Let's take care of our hearts

When I heard the news Danny Ainge had a heart attack, I sat down my bacon cheeseburger, unclenched my fist holding French fries and wondered what in the name of Twinkie heaven was going on.

Ainge, at 50, an athletic wonder most of his life, chest pains? Hospitalized and having a clogged artery fixed?

Certainly that couldn't be.

"Unsettling," is how 54-year-old former BYU and Houston Oiler quarterback Gifford Nielsen put it.

"Surprising," is how it struck BYU basketball coach Dave Rose.

Nielsen had been golfing with Ainge in Houston 10 days prior. Rose had sat with Ainge at the Portsmouth Invitational just last week to watch college stars perform.

Neither had a clue Ainge, a two-sport professional athlete and 14-year NBA veteran, was bound for a heart attack.

And how about us?

If it could happen to Ainge, it could happen to any of us.

It's a wake-up call to take care of ourselves. Get that exercise, eat properly and reduce stress, arise from the couch and place the remote on the shelf.

In that court, as a carbon-based unit abuser, I'd be judged guilty.

Barring any genetic hurdles, which I do not know of, Ainge should have been in the best of health. His father, Don, is alive and doing well on the West Coast. Other than the stress of being the director of player personnel for the defending world-champion Celtics, just having star player Kevin Garnett announce he'd miss the playoffs with a knee injury, and serving as an LDS bishop in his local ward, stress may have played a big part of his attack.

There is every indication Ainge will be just fine. He's receiving treatment, and the prognosis is good.

I remember breaking the news of Ainge signing to play at BYU out of North Eugene High in Oregon. A three-sport star, he was in the same class as Magic Johnson and Jeff Rutland. His impact on Frank Arnold's basketball team was immediate and quick, his competitive spirit knew no bounds.

He showed it in the NBA as a player and coach.

Now Ainge faces this challenge.

It's laid down the gauntlet for all of us. If it hasn't done so for you, it has for me. I'm half a dozen years older than Ainge.