In the business of journalism you learn to turn your emotions off. To be as unbiased as possible you have to have a coldness toward the athletes that your write about.
For the most part when a team loses or a player fails, while I find it unfortunate it doesn’t have any affect on me.
But as JR Hildebrand came around the final turn of the Indianapolis 500 and I started to see his car going closer and closer to the wall my heart just sank.
He is 23 years old and was just a few seconds from winning a race that would change his life and in an instant it was all gone. I felt awful for him.
Winning the Indy 500 is like winning the Masters or Wimbledon, it is a lifetime ticket of notoriety, You are always JR Hildebrand Indy 500 winner until your deathbed.
I hope he can recover, I still have nightmares of a High School Football playoff game that my school lost on a last play when a pass intended for me was intercepted.
This will haunt him forever.