Sad that some folks want to focus on Kirby's...
GullibleNewb
Posts: 401
in Sports Talk
...Troubled personal life after baseball. They can all eat crap.
I'm not a huge baseball fan (prefer college and pro football and college hockey, but love watching October baseball), but watching those Twins teams was pure magic. I grew up in the Twin Cities area (actually right across the border in WI), and graduated from high school in 1992. I live in the Twin Cities area now. So Kirby Puckett will always be a very nostalgic figure for me. And for so many others.
In these days of free agency, a quality player that sticks around for long enough to make such a mark on lives is rare. Brett Favre is a good example. I'm still a cheesehead at heart, and Favre has been here for my college years, marriage, first home, etc. Sounds strange to talk about it that way, but I'm sure some of you understand. I liked Reggie, and it is still so strange to me to see Favre still playing and Reggie is dead. But it just doesn't hit me the same as Puckett retiring and now passing, or the thought of Favre retiring.
I'm not a huge baseball fan (prefer college and pro football and college hockey, but love watching October baseball), but watching those Twins teams was pure magic. I grew up in the Twin Cities area (actually right across the border in WI), and graduated from high school in 1992. I live in the Twin Cities area now. So Kirby Puckett will always be a very nostalgic figure for me. And for so many others.
In these days of free agency, a quality player that sticks around for long enough to make such a mark on lives is rare. Brett Favre is a good example. I'm still a cheesehead at heart, and Favre has been here for my college years, marriage, first home, etc. Sounds strange to talk about it that way, but I'm sure some of you understand. I liked Reggie, and it is still so strange to me to see Favre still playing and Reggie is dead. But it just doesn't hit me the same as Puckett retiring and now passing, or the thought of Favre retiring.
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<< <i>I disagree. I really enjoyed Puck the player, but his private life apparently didn't match his on-field persona. I'm not saying that his early exit isn't terribly unfortunate for his family and Minnesota fans, but the death of anybody in the public eye naturally elicits a review of his or her life - both the good and the bad >>
Yes, there was a dark side of Kirby that was revealed in that SI article in 2003.
I too was a big fan of his in his playing days, and really did not want to believe what happened in his personal life, as revealed in the article, both before and after he retired. But unless that SI article is a pack of lies, Kirby had us all fooled with his "nice guy" appearance. And maybe part of him truly was the nice guy he showed in his public life, and perhaps he had mental issues which manifested in his dark personal behavior.
I just hope and pray that Albert Pujols does not have a dark side -- then my faith in mankind will be crushed for good!