Friday, June 27, 2014

A Final Farewell to Tony Gwynn

I'm going to keep this short. I had been looking forward to this night since it was first announced. I couldn't wait to get down to the stadium and see the statue and celebrate the legend that is Tony Gwynn. In all of the chaos of trying to get a seat I forgot all about wanting to go to the statue. As my mom and I found seats I was desperately trying to hear the music that was being played over the PA. I questioned a few song choices as I sat there trying not to start crying. I mean, I was there two hours before the memorial even started and already fighting back tears. I found it odd that the Padres chose to use John Legend's All of Me which is very clearly a love song to his wife. Obviously they used it for the "All of me loves all of you" line but I still found it odd. The Padres ended the pre-ceremony with what is possibly the best song that I could think of to play at that moment, Jamie Foxx's Wish You Were Here. Every time I hear that song I choke up. Tonight, I lost it. Not just because of the song but because Tony's family was walking to their seats during it. You can't do this to me, Padres!

As Ted Leitner took the stage to begin the memorial he looked as if he was seconds away from bursting into tears which then caused me to be seconds away from bursting into tears. I can't believe how a man I've never met and never thought had much of an impact on me actually did. It was so nice to hear fun little stories of Tony and have video clips of his laugh and smile. There's only one thing I would have changed about the night. I would have loved to have more of his teammates there telling some behind the scenes stories and some from the family as well. Thanks to the lack of teammate and family stories I was able to hold it together through most of the ceremony until Trevor and Tony's daughter spoke. It was amazing to see how many fans were there showing their love for Tony and his family. The "Tony" chant was incredible to hear. Unfortunately for me, I couldn't participate because every time it started up, so did my tears. I couldn't speak and when I tried, nothing more than a whisper came out. It was one of the weirdest feelings being at Petco for something other than a baseball game. There was an odd sort of calm to it, letting us know everything is okay. Even though there was that calm it still didn't feel like Tony was gone. In fact I kept expecting him to take the stage. I don't know when or if it will ever hit me that we lost him but I was hoping it would have been tonight. I don't know if my body can continue to produce anymore tears.

Tony, you are missed and greatly loved by this entire city and there is no doubt every Padres fan will continue to share your legacy. Now you are truly a baseball god.

No comments:

Post a Comment