Beef03 said:
A great story by Gare Joyce on ESPN.com on the 20th anniversary of the Swift Current bus crash 20 years ago.
I'm about half way through right now myself, in the middle of production, will finish later.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=swiftcurrent&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab3pos1
Our paper did a full-page story published the day of the anniversary too. No response whatsoever from readers on it, which I thought was both telling and sad.
Comments from a friend of mine (not from my paper) who read the Joyce piece:
"Is it just me, or does the bus crash portion of this article read like a hatchet job on the people and fans of Swift Current? Seems to me like the writer has taken his own beliefs of what would be appropriate mourning/remembrance and imposed them on everyone in the town and then rips them for not doing what HE thinks they should. Everyone mourns/remembers differently and if what they do and have done is what most of the fans there want, then who is Gare Joyce to criticize that for not meeting HIS standards?
"It is too bad that Mrs. Kruger feels the way she does. Perhaps there is something the team can do that would make her happier with the situation. But otherwise, the article is quite short of evidence that anyone in Swift Current is unhappy with what the team does/has done to remember the players.
"The comments from Brady Leavold about not feeling welcome in Swift Current are interesting, but you also have to keep in mind that these comments come from a player who quit the team once earlier in his career. Perhaps there is no corroborating quotes from other players because nobody else on the team feels that way.
"All in all I think the guy is way off base on the bus crash memorial part of the story. It's not his place to tell others how to pay their respects to the dead. There would be a story here if there was a sizeable number of people who were unhappy with the club but that doesn't seem to be the case."
My opinion? It hurts because it's true. Though some more evidence than what the author saw and felt about the situation might be in order for such a long, explanatory piece.