The Washington Post’s Tarik El-Bashir has an article in today’s paper about Jose Theodore and the struggles he’s faced since the death of his infant son last year. The tragedy has been extremely difficult for him and his family, but one positive thing has come out of it. Theodore started a charity, Saves For Kids, that will benefit Children’s National Medical Center. Professionally, after some early-season struggles, he has played very well, despite the thoughts that torment him on a regular basis.
“There’s not a day” he doesn’t think about it, Theodore said. “I can remember sometimes, it could be a 2-2 game, and you start thinking about your son, or you start thinking about different stuff. Or you could be getting dressed [in pads] and trying to get focused and you get carried away thinking.”
“Christmas was much tougher,” he added, his quivering voice trailing off. “It’s as simple as seeing kids around. You could be in the game and you see a dad in the stands with his son and you think about it. It’s about being strong enough to get focused right away so you don’t . . .”
As he’s so often done during times of tumult in his life, Theodore has persevered on the ice, pushing aside the pain.
“You don’t accept it,” he said. “But you have to find a way to live with those thoughts.”
After reading Mike Wilbon’s ridiculous comments about Ovechkin yesterday (Dan Steinberg has a solid rebuttal here), it was comforting to read a positive, yet incredibly sad, article about a Capital. If you do nothing else today, read the article. Whether or not he stays in Washington, I hope for nothing but the best for Theodore and his family.
6 Comments
I seem to recall a certain Russian as the only reason the Penguins won the Cup last year (and let’s be fair, a certain commissioner who didn’t suspend said Russian). Crosby scored the OT goal in the gold medal game in the Olympics. Pretty great. But he did diddly squat the rest of the tourny. If the debate is who is a greater player, Ovechkin wins without question. If the debate is who has been on better teams and is more decorated with championships, obviously Crosby is the winner. Still, let’s wait a good ten years and see what their careers turn out to be. Jordan took a few years before he carried the Bulls to the championship. Were people saying Isiah Thomas was better in the years of 1988-1990? Maybe they were. Only time will tell.
i have no problem with you calling ovechkin a better player, but…without question? and to slide the “he plays on a better team” argument? weak. isn’t this the site where i can read about how great green, backstrom and semin are? (and they are!)
i think sid makes his teammates better, where ovechkin would score 50 on a line with a bag of hammers and a bag of rocks. it’s almost going back to the gretzky/lemieux debate, they’re just different, enjoy them both…
Guys, really? this is about Jose
Read this article earlier today myself. Found a link on my Cell from Caps Today. I was set to work on a project today for a class and knew I wanted to work Jose into it somehow.
Here’s a link to the finished piece: http://hockeyn00b.blogspot.com/2010/03/theo-saves.html
crap. i got my hand slapped. and deserved it. point taken.
Yeah not sure why I posted that on this article. Here’s to Jose.
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