Some of you may be angry with Darryl Strawberry. You're bitter that he threw away a Hall of Fame career in the sport you grew up on, wasting his life on cocaine and hookers, ducking child support payments and beating his wife. You watched from afar as the bizarre soap opera of his life spun out of control, as he learned he had colon cancer and then miraculously recovered, returning to baseball to help the New York Yankees win the 1999 World Series. But then came the seemingly inevitable relapse, and now Strawberry appears on the verge of collapse and perhaps even death.
For anyone who knows Darryl Strawberry, the public figure, anger is not the proper emotion right now. Neither is pity. The 38-year-old former superstar made his bed and now must lie in it, no matter what deadly roaches are hiding beneath the sheets. Sorrow is the right reaction, especially after Strawberry's pathetic soliloquy in a Tampa courtroom Friday.
Strawberry's life has spiraled steadily downward in the last nine months, as the cancer returned and the demons of drug addiction held their grip on him, but Friday he hit rock bottom in full public view.
"Life hasn't been worth living for me, that's the honest truth," Strawberry told Circuit Judge Florence Fosters during a break in the proceedings. "I am not afraid of death."
The eight-time All-Star told the judge he has stopped his chemotherapy because he cannot handle its vicious after-effects while behind bars. He appeared in court in shackles after violating his house arrest by leaving an exclusive treatment center last month to use drugs with a friend.
"The last couple of weeks of my life have been downhill," Strawberry said. "I basically wanted to die.
"At the time I would rather just go ahead and kill myself. I couldn't kill myself because of the fact of my five children. I started to look at them and that wouldn't be fair to them for me to kill myself that way.
"I'm an addict; I go out and use drugs. I figure the drugs may kill me."
If you're one of the countless sports fans who were captivated by Strawberry, Doc Gooden and the rest of the New York Mets in the mid-1980s, you no doubt cut your ties with the Straw Man long ago, somewhere in the midst of his numerous arrests and suspensions.
You have a right to feel betrayed, but basic human decency calls you to rise above your own petty bitterness toward the fallen hero. Strawberry is a man with many flaws, many demons and many ugly sins, but he is a man nonetheless. His plight should not inspire a flood of get-well cards and stuffed teddy bears, but it should invoke some sense of sorrow. Not everyone laments Darryl Strawberry's plunge from the heights of sports stardom, but no compassionate individual should consider his situation without mourning the obvious fact that a man's life is now in utter shambles.
Read More
Virginia softball fumbles last home game of the season to Virginia Tech
By Eleanor Lynch | 20 hours agoThe Hokies shut out the Cavaliers, who continue to show immense struggles at the plate.
Hoos in the NBA Playoffs
By Oliver Blair | 23 hours agoThe NBA Playoffs are tipping off imminently, and many of Virginia’s former heroes will be chasing the Larry O'Brien Trophy.
No. 5 women’s tennis closes out the regular season with back-to-back victories against No. 19 Miami and No. 23 Florida State
By Grace Gould | 2 days agoThe weekend’s victories ended what has been a very strong regular season on a high note and cemented an undefeated home record.
