Death by dumb, shout out

I read yesterday a fan at a Ranger’s game died when he leaned far over a railing in the outfield reaching for a ball and subsequently fell onto concrete 20 feet below.  Typically a 20 foot fall is not going to kill you unless you happen to land at a very bad angle which he must have.

Today I saw a press conference with Nolan Ryan of all people.  Evidently he is now in management for the Rangers.  Let me quickly say that he looks AWFUL.  He is fat, bald and looks like he is 85 (he is 64).  Anyway the Rangers said they were FULLY INVESTIGATING the incident.

I don’t really understand what there is to investigate.  The guy took a chance by leaning much further than he safely should have in his zest to obtain a baseball, it was dumb.  Unfortunately in this case his poor judgement killed him.  I can only hope this does not cause some overblown reaction where they are going to put up 8 foot plexiglass walls or perhaps nets to catch those with poor balance, you know like they do at the Chinese sweat shops to discourage suicide attempts?

You can’t protect against stupidity.  Stupidity is a natural event that in some cases leads to the death of the individual practicing the stupid behavior.  I feel similar about other laws in place that try to police against stupidity like seat belt and motorcycle helmet laws.  Hey if you take your safety so lightly that you don’t want to wear a seat belt or a helmet that is just fine with me.  Just don’t expect me to have huge remorse when that decision costs you dearly at some future date and time. I am more interested in laws that protect me if your stupid behavior affects others.

I neglected to give a shout out to my bud Jeremy, the inspiration for my world famous Jmo cartoon series, on his official commissioning into the US Naval Reserve.  To be inspired enough to want to serve in the military, even on a part time basis, at this point in his life is worthy of respect and admiration.  Hat’s off to him.