Everybody Hurts

Last night, we turned on the television a little after 7:00. It was on NBC from something we watched earlier in the day. The show that was currently on was "Whitney." I really don't know much about the show. I have heard of it. It may be a great show. But at that particular time, it was really annoying. Seemed like a mid-20s girl probably living in NYC, complaining about life. Had no stomach for that. So I turned it. To anything besides that show.

The TV flipped to the ESPYs. I didn't really want to watch it. But it was better than Whitney to occupy the time it took us to find something else on. I've never really understood the ESPYs. Does the sports industry really need an awards show? It has always seemed like an attempt by ESPN to Hollywood sports. Sports doesn't need that. Anyway, I digress.

The ESPYs were just coming on, so they were showing the top plays of the year. The second thing we saw was Neftali Feliz on the mound, David Freese in the batter's box, and Joe Buck declaring, "The Texas Rangers are one strike away from their first World Series Championship." We all know what happens next.

I'm still not over it. I may never be. Anytime someone mentions or shows clips from that game, I have to turn it. Immediately. By now, I have seen replays of the play: the Cruz miss, Feldman giving up the home run, all that stuff. I still don't understand how it happened. But perhaps more importantly, I'm still not okay with it.

I wonder how long it took Red Sox fans to get over the ball squirting between Buckner's legs in '86. I think that might be the only thing that compares with the feeling of the ball going right over Cruz's glove. I want to be over it. But that's going to take years. And that's okay. We, or at least I know that I do, try to rush through tramatic events, things that shake our very core, our very being.

People who have lost loved ones (which yes, I know, far eclipses a sports event) do not need to be told things like: "It's okay." "He/she is in a better place." "Time will heal." Those things may be true, to some extent. But what they really need to hear is things like: "I'm here for you." "This stinks."

We surely do need to take steps to get over things. But we can't just get over it because we want to. We have to allow things to run their course. The reality is there are some things we will never completely get over. I don't care if the Rangers win it all at some point or win 27 World Series Championships. I'll never get over that feeling of what happened last year. And there is nothing that will ever make it feel better. That simply is the way it is.
As the R.E.M. song says: "Everybody hurts sometimes."