RIP Jose Fernandez

Not to be "that guy," but with all the goodwill this guy has generated, let's hope it is a recreational accident. Being out that late/early does raise questions.

Hope to hell I'm wrong, it's tragic enough as it is.

 

What else would it be?

 

Drugs. Because they were Hispanic.

 

Still seems recreational to me.

 

The stories I've read indicate that although the accident was discovered at 3 am, it could have happened a few hours earlier. Marlins game ended at 10:30 and figure Fernandez was out of there earlier than most of his teammates since he hadn't pitched that day and wouldn't have had media obligations. It could have happened as early as midnight.

 

Well, dark is dark ...

 

Look, he was out on a boat. Maybe he had a couple pops. Maybe he smoked a joint. Maybe he did some blow. I don't care. Tim Crews was hammered. It was still tragic.

For all we know, the operator of the boat was experienced.

 

Young men do dumb things. I led the league when I was his age.
If you have a little money in your pocket, you do even dumber things.
But damn, it shouldn't cost you your life. I ache for this dude's family.

 

Some offshore fishing hits well at night. I've fished for bluefish off of Sandy Hook, NJ in the middle of the night.

But the thought did cross my mind of an offshore drug connection.

But, let's not jump to conclusions.

The bottom line, like writethinking was saying, is the water can be dangerous and has to be treated with respect and safety precautions taken.

In fact, I spooked my girlfriend a bit two months ago. A week after we had put in at a spot we had never tried before in Annapolis (Weems Creek), I read that a solo boater fell overboard within 75 feet of that same boat ramp and drowned. Freaked her out a bit.

But she knows and appreciates that I pay a tremendous amount of attention to safety, including charts, tides and the weather. And she has seen me asking multiple folks for local knowledge.

Still probably safer than roads, but the water is no place to be inattentive.

 

I just don't know how you explain to your kid that one of his favorite players is dead for bad judgment- the same kind of bad judgment that powers many 24-year-olds.

 

Agreed. I would label this as simply an accident until more details come out.

 

Golf acquaintance of mine -- played with him a couple of times, but that was the extent of it -- was involved in a boating fatality a couple of months ago. He and some friends were fairly well-lubricated and were out for a twilight cruise. They weren't going all that fast, but they forgot/lost track of a low bridge and plowed into it. One of the friends died after a couple of days on life support.

My acquaintance is staring at some serious time. The family of the dead man is working the authorities to drop the charges, but for now the authorities are standing firm.