Remembering Kirby Puckett.

"Now he's dead at 45, and the obituaries mention but don't lead with his 'troubles.' In fact, they give the story a nice arc. We like our athletes flawed. They so obviously belong on the field that they can't cope off it. Darryl Strawberry and Doc Gooden used drugs, Pete Rose gambled, and Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams were mean-spirited jerks. Puckett's former teammate Jeff Reardon, the great closer, was arrested for robbing a jewelry store last December after losing his mind on anti-depressants. These human frailties prove that athletes were meant to play sports, not live in society. The story, then, is that a broken-hearted Puckett ate himself to death trying to fill the gaping hole left by the end of his playing days."

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Well said.