Ron Drogo, (spnited), RIP

I think it's a little older than that, something in months. I'm really bad with time, though.

 

Damn. Just saw the news.

I kinda feel like we should do something on the board here.

Something. I dunno.

If we still had the year-end awards, we could name them after the guy.

Damn.

 

Not much to add that has already been said, and I wouldn't be able to say anything as eloquently as those who knew him well.
Only knew him from the board, and I was guilty of hurling a few jabs his way about his age when he ripped a post of mine to shreds.
Yet I always thought, even before the last couple days, that I'd probably enjoy meeting him in person.
Will raise a glass tonight.

 

Well, that was 10 minutes of my life I'll never get back.

And I don't regret it one bit.

Didn't know Ron but will certainly miss you, spnited. Your passing makes me wonder if I shouldn't get to know more people around this place.

And Harley, we are doing something for him. This thread. It's wonderful.

 

I'll just add this:

Spnited, and many others like him and y'all, have been a part of my day-to-day life for the last six years. For better or worse, I've interacted with him more than I've interacted with some members of my own family -- none of whom keep the same hours as me, or remotely understand the job pressures, or have the same sports interests as me. That connection is real to me, and he was my friend because we connected in those ways and respected each other.

Not my message-board friend. Not that old dude I know from the Internet. Just ... my friend. No qualifications necessary.

That connection is no less real to me because I never met him in person. In fact, the connection may be stronger because we only communicated through words, sent over the Internet. It's harder to make a connection that way, at least to most people. (I guess we're weird like that.)

For those of us whose day-to-day lives he was a part of for so long, he will be missed. And not just on a message board, even though that's where we interacted with him most. Just ... he'll be missed. No qualifications necessary.

 

I don't have many messages from him left, trying to cull out the old messages had its price.
But when I ran the football poll, he'd include a note on occasion.
This year, he bowed out in typical style...

 

That's awesome! And so true.

And R.I.P. about 30,000 Junkie posts deleted over the years.

 

There are no more appropriate words than yours, Buck. Thank you for them.

RIP

 

Junkie... I envy you for the two hours you spent with him Well said, my friend. Very well said.

 

How could this Vikings fangirl not love a guy who would tell her this?

Damn, it's been a long day.

 

I hurt. Never met spnited, but I always pictured him typing with a big grin on his face as he let us here in the South know how damn over-rated the teams in the SEC were.

But I also hurt for those of you so deeply affected by this loss. The pain will eventually fade, but the memories you have of your friend - even if you never met him in person - won't. Remember that.

 

I agree with everything my friend Buck just said.

I've never met Ron in person, and I can't even remember the last conversation we had on the site. Between my writing and radio jobs covering this wacky SEC beat, I hardly have time for anything these days, so I haven't been around the site as much.

Regardless, this is very sad news. Ron was a good man, and even when I thought his Northeast-centric thoughts were ridiculous, I liked him. I just did. He believed what he believed, and he was remarkably consistent, and he really didn't really give a damn if anyone or everyone disagree with him.

A good newspaperman. A good man. A man whose life ended too soon.