Acting the title is easy — I do it all the time and, as I sit here this morning, I realize not nearly enough. And for that reason, typing the title was not easy. We lost Mike Cherry, a fantastic sportswriter and a better person, early Monday after a brave two-year battle against cancer.

If you ever knew Mike or read his stories or simply want to know why so many people were so sad yesterday, please read this. In doing so, know two things:

1) Every word is true.
2) It could have been three, four, five times longer … and there still would have been a long line of warm memories and kind words waiting to get in print.

It’s a really fitting tribute shaped by so many stories and recollections from so many people. That’s the way Mike was. He was so many things to so many people. I’m frankly a little jealous of some of the people quoted. Mike and I never played tennis, never shared an office and we weren’t close enough where I was in his wedding or he in mine.

But we tasted our beers, ate our share of late-night food, told jokes, traded tales, hustled for stories and interviews and, as I vividly remember, walked around New York City in March 2005 wondering, “What the hell is happening here?”

He might not know this, but he really impacted my life a lot. There’s a really good quote from Dave Hickman in the story talking about Mike’s zest for activity on the road. I was fortunate enough to be a part of some of those things and, early in my career, it made me realize there was a whole lot more than airport-hotel-arena-hotel-airport.

I can’t imagine having that routine now and I can’t imagine what I would have missed in life had I not been yanked out of it at an early age by Mike Cherry. I’d like to think I’m a little bit like that now with others. If not, I need to be.

And then there’s the writing. I used to like and hate reading his stuff … because it was always really goood. Invariably, I’d go, “Damn…I can do that. Why can’t I do that?” You better believe I’m using “as flashy as a row boat” sometime soon.

He preceded me at the Daily Mail and Andrew Beckner was actually after Mike and before me. What attracted me to this place was the chance to, well, be like Mike. To work at a five-day, afternoon paper requires a different slant. Mike had it and I really wanted to do something different. I’m good saying I’ve done my best stuff since I’ve been at the Daily Mail and the funny thing is I find Mike’s thumbprint is still impossible to wipe away from the beat. And I rather enjoy that.

Shortly after I joined the Daily Mail staff, new co-workers Philip Maramba and Kris Wise were married in Charleston. My wife and I were invited and I was admittedly a little apprehensive about going. I just didn’t know anyone at that point and I’m not good in those situations. I was pretty sure, pretty worried my first impression would not be the best. The mood changed when I was told Mike would be there. Things were different in that he was married and had a baby, but things were the also the same.

I didn’t see Mike again and we didn’t keep in touch too much, both things I regret dearly today. I knew how he was doing, though. People always talked and asked about him and one way or another you got a regular update about treatments, recovery, prognosis, so on and so forth. We were always rooting. Then came yesterday and it just didn’t seem like the right ending. That’s not supposed to happen to that guy, you know? I’m positive a lot of people felt the same way, which is why so many people were so eager to line up and help remember him properly.

What I can take from it all is I was lucky enough to have a friendship with a great guy in a profession that doesn’t produce a lot of either.