If you mourned the loss of Peaches Geldof...

I fall somewhere in the middle between Scrooge McPoin and PC. Too many people are just waiting for the next human domino to fall so they can run to their keyboard and tell everyone about their feelings. On the other hand, I won't dismiss that the grief is real for some people, whether they met and/or interacted with a particular individual. I can't remember a recent celebrity death that registered on my emotional meter, but I teared up sitting in the bar 17 years ago when the news broke that Walter Payton had died.

 

I got very emotional when Jerry Garcia died.
I was sad when it happened, and then like a week later I was at my regular bar and got really choked up about it.

 

I mocked people upset over Garcia's death at the same aforementioned bar in college. In hindsight, that was a dick move.

 

I was hit was hit very hard by the deaths of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jack Buck (I grew up in Missouri in the '70s and '80s). I will be very emotional when Willie Nelson dies, as his music is a major connection between my dad and me.

 

Saying 2016 sucks on Facebook because someone famous died is the new form of changing your profile to a flag or writing "prayers." People want to be seen as in being "in the know."

2016 isn't some mystical force out to ruin lives, but feel better thinking it is,

 

The only 'celeb' death that truly made me emotional in 2016 was Craig Sager, and that had as much to do with the fact that his persona was so big and his fight was so public as anything. Most of the '2016 sucks' crowd is also lumping the election in with all of the celebrity deaths. Not sure why they think 2017 will be any better.

 

Bitching about what the commoners do on Facebook has become the new performative art.

 

So if a favorite player or coach from a favorite team died it wouldn't affect you in the least? Or a favorite sports figure? If that's the case, you probably spend too much time on this board. I get that people get a little too weepy with the whole "OMG, can 2016 just end already!" bullshit, but there were genuinely a lot of celebrities who died this year who had a pretty large presence in people's lives. Peaches Geldof? I didn't even know she existed until she died. But I'm sure there are people in the UK who don't know who the hell Julian Edelman or LeGarrette Blount are, and it wouldn't faze them in the least if they died.

 

Makes sense, but a lot of these deaths are of OLD PEOPLE who are pretty susceptible to things like death. Arnold Palmer's influence was enormous . . . 50 years ago. Muhammad Ali was indeed The Greatest . . . 40-50 years ago. I grew up a Johnny Unitas and Wilt Chamberlain fan. When they died, it resonated no more than an, "Oh, pity" with me.

Maybe I was born without the celebrity human empathy gene. Animal abuse stories far outweigh celebrity death stories as far as raising any emotion in me. I even turn the channel every time one of those ASPCA commercials comes on.

 

Inventor of Iconic Red Solo Cup Dies at 84

And now 2016 has come for the inventor of Solo cups

 

When Putin dies, time to hang black crepe from the rafters.

 

Johnny Unitas died?