RIP Mike Penner

What awful news. Never met Mike, but loved his work -- especially this classic "obit" to the Super Bowl. I reread this at least once a year, and laugh a little harder every time.

http://articles.latimes.com/2001/jan/16/sports/sp-12895

 

I've been thinking about this and didn't have any words I could put to express the feelings I had.

It's been said that before people can accept others or love others, they have to learn to accept or love themselves. Evidently, Mike had a very hard time doing that.

I can't say I've ever met the man or read anything of his besides his announcement that he was becoming Christine Daniels. Even then, it turned out not to be the end of the story. Unfortunately, his story did not have a happy ending. It makes us all the poorer.

RIP Mike. And Christine. You left an indelible mark on so many.

 

I had a co-worker at my first stop kill himself. I still feel a bit haunted by it because I spoke to him the night before it happened. I was stopping in the office to drop off some expenses and he gave me a good-natured ribbing about him kicking my ass in fantasy football a few weeks before. Five hours later he shot himself.

According a friend who works at the LAT, they're devastated, but not entirely surprised. The person who said Penner was "tortured" hit it on the head. I can't imagine what he had to have gone through during his life.

RIP

 

Nice column.

I hope the people who make their living degrading gays and lesbians are pleased with themselves.

 

It's nice to see Reilly write the way he's capable of writing.

Very thoughtful column.

 

It's a nice column but, really, offers nothing new, and nothing beyond what almost anyone would say under the circumstances.

I'm actually not sure this should have been written -- at least not at this point, and not without either some new information regarding the circumstances of Mike's death, or the reasons/emotions and circumstances in his life since his change back to being Mike, or else, the inclusion of the thoughts/perspectives of either his brother, former wife or someone else who was closer to the situation.

Again, I don't mean to diss Reilly's sentiments, but...

 

Yeah, when I read it and when Reilly was making a point of how close he and his wife were, I was wondering what attempts he made to reach out during those months when Mike/Christine was shutting people out.

Still, it's a heartbreaking story. I wish you could flip a switch and fix what makes people feel bad about themselves.

 

Well, Reilly did say Penner/Daniels didn't return calls, texts and emails. I think it was a heartbreaking column and disagree anyone could have written it or that it offered nothing new. It offered Reilly's own thoughts as a friend and I thought he captured them quite well. I also think the way he showed the difference between Mike Penner and Christine Daniels was revealing, though I can't say I've ready every story on the situation. But I thought through Reilly's eyes of a friend it explained quite well why Mike wanted or needed the change and how much it initially helped to become Christine.

And actually even if it offered nothing new, having another major voice show the human side of this whole horrible situation can't be a bad thing, I would think.

 

Is the wife Reilly mentions the woman he was all over in the press box a few years back?

 

Oscar,

Maybe I read it too cynically, but here is the graf that got me....

Reilly goes from liberally using "I" and "we" to saying simply "he didn't return e-mails, texts or calls." He didn't say that he didn't return "our" e-mails, texts or calls.

Knowing how some people work, I wondered if Reilly made any of those e-mails, texts or calls or was writing to make it appear as if he did but was actually reporting the experience of others who had tried to reach out.

 

I saw that "...middle of 2008..." and thought, this must be a typo, Reilly must mean the "middle of 2009," right? Otherwise, that's a long time for someone to go off the grid w/o friends flushing him out to see what's wrong.

Guess I'm thinking that Reilly, like a lot of us, gets mixed up on years in January and, still stuck in 2009, figured last summer was 2008. But if not -- if Penner/Daniels became unresponsive so long ago -- then some friend needed to press matters harder. Don't you think?