While driving back and forth to Louisville today we heard several news reports on the hit-and run accident death of rookie pitcher Nick Adenhart, 22.
All the broadcasts included in the lead of his death that Andenhart had just pitched six scoreless innings the night before his death.
Would his death be less tragic if he had given up six runs and been pulled from the game after two innings?
Trust me, I've been involved in stories like this over the years and it has always bothered me when a death is connected to a some non-essential or ridiculously mundane tidbit to make it seem worse.
I once covered a man who was shot to death on his birthday. That fact, of course, made it into the lead although in the end does it really make the death worse that a person was killed on the anniversary of their birth?
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7 comments:
Well, I was sort of disagreeing with your point on this post, which is hard because I really enjoy your input on every post. The reason being, that we are so numb to death in the news nowadays, the factors that should usually not matter like performance, helps us relate or pay more attention, sadly.
That was before I read the headline on cnnsi.com this morning. "Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart had finally shown his worth as a viable major leaguer, just hours before his death on Thursday." Are you kidding me?
I wrote a story a few months ago about a boy who was killed in a car accident on his birthday. The fact that it was his birthday was not in the lead, but it was in the second graph. I felt it was important, but it wasn't put in to make the death seem worse.
Eric, I agree that when a death occurs on a significant day that it is "color" to add to a story as you did.
When the death is magnified (as it was in the broadcasts I heard and in the post above yours) it is inappropriate, in my humble opinion.
The insensitve CNN report aside, I think what made the pitching performance mention relevant is the irony of it all: That this young man had just experienced perhaps one of the best days in his life, only to have tht life snuffed out hours later by a drunk.
American drunk driving laws are a joke. Period. This driver wasn't supposed to be driving: his license was suspended from--guess what--a previous drunk driving conviction.
What do we do with people who prove time and again their irresponsibility with alcohol and driving?
Anonymous 19:52: I could not agree with you more. People get too many chances and the laws need to lock people up for a longer period of time. Almost lost in this accident coverage is that two other people lost their lives as well.
Interesting perspective! I agree with you. I also agree with the guy that said it added irony to the unfortunate accident. This young man is from a town 10 minutes from me. There were 2 other kids his age killed the same week from that tiny town.
Tragic and so unnecessary.
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