If you haven't seen Gwen Knapp's comprehensive piece on Roy Steele in today's S.F. Chronicle, be sure to check it out. It provides the only thing all of Roy's fans have wanted--just to know what's up so we can know what recovery to root for--and in chronicling how horrible the last year has been for Roy it reminds us not to get too intense about the A's winning or losing when some would give anything just to be in the park again.

I was proud to see batgirl's awesome banner acknowledged, proud of AN to know that it got up because an AN user discussed the idea here, made the banner, and got it another AN user (saint) so it could get up sooner. What an awesome community. And I was ashamed to see that the public disclosure was inspired, in part, by idiots like me who speculated on his condition. There is a small part of me that feels the A's, with their players, inspire speculation and rumor by playing injuries so close to their chest. But there is a bigger part of me that feels no one should tell a human being how public to be with their private ailments and that no one should speculate on someone else's personal condition.

To the extent that Gwen Knapp's article occurred because idiots like me speculated carelessly, in Roy's grandson's diary, that "he probably had throat cancer" (he doesn't), mea culpa. To Gwen Knapp, thank you for allowing us to turn our attention from wondering what's up to praying that the voice of God can intone once again at the Coliseum. To Roy's grandson, thanks for taking the time to update the AN community before anyone else did. And to Roy Steele, please hang in there and know you are loved, even by strangers. Athletics Nation turns its lonely eyes to you--we really want to hear you behind the mike again, but most of all, we just want you to have your life back.

You can read Gwen Knapp's column today at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2006/07/09/SPGJOJSA6U1.DTL