Sometimes, sports is life and death

You think sometimes about getting hit with a baseball when you have those good seats down the third base line. The left-handed dead pull hitters come to the plate and you notice that every now and then those foul balls slice like out-of-control rockets through the stands.

"I'll duck," you say. "No problem."

You go the big NASCAR race and find that you're sitting about 10 feet from the cars that are traveling at close to 200 miles per hour on the other side of a chicken-wire fence. You're engulfed by the action and noise, drawn to it, and only once in a while do you wonder what you would do if one of those cars suddenly started flying toward you.

"No chance," you decide. "Never would happen."

You watch basketball players, giants, careen out of control into the stands and you laugh as the popcorn and beer go flying. You walk the golf course with impunity, invincible to all white pellets flying through the air. You sit at a hockey game, maybe 20 rows from the ice and a Columbus Blue Jacket named Espen Knutsen winds up for a slap slot and a Calgary Flame named Derek Morris thrusts a stick out to block and ...

"It's the saddest thing," you say at the news that 13-year-old Brittanie Cecil has died after being hit in the temple by the deflected puck. "It's the saddest, saddest thing."

The law of averages doesn't protect everyone in this life. You remember a grim truth.

Leigh Montville's commentaries appear regularly on CNN/Sports Illustrated.

 

Related information
Stories
Coroner: Damaged brain artery killed girl Leigh Montville Archive Hospital: Teenager hit by NHL puck dies
Multimedia
Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video
Search our site	Watch CNN/SI 24 hours a day
	Sports Illustrated and CNN have combined to form a 24 hour sports news and information channel. To receive CNN/SI at your home call your cable operator or DirecTV.