SI Daily Cover: Pete Axthelm

Really? That's awful!.

 

I don't bet on sports. One reason is that I would watch Axthelm on television going on and on about bad beats. I said I do not want to be like that. But as a student sportwriter I idolized him.

 

I used to really idolize those boozy-type journalists. And then I became an alcoholic myself. Seriously, I am one.

Fortunately, I'm in recovery and almost a year sober. But almost destroyed my life.

If you're drinking like Axthelm, please, get help. It's too bad his own pride got in the way of that. I'm sure if he knew how, he would've loved to have shed the boozy routine to enjoy life as a father and grandfather. That's better than any byline.

But he was a remarkable talent.

 

I'm an old sports journalism junkies junkie, knew of Runyon's but had never heard of Axthelm. A great read that a lot of sports writers can relate to.

 

if you're almost a year during this past year...sheeeeeeit, there ain't nothing you can't do

 

My mother used to tell me stories of my grandfather who drank himself out of journalism and then disappeared for a year during the Great Depression. Congratulations and keep sledding.

 

Good on ya, Stix.

I'm well into my life's second act as a husband and father and former journalist. I have two or three beers with and after dinner, less than my younger days, but enough that I wonder if it's too much. Anxiety and depression have been a constant in my adult life, and I've never found a good way to manage it. Maybe one day.

 

The only time I wondered about it was my second year on an MLB beat (1982, I was 30 years old). It was mid-June and I figured out I had at least one drink every night going back to early February. I never thought it was a problem. I skipped a few days here and there.

I found myself drinking more during this quarantine -- margaritas, Manhattans or beer. But constant leg pain is going to result in my having a hip replacement in mid-March. A friend who has had a hip replacement advised me to try to get into the best physical shape I can before the surgery. It will help in the recovery. About a month ago, I decided no alcohol, no dessert until I am sufficiently recovered. Dropping a few pounds and stretching a lot -- A LOT -- should help.

 

It's on each individual to decide what they think is healthy. If you can cur yourself off and know your limits, that's usually a sign you're OK. For me, I could never do that. Three beers was not nearly enough. Nothing was. I drank until I fell asleep or got bored and went to bed, I suppose.

At any rate, anxiety and depression have been a killer for me, too. I've learned many tools on how to cope with it. It's a helluva lot of work, but we all have our afflictions. I'm blessed with many good things, so if that's the cross I bear, I'll bear it.

Anyway, didn't mean to hijack the thread, but thanks all for your kids words of support.

 

Good for you, good to get healthy for any reason.

I think everyone has their moments where they wonder if they're drinking too much. If you're not an alcoholic, you just kinda grow out of it and maybe look back and shake your head. If you are, you're 20 years down the road still telling yourself you're going to grow out of it in another 20 years.

 

Yeah, at one point I was up to 4 liters of Diet Pepsi a day. Now I'm down to about 2.

 

I’m there with coffee, but I assume we all are.