We like our athletes to fit in boxes. We want them funny, introspective, accessible, generous, honest, fearless. We believe portly salaries demand idealized personalities.
Randy Johnson and his 6-foot-10 frame never fit into the average box. It took me time to appreciate that.
In many ways, our relationship was doomed when he joined the Diamondbacks in 1999.
Johnson, who will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday, could be gruff and distant. I still struggled with the mechanics of covering baseball, which involved lingering in the clubhouse pregame as players arrived, changed and joked around with each other.