RIP Kirby Puckett

Boy With A Problem · Post by **Boy With A Problem** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 3:39 am

Shocked by this one - only 45. Puckett was the star of those great underdog Twins teams that would have been a lot more fun to watch if they hadn't played in that awful domed stadium.

Post by **spooky girlfriend** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 8:06 am

Of course I was pissed at his whole team in '91 when they beat the Braves

, but still a tragic loss. It really hurts when someone that close to my age dies suddenly like that. . . .

RIP

Post by **BlueChair** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 8:06 am

Wow. Read about his stroke yesterday, but thought for sure he'd pull through, Kirby was one of the first baseball heroes that my generation grew up watching. RIP.

alexv · Post by **alexv** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 12:16 pm

It's a shame what happened to him. While playing he was universally well-liked. Then glaucoma cuts short his great career. And in retirement he found himself embroiled in incidents of sexual harrassment, his wife leaves him, and his weight ballons up to close to 400 pounds. He seemed to be trying to get his life together recently, and then this. Tragic.

Mr. Average · Post by **Mr. Average** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 8:47 pm

Maybe, just a little of the Pete Rose syndrome...identity through baseball, and little else to sustain once that is taken away.

Copenhagen Fan · Post by **Copenhagen Fan** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 6:17 am

400 pound sexual harrasment creep with glaucoma....sounds like death was a good option

Post by **BlueChair** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 8:13 am

That's nice, Cope.

There were only a few isolated incidents, and they came shortly after he was more or less forced into retirement because of his glaucoma. Not that groping a woman because you have glaucoma and had to retire is any excuse, but it's not like a constant thing. And for what it's worth, he was aquitted.

For the past three years, Puckett had been living peacefully in Arizona. He was supposed to have been married this summer. And many who knew him said he was a very decent guy. I'm sure most of the incidents he had found himself in were due to alcohol.

noiseradio · Post by **noiseradio** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 3:49 pm

I guess now that whar is gone, I guess cope has taken over pissing on our posted condolences.

Kirby was a great player and a good guy. Slamming him for something he was acquitted of is one thing, but making fun of a dead man for having had glaucoma is mean-spirited bullshit.

Boy With A Problem · Post by **Boy With A Problem** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 4:06 pm

None of us knew him - too tough a call to say he was a good guy - the Frank Difford article in SI a few years ago was pretty damning - and Difford is a well respected journalist - two sides to every story and 400 lb sexual harrasment creep is surely one of them - hell of a ballplayer though.

noiseradio · Post by **noiseradio** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 5:24 pm

I'm basing my claim that he was a good guy on the word of the people who did know him. They spoke of him in hushed tones, on and off the field. I didn't say he was a saint. And either way, what Cope posted was bullshit.

Boy With A Problem · Post by **Boy With A Problem** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 6:54 pm

I think Mr. Average comes closest to reality with his Pete Rose comparison.

pophead2k · Post by **pophead2k** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 7:10 pm

Didn't know him, couldn't comment on his personal habits, but I sure enjoyed watching him play baseball.

noiseradio · Post by **noiseradio** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 7:55 pm

Well said, pophead. It's a thread for honoring the man. If people want a thread for throwing stones at the dead, they should start a new one.

Boy With A Problem · Post by **Boy With A Problem** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 8:39 pm

It's more complex than that - it doesn't have to be about throwing stones - but it doesn't necessarily have to be about only remembering the good either - maybe a little reflection on idolitry and the inherent dangers to both fans and those they idol....I think Cope may have gone a little far, but hell it's his opinion (no matter how flippant it might be) and he's got as much right to voice it here on this thread as you do your opinion.

noiseradio · Post by **noiseradio** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 2:23 am

Another RIP thread hijkacked....

No one's denying rights. I have the right to attend a funeral and stand up and say "He was a bastard." But it's rude. And that's just common sense. What Cope is doing IS stone-throwing. And you can pretty it up or blame Mr. Average for it, but it is. I mean, shit, one of the things Cope basically said was "He was fat and had glaucoma. Good thing he's dead." How do you defend that?

Aw, fuck it, I give up.

Boy With A Problem · Post by **Boy With A Problem** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 3:22 am

Did you miss something? Fat and glaucmoma weren't the troubling aspects of Kirby's life after baseball - it was the issues surrounding sexual harrasment (which looks to me to be the point of Cope's post - you must have had trouble with the reading comprehension portion of your SAT exam), and not only the case in which he was acquited, but others in which he made cash pay-outs and avoided trial - their were charges of spousal abuse, serial cheating etc. - really disturbing stuff - especially as we was held up all during his playing days as kind of "role model"....one in which I certainly bought into.

Another thread hijacked? C'mon Noise.

noiseradio · Post by **noiseradio** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 4:42 pm

Cope said:

400 pound sexual harrasment creep with glaucoma....sounds like death was a good option

2 of the 3 points there for which Kirby should have welcomed death according to Cope were being fat and having glaucoma. I think you missed something. And yes, the thread's been hijacked, by you as much as by Cope at this point. It's "Rest In Peace Kirby Puckett" This shit allows for no such sentiment. You can bitch away. I'm done.

Kirby, it was a pleasure to watch you play the game. Sorry your personal life got so complicated. Good for you working to get your life back together. Hope you found rest.

Boy With A Problem · Post by **Boy With A Problem** » Fri Mar 10, 2006 6:27 am

Yes, I missed it - you're right -

Cope is a one man Danish death squad targeting fat guys with bad eyesight.

oily slick · Post by **oily slick** » Fri Mar 10, 2006 10:55 am

i think cope is originally from like new jersey or thereabouts, so that might explain it.

Copenhagen Fan · Post by **Copenhagen Fan** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 7:54 am

my point was that you don't have much to live for when you're 400 lbs and have bad eyesight and have been reduced to a sexual harrasment creep.....so you just hang it up........and that death was a welcome change of pace to a wretched exsistance

noiseradio · Post by **noiseradio** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 3:51 am

I got your point. Evidently you didn't get mine.

Copenhagen Fan · Post by **Copenhagen Fan** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 8:30 am

NOIZE I get your point...it's pretty consistent...the only opinion that is worth shit is yours....one that matches your morality and values. That ain't freedom of speach. You should read Jyllands-Posten.

invisible Pole · Post by **invisible Pole** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 11:05 am

"Freedom of speech" must be proud to have this kind of advocate.
Not.

noiseradio · Post by **noiseradio** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 4:26 pm

Copenhagen Fan wrote:NOIZE I get your point...it's pretty consistent...the only opinion that is worth shit is yours....one that matches your morality and values. That ain't freedom of speach. You should read Jyllands-Posten.

I've never said people didn't have the freedom to speak. Just that people should try to have tact and taste. Just because you CAN say something doesn't mean you SHOULD. I even suggested that you start your own thread to speak your mind however you want. Just have enough respect to refrain from your verbal diarrhea every damn place you go.

Or continue to be an asshole everywhere. Whatever.