A Letter to Brooke and New

I won’t be able to attend the banquet to say good-bye in person. Please accept this letter for now.

Dang! (That’s a Midwestern term for several other translations that you can guess for yourself.) Our season wasn’t supposed to end so soon, or that way. Right now I’ve vowed to never watch basketball again. This is, of course, much as when, after a large meal, I vow never to eat again—and the next day I’m chowing down. Maybe next weekend I’ll decide to turn on the TV.

I’ve been trying to think what I’d say if I saw you again to offer condolences, but nothing is adequate. Something like “it’s just a game,” is hardly appropriate. And one of the worse, “I know how you feel” just ain’t true. I doubt I could ever understand the devastation you feel right now.

But I do know how I feel. I’m distraught at the game’s outcome and for you and your families—it makes me even sadder to see you in pain. I’ve enjoyed the last three years of Stanford basketball so much. I’ve enjoyed watching both of you play and improve. I’ve enjoyed our numerous basketball victories. I’ve enjoyed getting to know what remarkable student-athletes and nice people you are. Thank you for that.

I hope you, and Kish and Clare, have wonderful lives and that I will be able to follow your future successes. I wish you great success and happiness.