Every generation has a \u201cvoice\u201d to define it and call its own, and there\u2019s a short list of people I would consider to be the \u201cvoice of my generation.\u201d
\nStuart Scott is on that list.
\nAnd add my name to his list of admirers, from fellow broadcasters to athletes to the President of the United States, paying tribute to Scott, who died yesterday at the age of 49.
\nFor more than two decades, Stuart Scott was known to sports fans as one of the most recognizable voices and faces of ESPN, covering nearly every sport and at one time or another hosting pretty much every show that channel had to offer. Even before facebook and Twitter handles brought sportscasters to our every waking moment, Stuart Scott was one of those journalists who was always there. He was always there, with his before-they-were-cool hipster glasses and before-they-were-popular catchphrases. If you couldn\u2019t be an athlete yourself, you at least wanted to be Stuart Scott. He had the \u201cdream job\u201d (which was in fact the name of one of the many programs he hosted or co-hosted through the years). And from what I\u2019ve read over the past 24 hours, those who knew him \u201coff the field\u201d seem to suggest he was just as smooth in person as on TV.
\nIn 2007 doctors found cancer in Scott\u2019s appendix. He continued to work as he could through chemotherapy as his cancer went into remission, then did so again when the cancer returned. I guess one of the amazing details about Scott as a person and as a professional broadcaster was that you\u2019d never know. Over the past eight years he was cancer-striken then cancer-free at least three different times. I guess he never really was cancer free, and that, boys and girls, is one of the bitch things about cancer.
\nI don\u2019t remember the first time I heard Stuart Scott\u2019s voice and I won\u2019t remember the last. It\u2019ll be with me, though, for the rest of my life. It\u2019s there with all of us. The guy was as cool as the other side of the pillow, and dare I say\u2026 the voice of my generation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Every generation has a \u201cvoice\u201d to define it and call its own, and there\u2019s a short list of people I would consider to be the \u201cvoice of my generation.\u201d Stuart Scott is on that list. And add my name to … Continue reading