Monday, July 28, 2025
Time: 9:10 PM
Song: Hurt
Artist: Johnny Cash
Mode of Consumption: Playing as a bumper returning from commercial on Cubs’ radio.
Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/28cnXtME493VX9NOw9cIUh?si=5a68576521944d6c
The producer for
Cubs’ radio likely picked “Hurt” because the Cubs had just lost to the Brewers in
the opener of a three-game set between the two top teams in the NL Central. I
know that I have heard them use “Hurt” after close of other loses.
Even though the Cubs
lost, I couldn’t muster much feeling for it.
About a half hour
earlier, the team had announced that Ryne Sandberg had died after a long battle
with pancreatic cancer.
Jodi and I were sitting
at the dining room table working on projects for the fair.
“Oh man,” Jodi said.
“Yeah, it’s been a
rough few days for my childhood heroes.”
Sandberg was my
favorite baseball player in the late 1980s and early 1990s. When he retired
suddenly in 1994, I was twelve years old, and I cried while listening to the
press conference.
His death comes only
a few days after the passing of Hulk Hogan.
If there was one
thing I did more than collecting baseball cards in my youth, it was watching
Hulk Hogan wrestle. One of the highlights in my mind from a kid was the day
that my dad came home with a VHS player, because then I could rent all the WWF
videos at video store. Before that, we had a Beta, and the wrestling tapes weren’t
released on that platform.
While Sandberg’s
image never tarnished after his retirement, Hogan did have his share of issues
away from the ring, but I can’t erase the feelings I had when I eight or ten or
twelve.
A big part of my
youth is gone. Sometimes getting older hurts. It’s better than the alternative,
but it hurts.
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