All (except one) of my sports buddies (he's in Houston) that I've known since elementary school have passed on. Chris would have come to L.A. for the playoffs but for the Covid circumstances. That would have been awesome.

My teams won the championships this year and I loved it, but I didn't have my great buddies to root with me. That's effed up. I went to Dodgers games and it was just me sitting there. We'd all go to at least 10 games over the season.

We'd take road trips, go camping/fishing in Yosemite and other places. We were scouts together.

Ted (Teddy Ted). About 2 years ago
Willie (Will Kill). February. Gioblastoma? Something like that. Just yanked his ass off the earth without hardly a warning.
Fred (Fast Fred). Always effin' had my back. Always. 2018.
Johnny. Some crap where he had to get a transplant and he just dies. WTF. Somebullshit.
My big brother Doug in 2017 (my hero).

We played little league baseball, pop warner football and basketball. We played on our high school teams too.

I remember when we were like 13 and 14 sneaking into the Forum to see the Lakers. We'd sneak into the USC Football training area to watch the team work out. We didn't want to get kicked out but we saw Head Coach John Robinson standing in the middle like the boss of the universe. A light shined on him. We ran over to him to meet him. We were excited. Instead of kicking us out, he told us to go check out the running backs and tell him which ones we liked the best. We reported back like he took us seriously.

We'd catch the bus to UCLA to watch the Bruins play at Pauley Pavilion (cost a dollar to get in). We played pickup basketball just about every day into our 30's. We'd hit the batting cages or whatever was fun. Go to the movies all the time.

When the Lakers and the Dodgers, that's when it really dawned on me that I ain't got my buddies. I have other good friends. But I ain't got my buddies. The ones that fight right alongside you when the @#$%& goes down. I think of how happy they would be with me the moment we won.

I hope there is heaven and I hope they're in it and I hope I get to see them again.

I'm happy to be alive but all these guys died before their times and they were fit so it's not fair to me. I selfishly wish they were here. I'm uncle and Godfather to their kids and look out for them. That helps.

This is what true friends do:





Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/16/2020 03:38PM by vision63.

I'm not going to go into details, but I lost my oldest friend -- of nearly 50 years; met in 1st grade in 1972 -- to cancer last month. We were the same age, and expected to wind up the little old men in the coffee shop quoting movies and TV shows no one remembered.

I'm stunningly happy I had him in my life for half a century and, oddly, thankful that Katrina knocked me here to his city. We got 15 more years of lunches and get togethers we would not have had. (He had moved to Little Rock from New Orleans back in 1985; we kept in pretty much constant contact. I was his best man in 1995 and he was mine later that same year.)

He joked that at least he got to see both the Cubs win a Series *and* the Saints win a Super Bowl.

Sorry, Vis; didn't mean to thread jack. Just brought a lot of thoughts and emotions to the surface again.

And I second that hope to see lost friends again.

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(BTW, it's spelled < y'all >.)

Damn. Sorry for your losses. Shared memories are a gift from the past. Thank you for sharing them.

Quote
Zoidberg
I'm not going to go into details, but I lost my oldest friend -- of nearly 50 years; met in 1st grade in 1972 -- to cancer last month. We were the same age, and expected to wind up the little old men in the coffee shop quoting movies and TV shows no one remembered.

I'm stunningly happy I had him in my life for half a century and, oddly, thankful that Katrina knocked me here to his city. We got 15 more years of lunches and get togethers we would not have had. (He had moved to Little Rock from New Orleans back in 1985; we kept in pretty much constant contact. I was his best man in 1995 and he was mine later that same year.)

He joked that at least he got to see both the Cubs win a Series *and* the Saints win a Super Bowl.

Sorry, Vis; didn't mean to thread jack. Just brought a lot of thoughts and emotions to the surface again.

And I second that hope to see lost friends again.

I'm so happy you got to spend great quality time with your dear friend. I remember your life changing Katrina ordeals. I'm glad Arkansas worked out so well. Keep it rolling bro.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/16/2020 03:32PM by vision63.

I'm, so sorry for your losses. I have quite the opposite problem... there are so few people that I've lost in life so far. Even my parents and their siblings are all alive. Lost just a couple people close to me from random accidents over the years. I just know that it's all going to hit me at once. Suddenly, everyone is going to start dropping dead and I have very little practice at this kind of misery. It's really gonna hurt when it hits...

In the mean time... well, you know...

Quote
hal
I'm, so sorry for your losses. I have quite the opposite problem... there are so few people that I've lost in life so far. Even my parents and their siblings are all alive. Lost just a couple people close to me from random accidents over the years. I just know that it's all going to hit me at once. Suddenly, everyone is going to start dropping dead and I have very little practice at this kind of misery. It's really gonna hurt when it hits...

In the mean time... well, you know...

You can handle it. Family that lived long fruitful lives are easier than when someone is cut down before what you feel should be their time. You're a loving son, I know that.

Vis.....that’s a tough bit of road you’ve been on....hopefully life averages out and it’s a smoother journey here on out. Had a rash of close loses myself during the last 4 years (after a mostly blissful life before that). Weird how that happens. You are not alone in your journey.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/16/2020 04:52PM by Carnos Jax.

My condolences. It's hard to start feeling alone.

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And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once.
—Friedrich Nietzsche
Western Massachusetts

You have my sympathies.
I've started losing friends now.
It's a consequence of my wife and me hanging out with people 20 years older than we are.

What can I say? The local Boomers are a heck of a lot more fun than the local Gen Xers.

I feel you, vision.

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sadly, all too familiar.

they sound like a great bunch of guys.

(give me the ball vision63, i'm clear!)

i am sorry for your losses.

may the many good times offer a breath of solace to you and their families.

stay strong.

stay well.

rob

Hang in there. It sucks because it seems like when we get to a certain age it seems to snowfall.

Also without going into too much details last Winter I was losing like one old friend per month for four frickin' months. It was like every time I got a call from a number I recognized but don't hear often I didn't even want to answer. i got one old friend right now on a ventilator due to Covid, it's not looking good.

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Grateful11

Oddly, I was going to post about losing my friends' parents, people that helped raise me in our neighborhood, on our street, like a village (a crazy village). You were raised by the grandparents and other parents that lived with you and watched you from the porches. I mourn those people now and those days.

V, my most sincere condolences on your losses.

Worst part of living is seeing those you love die. My deepest condolences.

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San Antonio, TX (in the old city)


"All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke
“Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." - Eli Weisel

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." - Theodore Roosevelt (1918)

"I don’t want to see religious bigotry in any form. It would disturb me if there was a wedding between the religious fundamentalists and the political right. The hard right has no interest in religion except to manipulate it." - Billy Graham 1981

"Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise" - Barry Goldwater

>Instead of kicking us out, he told us to go check out the running backs and tell him which ones we liked the best.

^That. Is. AWESOME! What a special memory for you.

I am so sorry for the loss of your buddies. I have a similar gang (6 of us) who I know despite their endless sh*tblowing always have each other's back in a heartbeat. Two are Sicilian so that makes for interesting payback. (Years later in some cases, at least payback within the group.)

They all mostly live in STL and I've been in KC the past 20+ years, but since reconnecting in the late '90s, we see each other several times a year. There's a daily text thread that is full of the most thoughtless (to the uninitiated) and caring things that men (at least this group) can allow themselves to utter.

My heart goes out to you, vis. I do believe we will see those close to us again.