I'm not sure if your culture has anything like this, but, baseball to many of us represents childhood and happiness, as much as it does competition and camaraderie. Some of us have been inolved with it since our own childhoods, so we can relate strongly to what it might mean to be a pro baseball player-- even if only superficially. Among other things, it can be an escape from real life, and something we can fall back on to help take our mind off things in both happy and tough times.

So when some 24 year old kid, who you have been watching and rooting for since he was 19 years old and finally evolved to be one of if not the top of his sport, and also you really enjoy watching-- there are only a handful of these guys-- when he passes right when he was coming into his own, it evokes a lot of emotion. It doesn't really have anything to do with the media. You're not "fake" rooting for the guy when he was alive, and you're not "fake" mourning for him when he dies.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/27/2016 11:14AM by Jib.