I'm slightly sad that Cowboys unofficial mascot Crazy Ray died on St. Patrick's Day. If I had any sort of ability to experience grief or empathy, I may be more than slightly sad, but here's a man who did what he loved to do and as a consequence, probably had a really good life and I respect that.

If the cliche goal in life is to leave the world a better place, Crazy Ray did that by touching peoples' lives -- people more capable of human emotion than myself. He shared his enthusiasm and later his hardships and personal victories and it helped people.

Even when he had his leg amputated in 1997, he still showed up to the games and spread cheer.

Even through the Dave Campo shill years, he still showed up.

Jerry Jones never paid the man, except to give him a parking space and entrance to home games, but I'm not sure if there was a novelty giant-sized foam cowboy hat budget. I could say that it wasn't about the money for Crazy Ray and what the hell do I know? Crazy Ray never called me to say he's not doing it for the money.

He was probably doing it for the love of the game and the love of the attention, but Crazy Ray did more for the Dallas Cowboys than T.O., Bill Parcells and Tony Romo and should have been paid accordingly.

His legacy will live on, but when we're all just footnotes, it would have been nice for Crazy Ray's family to have something real and tangible for his contribution to America's Team.

Adios, Crazy Ray.