Recently in Obituaries Category

A quartet of tidbits to pass along:

*Chivas USA announced today they had released backup goalkeeper Lance Parker, who made six appearances last year in MLS, SuperLiga and U.S. Open Cup competitions.

"Lance is a hard-working goalkeeper with a lot of potential," said Chivas USA Vice President of Soccer Operations Stephen Hamilton. "He helped us both on and off the field."

Also gone from Chivas USA's camp: trialists Isaac Kissi and Matt McManus.

BTW, Chivas USA intend to hold open tryouts on the same March weekend as the Galaxy. Details here, giving budding MLS players an interesting dilemma. The $40 Chivas USA is asking players to pony up to participate is far cheaper than the $150 the Galaxy is charging though.

*Injuries and weather are causing problems for the U.S. Men's National Team training camp at Home Depot Center.

*The World Cup countdown is truly on when ESPN's Outside the Lines dedicates Thursday's entire noon show to the 20th anniversary of Nelson Mandela's release from prison in South Africa. Bob Ley hosts from South Africa, former MLS striker and ESPN World Cup Analyst Shawn Bartlett comments on its significance to the nation and former Galaxy Coach (and I use the term loosely) Ruud Gullit, who dedicated his 1987 World Football Player of the Year award to Mandela, also chimes in.

Finally, the National Soccer Hall of Fame has sadly succumbed to its financial problems.

When I worked at the L.A. Times' Ventura County Bureau, every Sunday the reporter on duty was required to scour the death notices, call a relative of the deceased and write an obituary about a "regular" human being.

It was a twist on the old journalism class assignment of interviewing a person at random and writing a profile of them on the theory that everyone has a story that needs to be told. If memory serves, it was based/ripped off from the N.Y. Times, which at one time ran a regular, similar feature called "A Life Well Lived."

I was reminded of this Saturday when my wife read an unusually long paid obituary in the Daily Breeze about 28-year-old Devon Markert, a Long Beach resident and teacher at Torrance Adult School who died earlier this month of brain cancer after her fourth surgery.

Her obituary read in part:

"She was an avid soccer player throughout her childhood and adolescence, playing on competitive traveling teams and on the 1996 Central California State Championship Buchanan High School team. She credited soccer with giving her an identity, the opportunity to develop and sustain close relations, and the strength to face tough situations with hope and confidence. She stated in a draft of her memoirs: Joining the soccer team was the single most important decision of my life. Soccer helped me forge my identity as a scholar-athlete and kept me distracted when I needed a distraction. I don't know if I was always good, but I turned into a solid player. The lessons I learned through my various soccer teams and the relationships I made on and off the soccer field were important character-building experiences that continue to carry me through the tough times of today."

A life well lived indeed.

Devon Markert's obituary is here.