WWTBAM Bored

When I moved to Vegas, I played NTN with a bunch of people I'd never really met before. One was Paul, who I learned on my first night at the bar was from Pittsburgh. We spent a lot of time talking about people and places that weren't there anymore. And every time I went back to Vegas, he'd be sure to make it to the bar to say "hi".

Paul was a sports fanatic, and probably our team's go-to guy on all sports questions. He was also absolutely nuts about the Olympics. He'd been to several, all over the world. When I watched the Opening Ceremonies, I thought how much Paul must have been enjoying it, cuz I knew he always got tickets.

Paul was even profiled in the Las Vegas Review Journal last month, for his Olympics enthusiasm ( http://www.lvrj.com/sports/24905969.html ). What we didn't know was that Paul was fated to miss going to Beijing this year. Yesterday, the same guy who profiled Paul last month announced that he'd passed away while visiting family in North Carolina ( http://www.lvrj.com/news/27123009.html ).

I'll miss his great gentle sense of humor, his infectious smile, and his enthusiasm for life. And I know that he now has the best seats in the house for the closing ceremonies.

Bye, Paul.

I am moved by your friendship with him.

Thank you for sharing.

I liked Paul a lot. RIP.

I am sorry about the loss of your friend, KT. He sounds like the kind of person who would have been my friend, too, if the opportunity had arisen.

I too met and played NTN with Paul in Las Vegas. I was shocked to hear of his passing. I too, thought he was enjoying Beijing in person and was jealous of him. Before he left I had given him a set of the official Olympic pins and some others that I had so he could trade them. He truly enjoyed the Olympics. KT has already echoed my sentiments. RIP Paul.

I'm sorry to hear about your friend's death, KT. He sounds like a good guy.

I was also shocked to learn about the death of a good friend yesterday. Danny Young was a lot of different things to a lot of different people, and I can't think of anyone else I know who would be so warmly remembered and widely mourned. For many years, he ran an iconic small restaurant near my house called the Texicalli Grille, which was a famous gathering place for his immense circle of friends. It's where I chose to have my two WWTBAM viewing parties, both for when I lost and when I won. When he retired and sold the business, I was his final customer and he refused to let me pay for my meal. We made a pact to go to a World Series game some day, which was something he always wanted to do. I'm sorry that we never got the chance to do that. I guess we waited too long for the Astros to return to the World Series.

Danny was a really big hearted guy. The world would be a much better place if we were all more like him.

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