*smile* hell Spook, stop making me cry.
I heard Roy Symonds say something similar about the loss of knowledge and you are both spot on, it's such a shame the game has lost it. He had such a love for the game and the art of spin bowling that he would even help opposition players during test matches and series which didn't always go down well with the batsman but he couldn't help it. He was also an amazing judge of talent and spotter of young talent.
I'm sure you would have loved him if you met him, as one of the Aussie boys said the other night in a whatsapp chat, he was like the human version of a labrador puppy. Always playful, happy to see you, made you feel good just by being there, had to be kept out of mischief and liked a nap.
What you said the other day stuck with me. We loved him because he was one of us and he loved us back because he knew. It is such a perfect summation, because he never lost the feeling of how cool his life was. He always remembered he was living the dream of a fan in the outer.
His life was so crazy and so demanding but he was always polite and kind unless he suspected someone wasn't pure of heart with him. I guarantee it was always the people with him who got sick of the constant stopping for fans when you went somewhere before he did. And when he was around the most famous people you can think of he always acted the same and he treated people like me the same around them as well.
I've had two instances where some serious medical situations have impacted my family and I, both times requiring significant changes in work and home circumstances. Both times a call came soon after from an IPL team, offering stupid money to do a job that barely needed doing, but allowing me to work a few months and make a few years salary. Just the King's way of making sure money wasn't an issue because he never forgot how fortunate his life was and wanting to use his power to help others.
And there's a million of those stories. I once mentioned to him about a family I'd heard about who had an awful situation to deal with and he not only donated some of his gear and a net session with him but he teed up a very famous musician to write and record a personal song for the auction winner's partner and he made sure enough big timers knew that the song went for 250k at auction.
Just a very special man.
iview.abc.net.au
