“The Thrill” is gone

Baltimore Sun sports writer Bill Free died on Friday at age 66. I’ll really miss him. “The Thrill” was always a lot of fun.

Bill was a character. He didn’t take things too seriously. He enjoyed people and could talk the ears off a mule. We still laugh over him once asking Redskins coach Norv Turner if a player would miss a game because of a wife giving birth.

“Norv, about that baby thang,” said Bill in his classic drawl. We’re still laughing about “baby thang” 15 years later.

Bill had a red Corvette convertible that was a beaut. One day, I managed to talk him into letting me drive when we went to lunch. It was like punching a rocket ship. No wonder he loved that car.

We ate dinner together one Thanksgiving in Dallas after the Redskins-Cowboys game. Nothing was open until we found some little Mexican cantina where we drank taquila and ate tacos. Still one of the more memorable meals I’ve ever had on the road.

Covering sports has always been about the people around me more than the games. I covered horse racing, Navy basketball, Maryland football and the Redskins with Bill and can say he was one of the good guys.