Although I’ve never met coach personally, it sure feels like I’ve lost a relative. Strange how someone can have that kind of impact. RIP Captain.
Why does it feel like Ive lost a family member?
- Thread starter SuspectZero
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His passing triggered past losses. My wife to a heart attack and my daughter to cancer.
Since losing them, I have buried many people closer to me than Leach but his passing hits different. I can’t explain it either. When I saw Raymond James stadium with its pirate ship, I lost it at work today. I need to go to that bowl game.
Since losing them, I have buried many people closer to me than Leach but his passing hits different. I can’t explain it either. When I saw Raymond James stadium with its pirate ship, I lost it at work today. I need to go to that bowl game.
He just seemed like a guy you wanted to know, even if you didn't know him personally.
And from all the stories I've seen, he would want to know you too, if there was anything remotely interesting about you.
And from all the stories I've seen, he would want to know you too, if there was anything remotely interesting about you.
Funny, I feel the same and I never met him either. Maybe it was because he was “one of us.”
Because he represents everything good about college sports, which we all love.
And, he was our guy. And he liked us, too.
And, he was our guy. And he liked us, too.
Because we live in a dark World. He was a light. As we are all called to be…the light of Jesus.
although i never heard him talk much about faith, I believe that strongly. He didn’t walk with the world. He was his own man, he made you think (why didn’t you run the d*#% ball coach!!) haha. He reminded you it was okay to be independent and not follow the crowd.
we live in a word where it’s good to be different.
although i never heard him talk much about faith, I believe that strongly. He didn’t walk with the world. He was his own man, he made you think (why didn’t you run the d*#% ball coach!!) haha. He reminded you it was okay to be independent and not follow the crowd.
we live in a word where it’s good to be different.
I tried explaining it to someone. Since I don’t live in Mississippi it’s not like there are a lot of State fans around. But I said the closest analogy I could come up with is the British when the Queen died (I know it’s an imperfect analogy). But, the guy represented us in something we care passionately about. For me, two decades ago I attended state and my son does now. My fondest memories include my time as a student, taking my children to ball games etc. When real life is punching you in the balls, you get the escape of cheering for your alma mater. You have a bad week? Well, that Saturday night win makes you feel better. Like you somehow get to walk a little taller the next Monday. So to lose a coach isn’t like losing a celebrity, bc the team’s success or failures can be an extension of how you feel. And the fact that such a likeable guy was the person leading the fight that you can’t (bc we aren’t skilled coaches) amplifies the connection. So yeah, kinda hits deeper bc he and the team(s) at miss state give me something extra to be proud about. To lose a leader and a face of that connection is still real.
The closest I ever came to CML was going down to his radio show just off University in downtown Starkville. He showed up in his STATE t-shirt, cargo shirts, and flip flops. I was touched that in the middle of the show he came down off the stage to speak with a fan who had cerebral palsy. He signed a couple of autographs and spent some time talking to the young man. When to radio show resumed, he and Neil Price talked of every thing but going to Tucson to play football. Price thought he would check into Billy the Kid history in Tucson, but Leach explained that Billy’s history was part of Lincoln County war that took place in Eastern New Mexico (he said in this war, justice was all about who had the most guns, not who was right), but Billy never made it the Arizona. He talked of family vacations to Tucson and all kind of stuff, and he was funny as any Vegas comedian in his telling. So much fun. God bless him.
So fortunate to have had him representing Mississippi State.
It’s a weird feeling. I’ve been getting “condolences” from folks at work and people asking me how I’m holding up, etc. since I’ve been up this morning.
I wore a Mississippi State Polo into the office today and people seemed to be tripping over themselves to tell me how much they loved Mike Leach.
It’s like losing an uncle, but I’ve never met the man. To my knowledge, I’ve never even been in the same building.
I’ve never been in this situation and I’m not sure how I’m supposed to feel, but I’ve been grieving all day.
I also think being on here and co-mourning with all of you has made me feel a lot more connected to it than I probably am.
I wore a Mississippi State Polo into the office today and people seemed to be tripping over themselves to tell me how much they loved Mike Leach.
It’s like losing an uncle, but I’ve never met the man. To my knowledge, I’ve never even been in the same building.
I’ve never been in this situation and I’m not sure how I’m supposed to feel, but I’ve been grieving all day.
