A Charlotte Sportswriter Talks About Depression
So, normally a link to something from a sportswriter would go over at the sports blog, because, you know. Sports. This one's a little different, though. It's a guy who happened to be a sportswriter once upon a time talking about the time he decided whether to blow his own brains out in a car or in his apartment. It's about a life being saved by refereeing soccer matches, at least for a little while, and about climbing back over the rail in Vegas. And mostly it's about a guy in one of the most fake-macho jobs out there - writing about that manliest of manly activities (non-war division), writing about sports finally being able that he needed help before he offed himself.
As far as the writing goes, it's good, solid writing. There's no poetry here, no Joe Posnanski-esque lyricism or anything like that. It's just one guy talking honestly about what he went through, and how badly he messed up, and how, with some help, he was able to start crawling up out of that hole. And it's sad, and it's scary, and it's hopeful, and I read it over lunch and it hit me harder than anything you get off a site devoting most of its coverage to college basketball small-conference tournament previews had any right to.
So go ahead. Read it, if you want. I'm glad I did.
As far as the writing goes, it's good, solid writing. There's no poetry here, no Joe Posnanski-esque lyricism or anything like that. It's just one guy talking honestly about what he went through, and how badly he messed up, and how, with some help, he was able to start crawling up out of that hole. And it's sad, and it's scary, and it's hopeful, and I read it over lunch and it hit me harder than anything you get off a site devoting most of its coverage to college basketball small-conference tournament previews had any right to.
So go ahead. Read it, if you want. I'm glad I did.