; from a life of drugs and addiction. So far, he has overcome his own personal obstacles to reach the pinnacle of his profession. I thought of my father and his addictions, I thought of lost friends and a future that is unclear. I thought of my recovery and what I want in my next phase. All of those things ran through my head as a 25 year old hit baseball after baseball, and people will tell you sports are not important.
1 comment:
Interesting... It's important to have thought provoking times like that. Good for you. You'll get it all figured out, I'm sure. Glad to see you're back to writing, etc.
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