2015 Will Be The Year of Mookie Betts

I watched Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.  I Watched It.  Bob Stanley (we still don't give him enough "credit" for that loss), Bill Buckner, Gary Carter and especially Mookie Wilson.  I watched the whole thing and I'm still scarred.

I have bad memories of Mookie Wilson driving that ball down the 1st base line, jumping up and down as the tying and winning run scored to take victory out of the Red Sox hands.  And while I seriously doubted I would ever meet another person in my life with the name Mookie, I swore that it would not be a good experience if it ever did happen.

Until Jackie Bradley Jr.'s replacement came along.

Now while everyone is talking about Giancarlo Stanton, Max Scherzer, Jon Lester, Cole Hamels, the Panda Guy, James Shields, etc., the player that could have the most impact on the 2015 Boston Red Sox could be Mookie Betts. The 5th Round Draft Pick of the 2011 Amateur Draft who is the size of my 12 year old son could very well be the breakout star of the Red Sox next year.  While he has played too many games to qualify as a Rookie next year, his first year as a major player in the line up could be a doozy.  Coupled with Rusney Castillo, Yoenis Cespedes and a healthy Shane Victorino, Betts could be a part of a tough offense-focused outfield that the Red Sox were sorely lacking in 2014.

His 2014 campaign included a general tearing up the Eastern League until he was called up to Pawtucket half way through the season.  His 45 games in Pawtucket was almost identical to his 55 games in Portland.  His .346/.431/.529 splits in the Minors led to a late Summer call up to the big house.  After Jackie Bradley Jr. crapped up Center Field most of the year, it was refreshing to see Betts play CF.  But he also played 2nd base, and Right Field. A true renaissance ball player.

But he's also the leadoff bat that we needed since Jacoby Ellsbury left for the Yankees (Sorry Brock, you're just not that good) and the spark plug that could lead to runs in the first inning and some pop at the top of the line up. He's hit 31 home runs with a slugging percentage over .500 over the last two years.  He's also a patient hitter, keeping his OBP over .360 over that time as well.

The Red Sox are reloading with a lot of high priced talent, but the key to another playoff run in 2015 might be the slight, 22 year old kid on the team right now.

That's a Mookie I can get behind.

Bucket List - Brittany Maynard Shows Us the Way to Live

I've followed the Brittany Maynard story for a couple of weeks now.  I've read about her terminal brain cancer and her quest to die the way she wants to die.  I've read how she has campaigned for "Death with Dignity" and listened sound bites from Compassion and Choices.  I've seen pictures of her life before the Diagnosis and how she moved from California to Oregon to have prescribed to her the drugs she would need to end her life the way she wanted to end it.  I've read both sides of this combustible issue, the converse of the abortion rights issue.  Some people have called her heroic, some people have called her selfish.  And I've heard her decision in her own words.  All I know is that it is tragic that someone has to die like that.

Maynard - In a Happier Time

I've also read that part of her story that brought us pictures from the Grand Canyon.  Family pictures, pictures of Maynard and her husband and of Mother and daughter.  It didn't matter, pictures from that getaway showed a somber crew, with an expectation of passing.  After seeing those pictures, you knew that the end was coming.  A statement that she was reconsidering her date of death was merely a way to keep her story fresh to add more exposure for her cause.  She was ready to end her life; you could see it in the pained looks on every one's faces in those pictures.  The story of her quest to knock one more thing off of her "bucket list" was one anecdote that brought some lightheartedness to the grim story.  But it was reading about her simple trip to the Grand Canyon that it dawned on me.  The media and Maynard herself was thinking about the end, rather than the way that she got there.  Simply put, most of Maynard's coverage has focused on her death, rather than her life. 

Back to that Grand Canyon part of the story.  We were told that it was part of her bucket list and she was able to finally cross that visit off of her list.  When I said to myself that I wanted to see what a bucket list of a person who worked at orphanages in Nepal and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro looked like, i decided to see what else was on her list.  I couldn't find it.  Does it exist?  Is it a private part of her husband's and family's legacy to keep this to themselves?  Most likely.  But the fact that she had the bucket list at all was an even more tragic story here. 

Many people wait until it is too late to live their lives.  We get stuck in our mundane day to day lives.  Teddy Roosevelt's quote - quoted in Maynard's obituary - to "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are" doesn't apply for most of us on most days. Our personal bucket lists get larger and larger every year because we make the time to dream about going somewhere, doing something, but we never take the time to actually do it or go there.  We always take time to fill the bucket, but we never take time to take things out of that bucket list.  We wait until we are ill, or too old to enjoy it, to start thinking about taking some things out of that bucket.  That's no way to live.  Maynard showed us that. 

My Father died of an aggressive esophageal cancer.  He was given months to live after the gold standard of care could not help him.  He was not the kind of person to have a "bucket list;" he was just happy to clean up his garden and have enough energy to mow his yard.  He was pissed that he could not dictate his life any more and he wanted something different.  That's why he stopped the treatments that clearly were not helping him.  And what the end of his life showed me was that we all want to live our lives the way we want to live them, or not live them.  While they thought about the end of their lives differently, Maynard and my Father shared one thing in common.  They wanted to live and die on their terms.

Maynard also showed us that even at the age of 29, we should be thinking about the things in our bucket list. That list can include a lot of different things - traveling, getting a new job, having children.  It just matters that you try to empty that bucket out of tasks when you are still young.  You never know when you aren't going to have enough time to see them all through.

Rest in Peace.