Williams and Cryogenics

[Guest Kingpk]

This may be better off in Current Events, but it is sports related.

 

Ok, so I'm driving home listening to the Big Show on WEEI and they have a representative from Alcor, the company that (supposedly) has Ted Williams body frozen in liquid nitrogen. The interview lasted 30 minutes with the hosts pretty much asking him about the whole procedure and the merits of being frozen.

 

Here's what he said and I got from the interview:

 

1) The company makes no guarantees that freezing a body will actually preserve it and make possible a "resurrection" when/if a cure is found for the illness the person suffers.

 

2) It costs $50,000 up front to admit a family member with upkeep costs of about $400/year.

 

3) There is, at this point, no way to "unfreeze" a person and a way may not be found for another 50 years or so.

 

4) They also freeze pets at $7500 a pop (or pup )

 

5) Walt Disney is not frozen somewhere (despite what MAD Magazine tells you)

 

6) The person, if brought back, will probably have no memory of anything that happened while they were alive (i.e. Williams will have forgotten everything about hitting)

 

Is it just me or does this strike anyone else as absolutely ludicrous and a waste of time and money?

[Guest bob_barron]

Ted Williams doesn't deserve this at all. His wish was to have his ashes scattered by some lake which is perfect since he love fishing.

 

John Henry needs a kick in the ass

[Guest HartFan86]

This is terrible. I saw the story on NBC last night...I wish I listened to WEEI today about it. Let the guy RIP, not all this shit.

[Guest jimmy no nose]

I don't think his will actually said anything about final wishes, otherwise there wouldn't be this problem. Why do you assume his daughter who he had very little contact with is right? I don't know the whole story either, so I won't take sides, but his son did know him better than his daughter, and nothing really illegal or morally wrong is going on here. Why must everyone go on about these final wishes which were never really given?

[Guest Kingpk]

I don't think his will actually said anything about final wishes, otherwise there wouldn't be this problem. Why do you assume his daughter who he had very little contact with is right? I don't know the whole story either, so I won't take sides, but his son did know him better than his daughter, and nothing really illegal or morally wrong is going on here. Why must everyone go on about these final wishes which were never really given?

I would think in your will you would state what how your body would be handled. According to friends (including Johnny Pesky), Ted said he would like to be cremated with his ashes spread in the water of the Florida Keys, where he fished often.

 

In today's Boston Herald, one of Williams' caretakers said he personally witnessed Williams laughing at a proposal made by his son to freeze him.

 

The last will I have read about was filed in 1997 that said he wanted to be cremated, but another one supposedly was written after that, but there are no details about how the body would be handled. John Henry could have had his father sign a will that stated he would be frozen and Ted, who was in terrible health and didn't know what was going on half the time, would have suspected nothing.

 

Cryogenics is a stupid, pie-in-the-sky, science, bordering on ludicrous.

[Guest The Man in Blak]

I just don't understand the motivation here. Ted Williams, god rest his soul, has already been declared dead - so cryogenically freezing him for the possibility of a cure doesn't really make sense, unless they're freezing him to use his DNA...which is simply disturbing.

 

They should just adhere to the guy's last wishes - shouldn't that be his son's priority anyway?

 

Disturbing.

[Guest Some Guy]

I missed thw interview, but a few days ago on teh "Whiner Line" some one said:

 

[Tom Hanks]There's no cryogenics in Baseball[/Tom hanks]

I thought it was funny anyway.

 

They should just cremate him and spread his ashes like he wanted.