In Memory of Stuart Scott

This past Sunday legendary SportsCenter anchor Stuart Scott passed away at the age of 49 from cancer. The first thing that popped up on my mind was that I did not even know he was that sick. I remember watching him not too long ago and never knew just how much pain he was really in. Even during his cancer treatments he continued to work as much as he could. When the camera was on him he kept on his usual self like nothing was wrong. Apparently behind the scenes was a different story. When the camera was off him he would be laying down and catching a breath because he gave all of his energy in his broadcasts. He was a fighter till the end. When he was diagnosed with cancer, he never sulked around and let it beat him. He continued to live his life the way he wanted. He never knew what stage his cancer was because he did not care. He is an inspiration for others who deal with the same struggle that he was in.

I was very saddened to hear of his death because it was like a part of my childhood was gone. I still watch SportsCenter but back when I was younger I used to watch it ALL the time. I would go to bed watching the show and then wake up the next day and watch. That was the heyday of SportsCenter in my opinion. They had guys like Stuart, Dan Patrick, Rich Eisen, Kenny Mayne, Scott Van Pelt and Linda Cohn amongst others. They made watching sports cool and seemed to really enjoy what they did. This was back before there was Twitter or any form of social media and the stage looked very generic. All they did was show the highlights. That is what I think SportsCenter lacks nowadays. I do not want to hear what somebody is saying on Twitter for every single play. They seem to do that now but back then they usually just stuck to the highlights. They all brought a different element to the show and really made Sports fun.

Stuart Scott was probably my favorite of the group. He had the perfect personality to be an anchor on SportsCenter. He brought it every time the camera was on him. He said that when the camera is on you need to own the camera. Keep the viewers captivated. He did just that. His catchphrases were classic, including "Booyah" or "As cool as the other side of the pillow" or "Call him butter cuz he's on a roll". He made it fun for the young kids to watch and made it seem like me and my friends were calling the action. 

You never know how important someone is until they are gone. As soon as news broke of his death, their were many tributes from fans, athletes and even President Barack Obama. That shows just how important he was to the sports world. Rich Eisen, his co-anchor on SportsCenter for many years, gave a touching tribute to Scott. He had to fight back tears and he almost broke down a few times Many of his colleagues also broke down while remembering the man. You should check out these tributes. If you have time check out some of his work from ESPN, including the This Is SportsCenter commercials. The best one was one with him, Kenny Mayne, Keyshawn Johnson and Kobe Bryant when they were both rookies. Also check out his ESPY speech from this past July. It will make you shed a tear now that he is gone. I will have to admit that when I went to bed that night I turned my pillow over to the cool side in honor of Stuart Scott. Just paying a little respect for the legend. I hope you are in Heaven right now calling the highlights like you did so well. RIP Stuart Scott

Until Next Time,

Nathan Krispin

Boy Meets Sports