I don’t have a lot today.

I spent much of it like I often seem to do on long holiday weekends- doing nothing.

And inevitably, I tell myself “Next time, I won’t waste it.”

And that is the pain of it. When the long weekend comes, I plan nothing. I have no motivation. I quit on the weekend.

I do waste it.

I was nodding in and out of the Cubs game against L.A. this afternoon, though, and I heard a blip as Len and J.D., the Cubs announcers talked about stuff going on around the league.

They were talking about the Pittsburgh Pirates and their current roster, and Len mentioned David Freese was quietly putting together a good start to the season.

I was half awake until Len said something about David making a change when he “opened up in that article with Nightingale about his struggle with depression…”

Freese is a guy I came to know about from watching the Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals clash through the years. A Cardinal from 2009-2013, Freese was a guy who came to stand out on the big stage in 2011.

That year, when the Cardinals beat the Texas Rangers for a World Series title, Freese was not only the league playoff’s MVP, but also the MVP of the World Series. He set a record for runs batted in in the series (21), and hit several key home runs that gave the Cardinals the title.

Freese ended up an All Star in 2012, and enjoyed a good mid-season after a short slump, helping get the Cards in the playoffs again, and even providing a 2-run homer to help them win a first game against the Giants.
But after that, Freese’s bat disappeared.

And in a way, Freese did to.

He went on to do well enough with the Angels of Anaheim for two years, and then came to the Pirates in 2016.

Okay- that’s the surface story.

I went and found and read the article that Len had referenced in the broadcast, and it shed some light on a guy I could get a bit.

Here’s a guy who has been successful at the highest levels of playing baseball, and apparently through it all, through much of his life, he has struggled with depression.

And he was okay to finally talk about depression and its impact on his life.

And because he did, he helped me to stop and actually think about it and its (probable) impact on my life.