Did anybody see this morning's Outside the Lines noting the 10 year anniversary of the tragic boating accident that claimed the lives of Indians pitchers Tim Crews and Steve Olin? Very moving and really well done. Interviews with family members brought tears to my eyes.

I caught Outside the Lines on Sunday morning too, George, and as you mentioned it was quite moving and very well done....while I fully understand the reasons why Bob Ojeda (the lone survivor on the boat who is now pitching coach for one of the Mets minor league teams, the Brooklyn Cyclones) still doesn't want to talk about the tragedy, it would have made the story even more emotionally compelling than it already was if Ojeda was able to be interviewed today (in addition to the clips they showed of Bobby at one of his press conferences from ten years ago).

This story also reminded me of one of the most emotional incidents that I have ever witnessed at a sporting event that I happened to attend....as ESPN mentioned, Bobby Ojeda pitched in 9 games for the Indians in late 1993 (only 2 of which were in relief) following his return to the U.S. after choosing to leave the country and his family in early summer to deal with his grief immediately upon being released from the hospital -- what they failed to point out (and as I recall received virtually no publicity during the '93 season) was that very few fans were aware of Ojeda's return to Cleveland and if or even when he would be reactivated to the Indians roster....as fate would have it, Ojeda was activated on a Saturday in August when Cleveland was playing a weekend series with the Orioles at Camden Yards, a game that quite by coincidence I happened to attend (with absolutely no knowledge of him being back in the country, let alone on a major league roster)....he was called in from the bullpen to replace the Tribe starter in about the 7th inning and when Ojeda's name was announced as the new pitcher there was an audible gasp of surprise followed by a lengthy, warm standing ovation by the crowd at Camden Yards....to conclude the story the unsolicited crowd response clearly meant a great deal to Bobby (particularly coming on the road) as he later took out a full page ad in The Baltimore Sun newspaper (that also appeared in several future O's game programs that I still have) expressing his heartfelt gratitude for the warm reception he received from the Baltimore fans and thanking them for acknowledging what he had been through during the previous five months.

I was also reminded of the Little Lake Nellie boating tragedy earlier this month when Mike Hargrove (who was then the Cleveland manager in 1993) unfortunately had to once again face the media to discuss the death of one of his players, in this case Steve Bechler....while Bechler's passing was clearly under far different circumstances than were Olin's and Crews' the manner in which Hargrove handled himself and the onslaught of media ten years ago demonstrated true leadership under difficult circumstances.

I was particularly moved, George, by the segments with the family and friends of Steve Olin and Tim Crews, especially the brief mention of Kevin Wickander, Olin's best friend and fellow Cleveland reliever who is battling substance abuse, is now incarcerated, has lost his family and still considers that day in March 1993 to be the worst day of his life....ESPN should be proud of the classy piece of journalism they produced on this tragic subject.

It looks like, once OTL Weekly is broadcast on Sunday at 10:30am, it doesn't repeat. Is that possible?? If it does repeat, I sure haven't been able to find the schedule. Any help is appreciated.

RedSoxBreath, the only time OTL is repeated is at 1PM ET Sundays on ESPN2 (2 1/2 hours after it airs on ESPN) -- the reairing is when I saw the entire show yesterday after catching just the final five minutes of the 10:30AM edition on the "mother station"....even though OTL does not reair at any other time during the week, you can order a written transcript of any past show, if that is any consolation.

Thanks Gamecock, I'll download it once it's posted on the OTL transcript page.

To change the subject for a minute, your doppelganger from a year and a half ago has made himself known again. Remember when he stole your handle by adding an "s" to it, then posted flames that people thought were coming from you? He pulled a similar stunt on GP43, and since then has hung around on the board with about ten different handles. Most recently he was BostonSportz, then Meatman (please...), and now probably another one registered on Saturday.

What can we do about this creep? It's sort of become a personal crusade of mine to spot him and out him, just because I'm pissed that he disrespects our community with his sexist, racist, offensive presence. You were victimized by him, what do you think? (Meanwhile, sorry to go off-topic. I should probably re-post this under About the Board...)

Speaking of Outside the Lines, Craig Lazarus, co-producer of the weekly show, will be a panelist on Jim & Cyd's Saturday morning program at the gay sports conference. It should be a great discussion -- I hope everybody who can make it, really will join us in Boston next weekend, March 28-30.

Two exceptionally well written columns on this topic appeared on ESPN.com over the weekend (see links below)....the first column, written by Tim Kurkjian, discusses Mike Hargrove, who ironically was manager of both Cleveland and Baltimore as they dealt with spring training tragedies ten years apart....the second column, written by Jayson Stark, addresses the impact that the boating accident on Little Lake Nellie has had upon the careers and lives of Jim Thome and others who were part of the Indians family in 1993.

In Times of Despair, Hargrove Stands Tall

Indians Boating Tragedy - Ten Years Later

[ March 24, 2003, 11:42 AM: Message edited by: gamecock ]