Author: Anthony Stalter (Page 1330 of 1503)

Michael Wilbon of the Washington Post and ESPN’s “PTI” wrote an interesting column in the wake of Sean Taylor’s death.

I wasn’t surprised in the least when I heard the news Monday morning that Sean Taylor had been shot in his home by an intruder. Angry? Yes. Surprised? Not even a little. It was only in June 2006 that Taylor, originally charged with a felony, pleaded no contest to assault and battery charges after brandishing a gun during a battle over who took his all-terrain vehicles in Florida. After that, an angry crew pulled up on Taylor and his boys and pumped at least 15 bullets into his sport-utility vehicle. So why would anybody be surprised? Had it been Shawn Springs, I would have been stunned. But not Sean Taylor.

Coincidence? We have no idea, not yet anyway. Could have been a random act, a break-in, something that happens every day in America, something that could happen to any one of us no matter how safe we think our neighborhood is. Could have been just that. But would it surprise me if it was more than that, if there was a distinct reason Taylor was sleeping with a machete under his bed? A machete. Even though his attorney and friend Richard Sharpstein says his instincts tell him “this was not a murder or a hit,” would it stun me if Taylor was specifically targeted? Not one bit.

…But what they do share is dying too soon, unnecessarily so, while young and athletic, seemingly on top of the world. Though we’re likely to struggle in great frustration to understand the circumstances of how Taylor left so soon, how dare we not put forth an honest if sometimes uncomfortable effort to examine his life in some greater context than football.

Wilbon makes a great point in his final paragraph that some want to gloss over more underlining issues when an athlete dies. We should remember that Taylor was becoming a great player and a man who was starting to turn his lifestyle around for the better. But the fact of the matter is that he didn’t change quickly enough. A young man lost his life and therefore, it’s a tragedy. It’s a tragedy that someone lost a son, father, brother and a friend. The bigger tragedy, however, is if another athlete with a similar background doesn’t view Taylor’s death (random or not) as a cautionary tale.

Washington Redskins’ safety Sean Taylor died early Tuesday morning, one day after being shot in the leg during an apparent robbery attempt in his Miami home. He was only 24.

Taylor had been transported to the hospital after being shot in the lower body early Monday morning by an as-yet unknown intruder at his home in nearby Palmetto Bay. He underwent approximately seven hours of surgery Monday but lost extensive amounts of blood because the bullet pierced the femoral artery in his leg, according to his former attorney and family friend Richard Sharpstein, who received a phone call about 5:30 a.m. ET from Taylor’s father about the death.

“(He) said he was with Christ and he cried and thanked me,” Sharpstein said. “It’s a tremendously sad and unnecessary event. He was a wonderful, humble, talented young man and had a huge life in front of him. Obviously God had other plans.”

Like many, I thought the worst was over for Taylor late Monday evening when reports surfaced that he had awaken from a coma and was responsive. What a sad and tragic story. I can remember vividly the day he was drafted and thinking, “Man, this guy is going to be one of the best safeties in the league.” My heart goes out to his family and friends.

The Cleveland Browns have a problem, and for the first time in years, it has nothing to do with their record. In fact, as I wrote in my latest column for Bullz-Eye.com, it’s actually a good problem to have: too much depth at quarterback. And now the Browns may have to decide to trade either Derek Anderson or Brady Quinn.

How many times did people mention that the Patriots were 24-point favorites over the Eagles last week? Newspapers wrote about it. Radio hosts blabbed about it. Even ESPN.com mentioned it on their main page following the game last night. It seemed that all people were talking about was how much the Patriots were favored, which is understandable considering it was the biggest point spread in the history of the NFL.

However, why are we still taking about it? Point spreads don’t matter in football and it shouldn’t have mattered when the Patriots eventually squeaked out a 31-28 win. When the sports books determine how much a team is favored by, it doesn’t mean that they think one team is better than the other by a certain number of points. The sports books didn’t think the Patriots were 24 points better than the Eagles – the public did.

The sports books only care about one thing and that’s getting even action on both sides. The sports books want one person to look at the line and say to themselves, “I love the Patriots against the Donovan McNabb-less Eagles Sunday night and I don’t care what the point spread is!” And they want the next person to say, “Wow, the Eagles are getting 24 points? That’s a lot.” They could (not) care less about which team wins, because no matter what, they’re making money.

The media needs to take it easy on all the point-spread talk. Yes, it was crazy that a team was actually favored by more than 20 points in a professional football game. But point spreads don’t really have anything to do with what actually transpires on the field and the Eagles proved that last night.