ONE OF THE GREATEST GUYS I'LL EVER MISS

I have a friend that I haven't seen in many, many years. In fact, the last time I ran into him, it was like the first time I met him... instant connection, solid friendship, alittle chop breaking and "poof"... he was like a brother to me.  Dan is a good guy, and always was.  He's smart, creative and athletic, but he is also my friend. He was a terrific son, a husband and father too.  I'm proud to say that he was in my life... because today we are remembering him... 

If anyone has ever lost a loved one, you know it stings like hell.  The last few days I have been down in the dumps.  I lost a friend.  And again, while I haven’t spoken to Dan in quite a few years, every once in a while there will be something that happens in my own life that made me remember Dan, and with it, I would laugh, or think... "I wonder how Dannys doing?"  Back in the day, we had real good times.  When I got word that Dan had passed, I was downright shocked. 

There are friends of mine that grew up with him many, many years before I even met him.  They are in a much harder place than I am today, and I feel horrible for them.  Dan touched all of us, just because he was a great, likable guy.  As one of my friends said to me the other day, fighting through the tears… “With all the jerks in the world, why did it have to be him?”  It was touching, honest and true, but sometimes life isn’t fair and that's what hurts the most.

Now... you read Bleeding Yankee Blue for Yankee news, but you know that we’ve developed a solid family unit here.  We talk about a lot of stuff and family and life are a big part of it.  We told you about our good friend Kiley when she passed earlier this year and how she touched so many people's lives with her smile and energy.  My friend Dan was the same.  Just a great person.

He was full of jokes.  He'd break your chops, even when it wasn't appropriate, but he always brought levity to the situation as if to say, "Have some fun, don't worry so much!"  I once told you a story about a buddy and I going out all night and boozing it up.  I never checked in with my parents that night and came home around 6:30 in the morning.  Read BREAKING DOWN ALEX RODRIGUEZ & REPUTATION for more of that, but in a nutshell, my father sat us down and talked about reputation saying “You can be a champion all your life, but you miss 1 commitment, you lose trust in 1 person… and the rest of your life, you lose.”  What I didn't tell you was that my "buddy" was Dan, getting the same lecture from my father that morning.  We both messed up that night. But after my dad gave his now "world famous" line about reputation, Dan looked at me as he was walking out the door and said, "You're dad's a tough guy...  and he's right!!!"  With that, he laughed and whacked me on the shoulder. Bottom line... we learned a valuable lesson together that day. I'll never forget it.  Dan was like a brother to me. He was to everyone who knew him and now, that ends and  I can't believe it. 

I know, you logged on today to read about Yankee rumors and interesting takes on the Yankees starting rotation.  We'll have it for you, I promise. But for now, I want to be selfish.  I want to talk about Dan. Dan was the best and I needed to get this off my chest this morning. 

I feel for his family right now.  I feel for his very, very close friends… and I’ll miss you brother, you were one of a kind.

Thanks for listening… I needed that.

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