If you're wearing blue to pay tribute Billy Mays, you were probably as shocked by the pitchman's death as I was. Heck, I was even more surprised by Billy's passing than I was by Michael Jackson's. The guy seemed as healthy as a horse, sporting nothing more than the slight beer gut anyone of his age that's not a fitness fanatic and lives the good life is likely to have.So in a perverse way, some of us approaching middle age were hoping that the cause of Billy's death could have been explained by the bump on the head he got after his flight had a rough landing the day before he died. We figured it was a delayed response to head trauma, a la what happened to Natasha Richardson earlier this year.
But autopsy results, verified by Billy Mays III on his Twitter feed, showed that there was no head trauma. Mays simply died of heart disease.
Wow. You never know, right? Despite all the medical technology we have, it still doesn't matter sometimes; you can still go in your sleep at 50 without any warning.
Existential crises aside, Mays' death makes me wonder what's going to happen to Pitchmen, the Discovery Channel show he did with Anthony Sullivan. There seem to be a couple of new episodes left, and it looks like Discovery is going to go ahead and air them. I've gotta tell you, I have an episode sitting on my DVR right now and I don't feel like watching it; at this point, watching Jon & Kate announce their divorce again would probably make me less sad than watching that episode of Pitchmen.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-29-2009 @ 3:51PM
StillBash said...
Yeah who would've thought the guy had high blood pressure...
Anyway, there are 20 year old soccer players who drop dead - it happened three years ago at the semifinals when a kongolese player in his twenties simply dropped dead on the field. He had an infection of the heart sometime before and it simply gave out when he strained the muscle (and the heart is nothing else than a big muscle) too much.
Things like these happen. Death is a part of life. Sometimes you just can't help it.
Reminds me of the old guy in "Groundhog Day". No matter what you do, your time has come. RIP Billy.
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6-29-2009 @ 4:04PM
hb45 said...
"The guy seemed as healthy as a horse, sporting nothing more than the slight beer gut anyone of his age that's not a fitness fanatic and lives the good life is likely to have."
That comment seems a bit out of whack. I would have never described him as "Healthy as a horse" and that's definitely more than a slight beer gut. Of course, with how poorly most people take care of themselves, maybe he is viewed as such...
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6-29-2009 @ 5:08PM
Betty said...
I am so sorry to hear that he die my prayers and thoughts are with his family.......I just don't understand one thing if he was going for surgey they take test 's a week before surgey and the news said he was going to have it today. They should have seen he had a enlarged Heart
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6-29-2009 @ 5:28PM
Bill Simpson said...
He was hard working , honest ,and will be missed. The USA needs more men like him.
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6-29-2009 @ 6:37PM
Donna said...
I totally agree w/ Joel Keller's statement: "I was even more surprised by Billy's passing than I was by Michael Jackson's.. "
His show "Pitchmen" was really fun to watch ... a look into "behind the scenes" ....
More suprised than the passing of Michael Jackson? Absolutely .... Billy was REAL .... just ... one of us ...
Thank you for the opportunity to make a comment.
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6-30-2009 @ 2:41AM
Anya said...
I am sorry that Billy Mays is gone; but at least it was fast and he didn't suffer. Chances are, he had a high blood pressure, which caused his heart to enlarge what is known as CHF (congestive heart failure). He did appear to me as healthy as a horse which is quite natural for someone in his field of work. I bet nobody would appear sick while doing TV commercials.
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6-30-2009 @ 6:09PM
Robert Y said...
A word to the wise. Everyone over the age of 18, should go to the doctors once a year for a check up. High blood pressure is a silent killer. It almost cause me my life with a heart attack 4 years ago. I go to the doctors now every 3 months. I count my blessings everyday,just remember God gave you today, not tomorrow, so enjoy it , cause you never know what tomorrow will bring. RIP Billy....
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