What just happened?

It’s been almost 36 hours (or so) since a post last appeared on OFD. If you’re wondering what happened, then you haven’t been watching the news. The strange thing is — I didn’t have any idea about the tragedy in Texas until well after dinner time.

I coach a little league team and we just won a hard fought game, and were a little slow leaving the ballpark as we mingled with friends and family that were down there for the other games being played. I finally checked my messages and saw that one of our writer’s dropped me a line that the day’s events were too much for him to handle at the moment and the scheduled column would not be written.

This, of course, instantly had me scrambling to the news sites and Twitter to see what was going down. As incredibly saddened as I was about the shooting, I was just as equally NOT surprised. With each one of these tragedies, the heart of our country gets darker and darker, and it sickens me to think that many out there are just numb at this point.

So yeah... the site just had no importance last night or today. My oldest son is a 4th grader and has a birthday this weekend — just having more time with him and my other kids felt way more appropriate than anything else.

I saw one of the BarStool guys today talk about how he’s tired of having to be an escape for people from the tragedies that surround us. Add my name to that list of those that are tired of it all. I’ve always thought of what I do as kind of a ticket for those looking for an escape and to have fun with Notre Dame athletics — but that can only go so far.

Hug your kids. Call your politicians. Try to make this world a better place. We will get back to the fun we try to have on the site, but we needed a breather, and I wanted to make sure you knew why.

-Joshua

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