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“Thanksgiving-Lots to Say Thanks For”

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The morning sun comes up, and the three of us are still here, working at various levels in sports journalism.

I guess all three of us have had great careers, and all three of us consider what we have done in this community, in the media, as special.

And all three of us can truthfully say we are thankful we are still here, to write, talk, broadcast sports.

I’m not sure we’re very close friends, in fact, I’m not sure we are friends at all these days, but we have followed each other, competed against each other, and survived bad times together.

Nick Canepa is the longest tenured member of the media, a hometown guy, who has been an anchor of the San Diego Union-Tribune sports section for decades upon decades. Nick writes columns a couple of times a week.

Ted Leitner turned a look at me TV anchor career into a lifetime of doing play-by-play of the Padres. Ted is still doing Padres-Aztecs radio.

Lee ‘Hacksaw’ Hamilton pioneered sports talk radio here, doing things no one had ever done before on the radio, and driving a noisy Chargers broadcast crew to stardom during the teams Super Bowl run. I run this website, after 3-decades on radio and television.

None of us would be here without the help of special people.

Canepa was so seriously ill a couple of years back, we didn’t know if he would-could rally from severe stomach problems. He kept it private for the most part, but he was at death’s doorstep. I asked fans to pray for him. He rallied and remains active.

Leitner bounced back from kidney problems, and a cancer scare, and was saluted by Padres fans upon his return. It probably forever changed his feelings about the views and listenership he built. I even wrote him a note of prayer.

I survived a fire, burns, a staph infection and a blood infection. I saw the ‘white light’ while on the operating table when doctors had to deal with 3-different issues at once to rally me.

All three of us would say it’s not fun to be in ICU. All three of us would say we never expected to have health issues broadside us so suddenly, after years and years of enjoying life, travel, parties and fine food and drink.

And for all three of us, we’ve all been given another chance to serve you, whether you like or dislike our columns, our broadcasts, our talkshows, or our play-by-play.

We’ve all developed very different styles, and from a distance, I think we respect each other, or we should..

But if I can speak for all 3-of us this day, we all have the same thing to be thankful for.

We wake up Thanksgiving morning because of modern medicine, doctors, nurses and caregivers, who nursed us back to health.

Those people were just doing their job on each of the operating tables we were on, so we could get back to work. We are indebted for what they do daily, in their chosen field.

Nick… Uncle Teddy…. Hacksaw. We all say thank you for those who saved us, so we could celebrate another Thanksgiving, with family, friends, and the fans.

Lots to be thankful for at this hour.

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1 Man's Opinion by Lee Hacksaw Hamilton
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