From a distance, I've watched Real Salt Lake's Andy Williams and his wife Marcia battle her leukemia, and hoped she responds to treatments. I'm anticipating the day when they'll both be able to enjoy when he scores a goal, just for the fun.

It troubled me when I heard golfer Phil Mickelson's wife, Amy – who went to high school in Utah – had breast cancer. No amount of prestige or money can dull the pain from those things. In the ultimate concentration sport, I can sympathize how hard it is for Lefty to concentrate now. I'm hoping that making putts will soon be the only thing he has to focus on during weekends.

I felt a genuine loss when Jazz owner Larry H. Miller died of complications related to diabetes, and when Jerry Sloan's wife Bobbye died of cancer. I doubt if it's in the journalism how-to books, but I sent sympathy notes to the spouses.

I figured at some point, objective journalism takes a back seat.

I don't want to be objective when it comes to those kinds of things.

Celebrities who bring themselves misery through their own foolish choices probably deserve what they get. But other things, like the Exodus Tyson tragedy, happen through no fault of the parents. In that sense, they deserve a break.

As anyone famous can attest, fame doesn't mean they don't hurt.

E-MAIL: rock@desnews.com