Death and the new year.

It's been a big month for death.
Can I say that? "Big month for death?"
It doesn't sound right, but I can't figure another way of saying it.

Oh, how about, "Lots of people are dying."

Some of them (like Heath Ledger and all them famous-types we hear about) I don't know. Others, I do.

Like my old bowling coach who died yesterday. I got this from a MySpace post so I still don't have all the details, but I know he had been sick for awhile (a year or more) and had to have oxygen with him all the time and couldn't really get around.

Now, I don't really get that shaken by death. I think it's because I haven't had anyone really close to me die. My grandparents died when I was young, before I got to know them. But I knew Glenn. He was my coach when I bowled at Fresno State. That was at least four years (and two steady years) that I saw him for at least three hours pretty much every day and more maybe on weekends when we travelled. I road to Las Vegas with him in the back of a vert swanky rented Caddy. I bowled on his team on a league every Tuesday for ... gosh, had to be four years or so before he couldn't do it anymore. Dude was a PBA champion (this was back in the '60s, I think) and coached the Fresno State teams (especially the women) to several top 10 finished. The women's team ranked in the top five nationally for the better part of the 90s. He was collegiate coach of the year in ... 2006 (I could have my years wrong). I'd like to think he thought I was funny. I can't imagine why else he'd want to bowl with me. Him being good and me being ... me. I'm not being humble, I just know where I'm at talent wise.

So the funeral should be soon. I'll probably go. It'll probably be sad.