Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Diamond Diary by Kevin Cooney
3/4/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 4, 2007
TOUGH WEEKEND IN COLLEGE BASEBALL...
The tragedy on Interstate 75 in Atlanta has cast a pall on the close knit community of College Baseball. There isn't a team in America that hasn't shared the experience of rolling through the night enroute to a series, or home from a weekend on the road. In my 26 years of college coaching, I can't imagine the number of miles logged by me and the young men who have made up my teams.
I've really enjoyed those bus rides. Sure, they can be exhausting, but I always found something peaceful in looking at the world passing by my window, and listening to the youthful exuberance of my fellow passengers in the back of the bus. I relished replaying the excitement of a big win in my mind as the night wore on and the miles passed. The tough losses kept me awake and often pulled a curtain of silence behind me.
For years we used a company called Travel Lynxx because they offered sleeper buses. You had booths with tables to study or play cards on, long bench seats in the middle to stretch your legs, and an interior platform that could fold open and sleep 40 some players. Some of those rides are now legendary. Many a team formed a special bond as they passed through the night without a care in the world.
This is a prayer for the souls of the departed
Those who've gone and left their babies brokenhearted
Young lives over before they got started
This is a prayer for the souls of the departed
The Bluffton University baseball team was on their way to sunny Florida, carrying their bats, balls, and excitement for the promise of a week of green grass, the smell of pine tar, and the start of another season of the game which defined their lives.
In a moment of horror early in the morning, when those buses are always quiet, everyone's world changed. Those of us, who have trusted our lives with conscientious professional drivers, never want to imagine the unthinkable. But for the players, coaches and drivers of the ill-fated Bluffton bus, the nightmare was real.
Tonight as I tuck my own son in bed
All I can think of is what if it would've been him instead
(Bruce Springsteen...Souls of the Departed)
My own sons have ridden buses with my teams. First as rugrats visiting their Dad on spring break, then as a player and student assistant, Jim and Jeff, and even little Luke have been in those same seats. So have the young men whose parents hope that their coach remembers that their son is their little boy.
Accidents happen. It's just part of the fabric of our lives. But there seems to be something worse when it touches so close to the shared home of the thousands of college baseball players traveling throughout the country. We all pray for the families and loved ones of the young men and those of the driver and his wife. The souls of the departed are in a better place sooner than expected.
It's the souls of the rest who will need help finding their way through these difficult days.