Passing of Zack Schwartz makes replacement refs, football pools, seem irrelevant

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Amid the craziness that included three overtime games, an epically contested MNF game, and two hail mary's, there was a motorcycle crash on Sunday morning that made all things NFL -- even what Jon Gruden called "tragic" on Monday night -- seem totally trivial.  On his way home to watch the Jets game, beloved friend and fellow poolster Zack Schwartz was involved in a head-on collision with an SUV.  Although a primary witness apparently watched him die on the scene, Zack struggled and fought for two days before finally passing away on Tuesday morning.  Zack was always known for his strength and toughness, and even the surgeons and doctors at the hospital were impressed by the fact that he even made it to the hospital.

    Zack "White Rice" Schwartz was not only respected and loved for his personal qualities, but for the intensity of those characteristics.  He was fiercely loyal (to his friends, especially), refreshingly honest and candid, genuinely good-hearted, and amazingly fearless.  Despite his concentration and intensity, however, he was not at all one-dimensional; in fact, his spirit was admirably complex and balanced.  We don't know anybody else who would argue so passionately, and yet be so willing to concede a good point, or even completely accept somebody else's point of view as valid and worthy.  His temper was notoriously short, and yet he was never angry with one of his friends.  He was a passionate fan of the New York Jets (a season-ticket holder, even though he lived in California), but absolutely understood that the Jets were carried none of the importance of things like friends and family.  He would get very angry at instances of injustice, but he would also laugh long and hard at things he considered "awesome."

    He was admirably full of life.  In characteristic fashion, he responded to tough times in his life by flying to China and living there six months, learning Mandarin, and doing things like playing poker at a table where everyone spoke Cantonese.  He flew to Toronto to get a tattoo from a world-renowned artist from Taiwan (he sat through 8 straight hours of pain).  He saw the world as extensively and enthusiastically as he could, and yet was notably focused, undistracted, when he was listening to you about your own personal life. 

    If there is any consolation at all, it comes from the knowledge that Zack lived more in 37 years than a lot of people live in 87.  One of my first memories of Zack is him habitually fighting for his beliefs on a basketball court and us holding him back from a fight; my favorite middle memory of him is when he thought he could be being kidnapped in Egypt (they were transferring him from a taxi into a white van), but his only other option was to run into a gigantic desert; my last memory of him is a long, slow walk with him and my infant daughter -- he was so calm, thoughtful, even wise.  It also helps to know that his qualities and good characteristics were so intense and concentrated, that they couldn't help but be passed on through people that knew him.  Those that knew him are tougher, wiser, more thoughtful, more courageous, more willing to speak their mind, more willing to listen to other people, and more loving, as a result. 

    On a lighter sidenote, Franzen and I couldn't help but think that he was messing with us last night while we remembered him at a local bar.  We were playing shuffleboard, and Franzen was citing "the spirit of Zack" as he slid his disk, and his disk went down the left side until the very end, then curled around my winning disk and stopped, which was pretty amazing, and then as Franzen celebrated, the disk kept spinning all the way around my disk (like, backwards) until it wasn't winning anymore, and then slowly slid backwards for almost five feet.  It's really hard to describe it through words, but even the other people in the bar were tripped out.  Also we ordered a couple of shots of really good vodka on one cube of ice (since that was the last drink I remember him having with us), and had to laugh when one of them was water -- a former bartender apparently pulled the old "drink the vodka and fill the bottle with water" trick; we couldn't help but feel Zack was trying to get us to fight the bartender.  If nothing else, it reminded us how immediately, how seriously, how hilariously, and how heroically Zack would have challenged the bartender.  We did our best, but there is no replacing him. 

    In memory of Zack, he will continue to pick the Jets for 7 for the rest of the season, but will pick no other games.  He was an outspoken believer in "team pride," never cared about the money, and was only really in the pool because of the friends involved.  Zack will obviously be greatly missed, and be always remembered.



We look forward to a lighter Weekly Recap next week.  See you then.