We mourn their deaths as if we knew them personally, even if the closest we ever came to them was from an upper-deck seat or watching games on TV.
And in this painful year of 2020, we seemed to lose so many sports icons we barely had time to celebrate those who provided us with so much joy. From the tragic helicopter crash that killed Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna to the deaths of seven Hall of Fame baseball players, including knuckleballer Phil Niekro on Sunday, the list seemed endless.
In our particular corner of the sports world, we lost one of the greatest Chicago Bears, a Bulls star who epitomized the word “hustle,” a legendary White Sox broadcaster and a beloved member of the 1969 Cubs.