I also think being on here and co-mourning with all of you has made me feel a lot more connected to it than I probably am.
I guess I'm cold-hearted. Stuff like this doesn't register for me. I feel nothing except we lost a cool guy who was our coach for three years.
He's in a better place. Feel bad for the team, coaches, & his family. Just not much of a grieving kinda person.
He's in a better place. Feel bad for the team, coaches, & his family. Just not much of a grieving kinda person.
I think it's because our college football coaches exist under a microscope for us, and we become intimately familiar with them as coaches, the good and the bad. All the foibles and peculiarities and tendencies roll together over time into a personality we are intimate with, even if we don't have a personal relationship with the subject. And then you have Leach out there constantly being documented as a human, telling whatever he thinks about whatever, being available and outgoing, hearing stories told on him by others that make his actual personality be real to us, and even though we don't know him, we do.
And losing that person we've become so familiar with hits really hard.
And losing that person we've become so familiar with hits really hard.
Because we have. We lost a relative. He was one of us. He was family. The BEST relative of all, he chose US. Hail State. Prayers for his immediate family.
The reason is probably that most of us feel as though we have some sort of a family within Mississippi State University that makes us all related.
Some of us...
Some of us...
We absolutely do.
I never hesitate to walk up to somebody in a far away airport if they've got MSU gear on.
I must admit I was unprepared for the outpouring that I witnessed yesterday. I think it was because CML was such a unique person who was so relatable and entertaining to so many including those who don't even follow football.
Because you have.
I was telling a guy from work today (he's a big roller at Kentucky) that this hit close to home for everyone just because of our culture....This whole faMily schtick we have going has always been pretty authentic. Just our size, the fact that we're in the middle of nowhere, that we're perennial underdogs....it just pulls us closer together. And when something like this happens, it feels like we're losing a member of the family.
I feel the same and I have thought a lot about why. And I think I/we relate to things about Coach Leach that I am or what I try to be. Someone who cares about people and could give two sh its about their status. He was who he was and didn't need or care about the approval of others. You could disagree with him and did hurt his feelings. He was genuine and authentic.
In addition I'm not much younger than Coach and I've been hit in the face with a greater sense of my own mortality.
Grief is a very weird thing, and it hits differently in everyone. About 4 hours after the initial "Leach has been hospitalized" report came out on Sunday, I got a call that a close cousin of mine had died suddenly that same afternoon, of a suspected heart attack. Only 5 years older than me, we grew up together, almost a sibling type of cousin. I spent Monday slogging through my job in a daze, but I never felt sad, just kind of stunned. Was driving to work Tuesday morning when I got the "Leach has passed" text from my wife who heard it on the radio first. Within the next mile I had to pull over and I bawled my eyes out for a good 10 minutes. It felt like it took CML passing to finally make me "feel" the loss of my cousin. I haven't boo-hoo'd like that in many many years, and it was for the both of them I guess. Two very different kinds of loss, but forever connected now in my brain. I'll probably always think about the other when one of them gets brought up from now on.
Even if he had never taken the STATE job, I'd be bummed out like all the others across the country are but sinced he did, it hurts even more. I remember taking other deaths pretty hard like Gandolfini's because I was a fan of The Sopranos. Tom Petty, Prince and Robin Williams dying hurt too but nothing compared to this. I've often wondered what it's gonna be like for me when Jagger, Richards, Page & Plant die but I'm sure it will be nothing like what I'm feeling right now. Hope Leach is in Heaven right now with a big smile on his face and a content heart tossing the pigskin around.
I think people who live in MS don't see this as much sometimes as those of use who are out of state. MS is my adopted home, and is a place that adopted me and gave me an extended family of some of the best people I know. They have become a part of my real family, and are involved in my family's life. And Leach seemed to fit right into that. I feel like if you had asked him about some random aspect of MS culture or history, he would say something like "I just finished reading a great article on Governor Bilbo and the issues around him trying to take control of the universities....." and off you would go down the Leach rabbit hole. And we keep hearing stories like this from those on campus who engaged with him - even if it was randomly. He was becoming another town character like Gerald, or the pimp, or Jerry Clower or Mack Banks. Coaches aren't like that, and yet here is this guy in flip-flops and cargos wandering around town like he's been there forever. It's admirable, and fun, and it made life better.
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