Joe Sports
Damn it.
I’m driving home after work to pick up the kids, just pull out of the parkade, and I find out that Joe Sports (aka Collin Smith) died yesterday due to leukemia.
One of the things that brings joy to my life was listening to the guys on the radio argue and debate sports in Calgary. Joe was very much in-touch with the sports scene in town and always had a grasp on more or less the way I felt on issues.
He was an agitator in the best sense of the word, and understood what rhetoric is and what it can accomplish. He held you to task and made certain that if he felt you had something to answer for, he would raise the question somehow. He’s one of the best things about modern Calgary and I’ve missed not having him in daily contact for a while.
He made life better. He still does, because Joe Sport’s effect will continue beyond his life.
These are people that matter to me. Goodbye, friend.