Craig Sager’s memorial service was filled with laughter, tears and loud suits, with several people closest to Sager delivering emotional eulogies to the giant of broadcasting. Sager had clearly earned tons of respect through the years, but perhaps the best speech on the day punctured the reverence of it all, and it was delivered by his daughter Kacy.
If you heard one bit from Kacy’s eulogy already, it’s probably this one, tweeted out during the ceremony:
Craig Sager's daughter Kacy's response to people saying her dad lived with grace, at his memorial today pic.twitter.com/5D9n6svifT
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) December 20, 2016
The whole eulogy, which has now been posted online, was Kacy responding to platitudes she heard people give about her father, with the above one retorting to people saying Craig lived with “grace.” Other than that, the best mythbusting she did on the day was this:
“He never took anything too seriously.”
Anyone who thinks that has clearly never competed against him. We’re an incredibly competitive bunch, and I think a lot of that stems from neither of our parents ever letting us win in anything ever. Which I’m sure isn’t a completely unique approach, but he took it to another level. Whenever he gave a score update, he would refer to himself as “the good guys.”
He would literally dunk on me for the final point and yell “GOOD GUYS WIN!” like he was the hero in some epic sports story and MY five-year-old ass was the 1980 Soviet men’s hockey team.
The whole thing is worth a read, but Kacy’s speech is a good reminder for all of us: When we lose a loved one, it’s not necessarily the stuff that made them special that we’ll miss; it’s the stuff that made them human.
(Via BBall Breakdown)