If you've ever had a dog in the family and experienced its death, this column is guaranteed to make your eyes water.

It was especially touching for me, because my daughter had a golden retriever and he had to be put down about a month ago, and it's just devastated my daughter. I still remember both of the family dogs that have died in my lifetime, and it took several weeks for me to bounce back from those deaths.

Simmons usually writes hilariously funny columns about sports, so this is something different from him. It's a great column, but have a Kleenex handy...

Bill Simmons' column

Isn't this Back nine material?