RIP to one of our own, one of our best -- Craig Stanke

Lot of people knew him as a pretty good guy Moddy. That explains the growth.

 

I met Craig long ago, then we went ways that never brought us together again -- until here. A newbie, I had no idea who SF_Express might be and didn't care because whoever it was always made sense. So much sense that I once sent an message asking for help on something or other. He id'd himself and since then we'd messaged a couple dozen times, about my book on the Post, about Gregg Doyel (for whom we shared admiration), about the business in general.

Damn.

 

Nothing profound to add to what others have posted. But I am sorry and his family is my thoughts.

 

I'm so sorry for those of you knew him personally. He and I never got to that point on here. But damn I loved his posts. If I saw his handle on a thread, I clicked it.

RIP

 

No...no...no...!

That was my reaction, is still my reaction, to this.

Like a couple others, I just stumbled over a post and some comments about Craig on Facebook, and, as I read them, I suddenly realized that people were talking about him in the past tense.

So, I read the comments again, trying to make sure what had happened was what I'd thought was going on.

No...no...no...! That's all I can say.

Well, no, it isn't. But, I am in a state disbelief right now. I have to go to work in a few minutes, and I don't want to. I want to post here. I'm considering telling a story, and am thisclose to doing it. But, I have to have time, for thought, for consideration, and care, so...if I do it, it'll have to wait until late tonight.

Suffice to say, for now, that SF_Express was a lynchpin of this board. It will not -- cannot -- ever be the same without him around.

I'll sign on again late tonight, when I get home again, but until then, I'll just point out that there are currently 24 members and 434 guests -- 434! -- looking at this thread.

That, right there, ought to tell you something about Craig Stanke.

 

No, no, no, no, NO! This one hurts. A lot.

I never met Craig, but we communicated via e-mail and knew a bunch of the same people in SoCal journalistic circles. He'd drop me lines here and there asking me about certain people or what was going on here in his former state. In turn, I'd pester him about getting stuff on CBS Sports.com and he'd said he'd always do what he could.

Not sure I can add anything else to what has gone before, since seeing this on Moddy's Facebook page and having it hit me like a 2-by-4 betwen the eyes. But a true old-school journalist like Craig -- even a latent teetotaler -- needs a true old-school watering hole.

With that, I imagine him and Ron D., holding court at whatever passes for the Great Beyond's Runyon's, passing judgment on this happening or that, pointing out the idiocy of this woman wearing the skimpy wings that are too young for her age or the brilliance of this writer and why isn't he here knocking some back with us?

RIP Craig. You left us way too damn early.

 

On a purely selfish note, seeing his post on the age poll thread was a shot to the gut. My dad turns 56 today.

 

Very sad to hear this. My condolences to everyone who knew him.

 

RIP to a great one.

 

I didn't know him and I don't remember ever interacting with Craig, but I'm shocked and sad. RIP to one of the board's voices of reason. My condolences to his family.

 

I have been trying to come up with a writerly way of expressing my thoughts, but 21 summed it up.

R.I.P.