Elisabeth Sladen dead at age 63

Elisabeth Sladen died on April 19th, 2011. She was 63 years old and was taken from us far too soon. The British actress was best known for her role as Sarah Jane Smith in Doctor Who. She played Sarah Jane on a recurring basis during the Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker years of the show during the 1970's. She reprised her role several times over the course of the 80's and then again with the new series of Doctor Who opposite David Tennant.

Sarah Jane Smith is one of my all time favorite companions from the series. This is not unusual and you will see many posts on-line from other fans who feel the same way. Elisabeth Sladen made iconic the role of Who companion and many who think of the Doctor Who will always think of Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen.



From what little I have been able to learn over the Internet it sounds like she suffered a long battle with cancer that she kept very secret. I do not know what "long" means. Up until her death she was filming new episodes of her Doctor Who spin-off show - The Sarah Jane Adventures. She was (without question) battling cancer during this time period. But was she battling it longer than that? The world may never know. It is obvious that her condition was something very private to her and perhaps even in death she would not want her private medical history to be spread across the news.

Having said that there are millions of people who now morn her parting and as one of those fans I hope to learn more. We all grieve in different ways and some of us like to have a better understanding of what happened. How did she live her life in those final days? I think there is no question she lived it courageously until the very end.



The irony of her death is that I was just having a discussion the other day about why some people take the death of a celebrity so hard - such as Princess Diana or Micheal Jackson. I said that those people never truly knew that celebrity and while it was news it was certainly nothing to get too emotionally involved over. I must now eat my own words because I am taking the death of Sarah Jane very hard.

Sarah Jane Smith, you will be missed!

Baseball - How I never truly knew thee!

I haven't been a fan of baseball. For years I've considered it to be the most boring of sports. I've never enjoyed watching it on TV and it isn't much more appealing live. In the spirit of full disclosure I have to say that I only ever played baseball one season as a child. It was fast pitch elementary school ball and I was incredibly intimidated by the whole process. I hated batting and I think my lack of batting prowess lead my coach to an unfair assumption about my fielding ability. As a result I was relegated to the outfield. This experience did nothing to build a good foundation of appreciation for baseball.

But I think I am coming around on it as a sport. This weekend I am taking my boys to the local college game that is being played and I'm actually pretty excited. In fact it is my children that are helping to create that paradigm shift. My boys are playing T-Ball for the first time this season. As I sit on the sideline and watch the coaches teach my boys about the infield and outfield positions I can't help but realize how important teamwork is to baseball. It is perhaps more important than any other sport. It is true that teamwork is required in basketball, football, hockey, and so many others. But in these sports you often hear of ball-hogs or primadonas. You don't hear of that as much in baseball. I'm beginning to see why - first hand.

When a 5 year old leaves second base to go muscle in on the 3rd baseman's position he leaves 2nd base unattended. When he does that there is a huge gap in the infield. By hogging another position the 2nd basemen lets down his teammates with respect to his 2nd base assignment. I know this sounds obvious when I say it but I really never thought about it until I started watching my own boys.

Also when someone in the outfield snags a grounder and throws it to 1st base that outfielder has to trust that the 1st basemen will do his job. The outfielder cannot physically run to first base and tag out the runner. It would be impossible even if he wanted to do it. The game of baseball demands teamwork and trust more than any other sport. It is for this reason that I am now giving baseball a chance.

So to the gods of baseball, I extend my most humble apology and tip my hat to you. I am looking forward to a much more meaningful relationship from this point forward.