6:05 AM Tuesday Morning.
My alarm clock ring got louder and louder. Turned it off. Damn, the morning came quick. I rolled over and fumbled for my blackberry, a terrible habit (or addiction if you ask those close to me) that I have. The red light was blinking which meant I had either an email or a text message. Nothing out of the ordinary since I go to bed by 11pm and emails and texts tend to fly in around midnight or 5am. I click the scroll button and see two text messages, both from ESPN.
I felt a knot in my throat because the only time I get text messages from ESPN is when it’s breaking news. Given the fact that Sean Taylor was shot the day before, I knew what these two messages were about to read. I lay back for a few seconds, then sat up and clicked the text messages.
“Sean Taylor Dies – Redskins S Sean Taylor has died one day after being shot in the leg. He was 24.”
I didn’t really have a thought in my mind at that point as I took my clothes to the bathroom, showered and got ready. Then I sat down to have a cup of coffee and I thought about Taylor, and how he’s only a year older than me. I thought about my best friends, and how 3 out of the 5 are all the age of 24. I thought about how in less than six months, I too will be 24. Maybe the thought of Taylor being gone from this world forever wasn’t hitting me right away because I’ve been around death so much this year. I lost my father unexpectedly in February, my alma mater had the worst killing massacre in United States history, my best friend’s grandmother passed a few months ago, and now one of my favorite players on the team I have loved for my entire life had died; suddenly.
I flipped through the channels, NBC Morning News, FOX, ABC, CBS, ESPN, and CNN and they all were covering the same story. Each network was classy enough to not discuss Taylor’s past, but discuss how he was a father and a son. It is not uncommon for network television to try and drum up as much negative propaganda as they can on an athlete or entertainer for the sake of the story. The TV Stations were, for a day, just and fair in their reporting.
I drove to work and as I heard people talk more and more about Sean Taylor, and how he had turned his life around since the birth of his daughter, the more saddened I became. Taylor was a private individual who didn’t relish the media spotlight, but those who knew him well such as NBC’s George Michaels talked about how he’d be beaming around Redskins Park with his daughter in arms. Michaels talked about how Taylor put his daughter in Michaels’ lap and said, “You hold her, you can be her Godfather.” Clinton Portis and Santana Moss talked about how all Taylor would talk about was the new things and phases his daughter was going through. Hearing all this made me extremely sad and disheartened because he obviously had enormous amounts of love for his daughter, and she will never grow up to know him.
Sean Taylor was not a perfect human being; but who really is? He was a young man with gifted athletic abilities. He was a fierce competitor and a team player who wanted nothing more than to win as a member of the Redskins. He was loved and respected by his teammates and coaches. More importantly, he was a father to a little girl, a son to a mother and father, and a fiancé to the mother of his child. He was only 24 years old and was starting to mature and reach his potential. It is a tragedy, a true misfortune, that we will never again get to see Taylor the player or more importantly, Sean Taylor; the man.
I will be honest with you guys. I didn’t know how to go about writing about Taylor. I had and still have so many different ideas and thoughts going through my mind, and it is simply too difficult to accurately put it down in one piece. So instead, I wanted to touch on a few subjects.
The NFL’s Decision to Continue Games as Scheduled This Weekend
I find it disturbing that a member of a league can pass away on a Tuesday, but the games must continue on the following Sunday. What’s more disturbing to me is that I feel if this had been a more well known or likeable player, such as the top 3 or 4 quarterbacks that come to everybody’s minds, would the NFL still continue as scheduled? I find it hard to believe that they would. I understand how keeping things moving is important but I don’t think that sacrificing one Sunday of games, emphasis on games, would be asking too much of the league. I know that there are financial implications, some of which I may not even be aware of. However, my suggestion would have been to simply push EVERYTHING back one week. So instead of the Redskins and Bills playing this week, or the Packers and Cowboys playing this week, all that be pushed to next week. (Speaking of the Redskins, how does the league expect them to attend a funeral of a fallen teammate on most likely Thursday or Friday, and still be ready for a game on Sunday. Isn’t that a bit harsh?) The playoffs could also be pushed back by one Sunday and same with the Super Bowl.
Remembering and mourning a member or a league and organization is something I thought Commissioner Roger Goodell would find of importance. Pushing the games back wouldn’t be a big sacrifice for fans because their tickets would still be valid the following week. Maybe I don’t know enough about the contracts with television companies and so forth, but I would have appreciated and commended the league had they taken the sensitive and compassionate step of making an exception to their “stick to the schedule” rules for one week. I know if Taylor was some 10 year hall of famer, the league would lean towards a postponement of games.
Ignorant Comments Being Made at the Worst Possible Times
I talked to my sister on the phone last night and she told me that her professor made the comments, “Well, Taylor wasn’t exactly a role model.” These kinds of insensitive comments are what drive me up the wall. If you were 17 years old and followed with a camera or covered by newspaper reporters all the time, then paid over $20 million by your 20th birthday, you’d bound to have some things caught on tape that you aren’t proud of also. I went to Virginia Tech and was a good student, graduated without ever getting arrested, and now have a successful job. But Lord knows that there were fights and brawls that I got into that I’d be embarrassed about if I were a public figure. If a camera followed me around, I wouldn’t be seen as a “role model”. One of my best friends is now a successful engineer, graduated the same time as me. He has a DUI on his record. Doesn’t mean he’s not a good person or a “role model”. Who are our role models? The President of the United States? The two guys who have run our country the past 16 years have committed adultery and been known liars. So don’t throw stones if you live in a glass house is what I’m getting at. Sean Taylor made mistakes; so did you. Only difference is, this professor didn’t have cameras or media members following his every step; quite frankly because no one gives a rats ass about who he is. Michael Wilbon also made some insensitive remarks but I am not going to divulge too much into those because there is no point in addressing ignorance. I simply wanted to address this one instance that I know has been replicated across the country in different settings.
That’s all I got folks. Tomorrow, I guess I get back to the action in sports and move on. The Green Bay Packers – Dallas Cowboys matchup will be broken down position by position. All 22 starters. You’ll be surprised who I got winning this one and by how much. Until then…
