Ron Drogo, (spnited), RIP

Someone is logged in under S-P's handle as of this moment. Why?

 

Maybe his computer is still on?

 

Could be that it's actually him still logged in, at a machine in his home or whatever.

 

But someone would have had to click on something to make him show up as active in the last 15 minutes.

Maybe someone's looking at this thread. And seeing how beloved he was.

 

I didn't know that looking up a profile could trigger this. If so, I gladly stand corrected. Shows you what (little) I know.

 

Like many on here, I didn't know him in person and only rarely interacted with him on this site. But he was legend, and I'll miss him. Even as gruff as he could come off, it wasn't hard to see that he had, as many have said, a heart of gold. RIP

 

No, I meant if his computer was still logged it, it would have had to be active, i.e. clicked on a page, to show up as active. So if someone's there, maybe his sister, maybe she clicked to wake up the computer and saw this thread. Who knows?

 

Understood, IJAG. That could well be the case.

 

He was not an attention seeker, but I think Ron would be pleased by this thread.

I'll point out one of the lessons I learned from him. I can't think of anything we disagreed about regarding words and photos on newsprint. We had similar views on politics, polar-opposite tastes in baseball teams.

For the most part, we agreed on people, but there were some about whom we sharply disagreed. Ron was as human as I am. There were a few people Ron intensely disliked, and a couple of them are people I like and respect. Vice versa -- there are a few people Ron respected, and I have absolutely no use for them as journalists or as human beings.

Ron was very much his own man. He made up his own mind about people and generally filtered out other people's assessments. In knowing Ron, I learned a few things about intelligent, rational people disagreeing. My respect for him never wavered when we found ourselves on opposite poles. I respected that he came to his conclusions honestly.

Those of you who grieve for him now and considered Ron a friend, know that something about you earned that friendship. The man had zero social-climbing or newsroom-politics aspirations. If he seemed to like you, he meant it.

 

Watching spnited's name slowly move to bottom of who's on-line is kind of eerie but yet cathartic. Almost a final pass through SJ to remind us all to stay in line or he will call us on it with a terse "You're full of shit" . For posterity a screen shot :

Users Online 156 Guests, 88 Users
Users active in past 15 minutes:
The Green Hornet, Boom_70, ryanwright38, Pilot, Lee Jackson Beauregard, statrat, patchs, Sam Mills 51, Editude, OnTheRiver, Stoney, SF_Express, Inky_Wretch, Duton, Ronnie "Z-Man" Barzell, Gomer, spaceman, M.Ruthe, Care Bear, Brooklyn Bridge, toddo, finishthehat, MisterCreosote, lcjjdnh, mbrown25, OTD, BitterYoungMatador2, imjustagirl, Dick Whitman, Alma, VJ, outofplace, suburbia, Ace, highlander, Flash, mureporter, BrianGriffin, three_bags_full, SamMalone16, Jason Haupricht, heyabbott, Moderator1, doubledown68, Appgrad05, PCLoadLetter, Hank_Scorpio, waterytart, cranberry, vicd, RickStain, Mystery Meat II, As The Crow Flies, dixiehack, da man, Jay Stone, scribbler, Guy_Incognito, MrHavercamp, Mizzougrad96, ifilus, spnited, nate41, YankeeFan, Rosie, Blockhead77, Pastor, Small Town Guy, Idaho, mjslovin91, Orange Hat Bobcat, Bristol Whipped, Double Down, Baron Scicluna, Drip, inthesuburbs, Johnny Dangerously, Gutter, LevinTBlack, Rhody31, Justin_Rice, expendable, apeman33, hickory_smoke, chase.colston, Frank_Ridgeway, SeanKennedy, The Big Ragu

RIP

 

A few months ago, I made a post that began something along the lines of: "Spnited, I know you think I'm a baseball idiot, but ..." and made my point.

He responded: "I don't think you're a baseball idiot. Not at all."

It sounds so stupid, but today I'm really, really glad he said that to me. I think it goes to what Frank just said about Ron knowing that intelligent, rational people could disagree.

The Hall of Fame threads are never going to be the same. Seriously. I would just ache for him to chime in so the fun could begin.

 

Never met Ron personally, only through this message board, but can't help but to feel a tremendous sense of loss. Have seen this happen too many times and it doesn't get any easier. RIP.