My heroes have never been cowboys…..

Sorry Willie. But I understand.

You see, once, I was a young turd. Stan Musial… Sandy Koufax.. Willie Mays… Roberto Clemente… Otis Taylor… Bobby Bell.. Jan Stenerud.. Jerrel Wilson.. Lenny Dawson... THEY, were my heroes…

The older I get, the more the definition of hero changes. Why should anyone with God’s given gift to catch a ball, hit a ball, kick a ball, be anointed ‘hero’?

My heroes have never been cowboys. (Chiefs, Royals, Cardinals, yes… but Cowboys, NEVER.)

So just what, Mr. Victor, in your brain, now constitutes a hero?

Well……… The guys I mentioned, they were truly good guys.. And wonderful at what they did, be it kick, pass, punt, throw.. But now, today, some 30 years later… my opine has changed…

I look at heroes as those who think of others before themselves. Now don’t get me wrong.. I’ll go the games and yell like hell for Tony G, Brody, (even LJ), the Tigers, Gordon, Teehan, Greinke, Meche, Dejesus, etc…. but heroes for me are those that thinka others before themselves…

CJ is a hero to me. She prolly doesn’t know it, but she is. She started (I think) as a nurse in the oncology ward at Children’s Mercy Hospital here in Kansas City many moons ago - and she’s now a nurse practitioner after many, many years at the same place. Did you just hear that? She’s my age, 55... She started when she was what, 22? That’s 33 years of coming home night after night - trying to put a smile on her face to enjoy life - when certainly in the back of her mind were the many children there simply wasn’t a whole lot she could do for.

Shit. If you knew CJ, you’d love her too. She gets involved not only with the patient, but the family, the extended family. It becomes her family. She’s a voice of hope for them. Or, sadly, sometimes a voice of reality. Just knowing how to be a voice in those situations makes her a hero. She would downplay any/all of this, and that’s just onea the many reasons I perceive her to be a hero.

Jon Baker is a hero to me. I’m not certain Jon Baker could catch a softball thrown over 15’ in the air. Jon is by now in his 80’s… I knew him mostly in his 70’s… Jon volunteered at a joint where my ex worked that did minor home improvements for the less fortunate. Jon normally beat you to the punch - to the phone call “can you help?”.. he’d show up and say “what can I do?”

Tommy Edwards was a hero to me. He was my boss when I was a kid and worked for the Park Department. Tommy could not add… he couldn’t really read too well… But what Tom lacked in book-stuff, he more than made up in life-smarts. Not that I’ve molded well, but Tom’s a big, big reason for the ideas on life I’ve got today. Right. Wrong. Yes ma’am. Yes sir. Tommy was like a second father, and I never told him so before it was too late.

Grundy Newton. If you’ve been here forever, that’s a name u might remember. 6’4”, rock solid, the girls went ape over him - but it was us guys who learned from him. No matter what kinda life pitch was thrown at Grundy, he never wavered. No screaming. No yelling. No knee-slapping. Rock solid…. Read a story today in the KC paper about a dude that now plays for the San Diego Charges.. Has stuttered all his life.. From the many classes he’s taken to overcome this stuttering - his advice is, “just go slower.. Take your time.” That was Grundy. Grundy didn’t jump. Grundy didn’t rant. Grundy calmly did exactly what he had to do, and there was no arguing that.

I haven’t emulated CJ‘s role - there‘s no way I can. It’s impossible for me to do so - what with what I do for a living. I’ve not volunteered like Jon Baker has - but I pray one day I will be able to. Tommy and Grundy, yes, I’ve tried. The two probably never knew each other - but they were each “oh so” people smart it was incredible. I try. I’m human, but I try.

I make errors like when I showed my ass today, winged an email and in a millisecond I wished I wouldn’ta winged it… but that’s ok.. I’m human. We humans fuck up, and I did. I apologized - but in today’s day and age, once “Send” is hit, it’s allover.

God grant me the stay-withitness of CJ… the glorious heart of Jon Baker… the ‘don’t get too rattled’ of Grundy.. And the ‘streetsmarts’ of Tommy.

These are somea my heroes. Would you take a moment to thinka urs? If CJ reads this, then I’ve let her know she is onea mine. Jon Baker, will probably never know. Grundy - someone is supposed to be getting me his address so I can fulfill onea my New Year’s Resolutions to let those know who were impactive in my life - just that. Tommy is in the ground… . And may he rest in peace…

Heroes are important. Please thnka yours. Tell ‘em, before it’s too late. Love, Victurd.