As probably every last American sports fan knows, the
legendary sports caster Stuart Scott died of cancer this week. It was a really
gut-wrenching thing to see when I woke up and found the Bleacher Report push
notice that one of the archetypes of what sports means to me had died.
I grew up with Stuart. He was on my television constantly
during his reign as arguably the best personality on Sports Center that I have
seen in all my years of owning a television. His ability to make even the
smallest bit, the smallest highlight or even the most laughable lowlight seem
not read, not prompted, but off the cuff, something that was genuinely coming
from him the sports guy, not the sports caster was truly incredible.
I think anyone who looks at sports critically will have to
understand that Stuart Scott, to the generation that I am in, will be
considered someone like an Edward R. Murrow or a Walter Cronkite in the way
they were all revolutionary. Stuart was impressive. He simply came through the
television and spoke to me. He gave me the highlights of the west coast games
in the way I wanted to talk about the games with my friends later that day. He
didn’t read; he spoke to you straight.
I remember crying over the loss of Harry Kalas, the singular
voice of my Philadelphia Phillies. He passed just after the Phillies had won
the World Series in 2008. I cried over the loss of Stuart Scott as well. And
it’s for a very specific reason why. The loss of both those figures in my life
was the loss of sparks. Both men, the way Kalas would shout “That ball is OUTTA
HERE” for a home run and Scott’s ability to blend culture and sports together
are indelible imprints on what makes sports a driving passion in my life. When
I see a homerun, I don’t hear whomever I’m listening to, I hear Harry. When I’m
watching Sports Center, I don’t hear the other anchors, I will hear Stuart.
When I was little, my mother would tell me to go ask my
father how I could help him with the chores and work that needed to be done
around the house. My father, more often than not, would tell me to watch
whatever sports were on that day and report back to him. I remember flipping
channels on fall Saturdays trying to write down the scores of the Notre Dame
game, the Iowa game, the USC game just to try and give him a full picture of
what was going on in sports that day. Every so often, I would bring a fresh
bottle of water out and read through the scores. When I read them, I tried to
emulate the men and women of ESPN. I wanted to be Stuart.
It’s tough to imagine someone who has been connected to my
life, to my goals, and to my passions without ever having met them. Stuart
Scott meant a lot to me because he was the archetype of how to be a sports personality.
He was what I want to be. I hope to be as successful in whatever I do as Stuart
was. I hope to impact people without ever having known them. I want a reach, I
want to reach.
