HUMAN

BUFFALO -- I was saddened to hear of the passing of Billy Preston, called by many "the Fifth Beatle". At 59, his organs (the internal ones) shut down by the effects of diabetes and hastened along by a drug abuse,  Preston left his Earth much too soon.

A tragic death. Just as his life was.

Billy was schooled in Gospel Music as a youngster in Houston. He was the brother of the great Gospel singer Rodena Preston, and it was his dynamic, sweeping "That's the Way God Planned It"  was an anthem for the "Jesus People" movement.

But his life was not the way God planned it, and as his music career took off (fueled by his Beatle collaborations), his life became a series of extreme dips and waves.

I was involved in one of  those, although I'm sure sure which. The dipping, or the waving.

In between Billy's bout with cocaine, booze, pills, and God knows what else, he recorded a couple of Gospel albums, both of which, in my days as a record company "mogul"  (about 25 years ago), I promoted.

You  see, deep down, underneath all the shluck in his life, Billy Preston never st0pped loving God. And for sure, God never stopped loving Billy Preston.

I may have lost track of him, and Billy surely lost track of himself. But God always had his hand on him.

Billy Preston, beloved of God, was human.

Which brings me to another man, who is clearly human, namely Portland Pirate coach Kevin Dineen.

Dineen took Portland by storm in his first year with the Bucs, and as the club captivated the town by playing the game the way he did in his 19 years as an NHLer, Dino became the most recognized, and revered, face in Portland.

But Friday, Dineen was picked up for OUI, the upshot of the team's breakup party after being bounced out of  a tough playoff series with Hershey. Too little sleep, too much beer, too little judgment.

It was enough to dull the senses, and the memory of Steve Chiasson, Dineen's Carolina Hurricane teammate, who drove away from his team's break up party and never made it  home.

Portland is a small city, but a forgiving city. All will be forgotten, and it should be.

And while Dineen will pay a price for his lapse, he will likely draw from the experience, and be a better man for it. 

A good man, who is clearly human.