After MSNBC decided to cut the memorial broadcast to engage in some really inane commentary, I decided to watch it online. I’m not a Cardinals fan — he grew up in my area, went to my high school, and I figured I’d watch it to see if there were people I knew there. His brothers Kevin and Richard were within a year of me there and watching it is also one of these “bonding with my roots” things even though I can’t say I spoke 10 words to him in my life (though I probably saw him around). Pat’s wife is also from the area and her younger brother Paul was in my graduating class. (He was a jerk and I really hope his ego got flattened at Cal.) In other words, he was from “the neighborhood”.

The pros and cons:

Pro
–Maria Shriver: very very tactful and personalized.
–his friends: very poised and very well-spoken.
–Terry Hardtke: well-spoken and didn’t go into his fame — talked about him as a person.
–Paul Ugenti (II): He did very well in his eulogy. Touched a lot on Pat’s example, which I think is good. Also looks the same as he did in high school.
–Paul Ugenti (I): his father-in-law who said some good words and was succinct.
–Jim Rome: Interesting stories and defined “hero” well.

Cons
–his brother Richard: you really shouldn’t say “he’s not with God, he’s f*ing dead” in front of your parents at a public memorial. It also appeared that he was drunk off his butt while up there. (This was later confirmed by the fact that someone mentioned the Guiness that he was drinking.)
–MSNBC: you cut out what was probably a really beautiful singing of “America the Beautiful” by Darius Rucker to basically repeat the same inane crap that has been on the news for the last few days. Kindly shut up next time and let people watch the memorial.

And to Pat’s father: God created the 1993 Leland varsity starting line-up, ergo He could have made the team. That is all.