It’s always interesting when you hear mind-shattering news. Sometimes you mark the day and time, sometimes it’s just the mood and emotion involved in the moments afterwards.

When I heard the team cut Wayne, it was a slight shock followed by a general cool.

He’s a great guy on the field. Amazing at the top of his game, but like our never-ended battle with time; the good spots are always in the past.

I was in Cedar Rapids, Iowa when Wayne was the bell of the ball, the greatest pitcher in the game and the ink stains on his locker not far from mine was still wet.

We weren’t close, mostly because I just didn’t like his general demeanor. Kind of guy that felt the need to throw weight into every encounter even if it was just a hello.

Maybe some people are impressed by association with someone else, but I guess I grew past that at an early age.

There’s no cool story about how I casually was hanging out with an ex-president or something. Just never thought it was important.

But he did.

And many others do as well. It doesn’t hurt to have the bonus money and flaunt it in expectation of much more.

But the world is full of busted promises and broken dreams. He had a broken arm and was never the same afterwards. It’s not his fault. Injuries can happen to anyone.

And it’s not like we were happy when he was gone because his absence hurt the team.

But that the multi-million dollar payday that was always just above the horizon seems like it will stay there a little longer.

And his unwillingness to join our ranks to get better, to go back down to get better…it didn’t win any fans in the locker room, that’s for sure.