The Nick Adenhart tragedy, one that cost three young people their lives, is just full of life lessons that people of any age can appreciate. The school of thought around players and managers centers around the cliche that life is short, we should live it without any regrets. Kiss your kids every day, tell them you love them, because it can all be suddenly taken away from you at any instant.

There are more simple lessons to be learned, too, like what should be common knowledge. Don’t drink and get behind the wheel of a car. There have been one too many times in my life where I had one too many and made the poor decision to drive. I’m thankful that chapter in my life is over and I came to my senses before it was too late. Thursday was yet another loud and clear message to people about the damage that can be done when you drive drunk. Read more »

The death of an athlete is always a shock to the system. But, the death of a young person, athlete or otherwise, is downright devastating. The Orange County Register is reporting that 22-year-old Los Angeles Angels right-hander Nick Adenhart was among three killed in a traffic accident in Fullerton, Calif., early Thursday morning.

This was especially shameful, given that simple obedience of traffic laws could have prevented it. According to the OC Register, a 22-year-old man named Andrew Thomas Gallo ran a red light, struck Adenhart’s Mitsubishi, then attempted to flee the scene on foot. Read more »

The Washington Nationals are just not set up for success this season. There are some talented offensive pieces, including puzzling signee Adam Dunn, but they don’t seem to mesh particularly well. Far less talent can be found on the pitching staff, namely in the rotation where John Lannan anchors a suspect group of average arms.

And the bullpen, oh, the bullpen. You know there’s a problem when Saul Rivera is the team’s ace setup man and Julian Tavarez is pitching in long relief. To make matters worse, guys named Steven Shell and Garrett Mock are key members of the relief corps. That’s exactly what the team’s pitchers are going to do: get “Shelled” and “Mocked.” Read more »

When President Elect Barack Obama announced change was coming, he did not anticipate it to be negative. However, after the stock market proceeded to drop another 650 points, Americans of all walks of life were hit even harder by a struggling economy.

However, do the economic stumbles affect professional athletes? Unlike most Americans, athletes don’t have to worry about putting food on the table. With the minimum salary set at $370,000, baseball players have the luxury of leading comfortable lives, making Joe the Plumber quite jealous. Read more »