A Yankee fan tweeted about Cliff Lee Monday night.
Where will he sign?
He was with his girlfriend. enjoying the last waning hours of an extended weekend where love was in the air and a relationship was becoming something special to both of them.
The Giants game was ending and he tweeted to his followers that it had mercifully reached the 2 minute warning in a game where only one team, his Giants had shown up.
He had to get back.
His girl debated telling him something, but she held back the words.
He headed out on the roads and hit an icy patch and slid off the road.
It seemed to be OK, he was spared injury.
Standing next to his car, surveying any damage, another car barrelled down the same icy incline and this time, he wasn't so lucky.
Steven was gone.
He was 24 years old.
Within hours, his new girlfriend went looking for him.
She chose the road that had brought them together.
Online, she began to tweet.
Did anyone hear from Steven? She was waiting for his call.
Too soon, she found her answer.
Friends of friends had to break the mind numbing news to her.
Now her tweets went from curious to worrisome, to desperate to despair.
Her Tweeter friends mourned with her and our small, but vibrant following began to share memories of both the Steven they knew well, had met once or twice and for many of us, never at all.
But we thought we knew him.
Because in this day and age, you can feel like that, simply due to words once shared.
There was a former college friend who recalled basketball road trips.
A radio host who had bonded with him.
A sportswriter who covered minor league baseball who knew how much respect and love Steven had for the game.
Yankee fans, Giants fans and just Steven fans.
Even Steven's girlfriend's mother posted a comment how devastating this was for her daughter who at the still very tender age of 21, had finally found the man who could love her as much as she loved back.
And that was what she had neglected to tell him on that night before he left.
That she was in love.
In love with him.
And this love affair, the beauty and the sad finality had been played out for a large audience of Steven's friends and followers to watch with their very eyes.
And before he died, I am sure he knew what all of us knew.
That he had found love as well and was heading home to tell her just that.
It is there in every line.
Rest assured, he knew.
You will have another great love in your life.
His great love was you.
Just a few years ago, this kind of love affair would never have ensnared so many people in its web.
It doesn't make it any less painful, shocking, tragic or senseless.
It just makes it real.
All too very real.
1 comment:
i worked with steven for a few months at ESPN and he was a really good guy. I'm sorry to hear about this tragedy and I just wanted to pay respect to him, and your entry about his tragic night. My prayers and best wishes are with his family and all of his loved ones.
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