Sean Taylor - RIP UPDATED

Three Falcons died during two seasons in the late '80s. In October 1988, CB David Croudip died of a cocaine overdose. The next season, rookie tackle Ralph Norwood died in a car crash after the team's Thanksgiving party and TE Brad Beckman died in December in another car wreck.

I covered that team, and it was the most depressing sports beat imaginable. I remember one of their players telling me in the locker room after the last game in '89, ``All we wanted to do was finish this game and get the hell out of here.''

 

Second that. Great column.

 

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but is Wilbon basically saying young black males should learn from Taylor's life?

 

Third that. Thanks, da man, for posting it.

 

Shhhh. ... don't tell fenian.

 

I have heard Charles Barkley say for years that once you "make it" you need to break all ties with the people you grew up with when you were young if you come from a "bad" area.

Taylor had the ability to move anywhere in the country with the money he earned, but he chose to stay geographically close to people who might want to do him harm. That is tragic in a 20/20 hindsight way.

 

Among the sociologists, cultural anthropologists and essayists who write on race in this country, this is known as "pulling up the ladder behind you." As the African-American upper/middle class succeeds and ascends, it's warned (by nearly everyone) to cut itself off from its own origins. Thereby ensuring that almost none of what they've learned is passed on to those behind them. And you'll never hear the same warning sounded to white folks of any class. Just something to consider as this story plays out.

And is it interesting to anyone but me that Mr. Wilbon's piece - by invoking Mr. Taylor's sketchy history in order to rhetorically establish his transformation into a solid citizen - takes exactly the opposite approach to what Ms. Hill recommends in hers? I mention this only to note that there's no single, monolithic position being taken on this story, but rather a broad range of argument and counterargument, which I think is a good thing. This story is far too easy to sentimentalize or stereotype or trivialize, and the lasting gift that Mr. Taylor may leave behind for us all is the solemn occasion to better ourselves in an honest national discussion.

 

It's just as easy to get wrapped up in problems in the trailer parks as it is in the ghetto.

 

Thank you, Simon_Cowbell.

 

You make some great points. Leaders of any community must do their part to pull people up the ladder.

 

Loved every word of that column.

 

I'm sorry, but I don't think Wilbon nailed this one, not even close. First of all, he's wasn't surprised when he heard Taylor was shot? Geez, what a tough guy. Taylor's friends and teammates sure seem to be surprised.

I don't see how "getting out of the hood" has anything to do with this case, given what we know so far. Taylor was sleeping with his girlfriend and their kid when an intruder broke into their house, came into their bedroom and shot him. I'd bet that this type of a murder doesn't happen anywhere very often, unless you're living in Baghdad.