THE YANKEES' BIGGEST FAN

I wanted to remind the BYB audience about a girl we lost in the Yankee community last year. Her name was Kiley and she was a gigantic Yankee fan.

She had a presence on Twitter and everyone knew her. No matter what the Yankees were doing, she was front row and always positive Tweeting "Let's go Yankees *clap *clap *clap *clap."  She never gave up on her team. Ever.

She never gave up on herself either, and fought hard until the end. Kiley passed away 1 year ago today, May 22nd.  I know many in the Twitter community knew her well and loved her. But if I know Kiley, she's smiling right now at you, because you're thinking of her today. Never selfish... somehow she'd turn it around and bring a smile to your face and make it about you instead. I bet you she's clapping right now...

"*clap *clap*clap *clap"

That was Kiley, never thinking about herself, always think about others.

Go Yanks, Kiley... Go Yanks.

You can read our BYB dedication to Kiley last year by clicking on A DEDICATION TO ONE OF BYB'S FAVORITES...

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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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A DEDICATION TO ONE OF BYB'S FAVORITES...

If you're on Twitter and a Yankee fan, you know of a girl named Kiley.  Her handle is @Jeterfan_02.  She is a bubbly, sweet girl who is probably the most interactive on Twitter in the history of Twitter.  She will engage you, she'll make you laugh out loud, and often, and I mean quite often, she is the one you went to when you needed a post you wrote retweeted. The bottom line is, if she likes you, you're in her heart forever, because she's already won over yours.  She was a nice person.

Kiley was also fighting cancer and on that rare occasion she wasn't on Twitter, one could only assume she was being her strongest somewhere else and would be back soon.  Kiley always did came back to us. She was a fighter and we all enjoyed her company every single day on Twitter, but definitely during the Yankee season where it was always extra special. Kiley read Bleeding Yankee Blue religiously and told us that it "made her day." She was one of our readers from when it all began back in 2010 and she never left us. I was always touched by her loyalty.

Our sweet Kiley passed away yesterday.  While the battle was long, it was a surprise and last night many were devastated.  The tweet came over her account by her family yesterday afternoon:

Kiley ask that this account remain open for one week, to allow you all express memories for her family. God bless you Kiley. RIP 5/22
— KB❤⚾ (@JeterFan_02) May 22, 2013

Now, it's never easy to say goodbye and today is no different.  We were all touched by Kiley and strangely I know that she would probably hate all the fuss and right about now she's probably in Heaven asking for the closest computer she could find so she can check her Twitter and let us all know that "It's going to be OK."  And she's probably doing what she always did best. Simply writing:  "Lets go Yankees!!! clap clap clap clap clap"

She was always rooting and made you want to do the same. Even in the darkest Yankee days... she was front and center and she believed in our team always.

Finally, I'll leave you with one of Kiley's final tweets from just 5 days ago:

"Life is beautiful. Life is short. Live everyday as if it were your last. No regret. Paint the sky your favorite color."

No doubt Kiley's painting the sky pinstripe right now...

Rest in Peace my friend.

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