Sean Taylor - RIP

As we all now know, Washington Redskins safety and former Miami Hurricane Sean Taylor has died as a result of a gunshot wound to the thigh, which apparently pierced his femoral artery, causing massive blood loss. All reports indicate that he underwent surgery, but never regained consciousness after being picked up by the ambulance. All reports also indicate that he was shot by an intruder inside his home sometime before 1:45 a.m. on Monday morning, the second such intruder within the last 8 days. As far as any more details, they are sketchy at best, nonexistent at worst, and I won't speculate as to any of them at this time.

As the resident fan and expert of the "U" here at We Make It Rain, I feel obliged to describe what this terrible tragedy means to those affiliated with the "U", as well as just fans. Nobody, unless they have been through something this horrific, could ever try to describe what this means to his parents, fiance', 18 month old daughter and assorted family and friends.

Since a lot of people are thinking it, I'll go ahead and get the obligatory, Miami is a bunch of thugs, they recruit thugs, they play like thugs, and act like thugs paragraph out of the way. Yes, a lot of the players that Miami recruits are local, and are raised in rough sections of town. Yes, some of the players were toughs, both on and off the field, prior to and during their tenure at Miami. Yes, some have been involved in incidents of their own making. But let's look at what the media is saying about Taylor. First, he had a weapons charge against him and he plead out to 18 months probation. What really happened: He saw some guys driving around on his ATV's. Taylor's defense was that they stole his ATVs. This probation period meant that he wasn't allowed to have firearms (foreshadowing). He was fined 17 times or so in the NFL. Yes, one of those was for the spitting incident with Michael Pittman, and some were for late hits, but a lot of them were for "uniform violations". Really thuggish there. He missed the rookie symposium. Boy is that awful. Maybe there is something behind the two break-ins at his home, and maybe we will know the full story at some point (only with some good police work), and maybe this was payback for something from Taylor's past (Cue Tupac - "always worried about the payback, from some punk that I roughed up way back"). Nevertheless, all we know is that an intruder was in his room, Taylor grabbed a machete that he kept in his room for protection (A MACHETE!), and then the intruder opened the door and fired 2 shots, with 1 hitting Taylor in the groin. Perhaps if he wasn't on probation, he could have legally kept a gun, and better protected himself, but that is simply conjecture.

Now that the foregoing is out of the way, here is what I remember about Taylor - WOW! He could hit, ball hawk, and always made his biggest plays in the biggest games (what seemed like 90 interceptions against FSU). Since the Monday Night Football slopfest between the Steelers and Dolphins was so bad last night, my buddies and I got into one of those random discussions of, "Who is the best ....... of all time?" When we discussed Miami, as the only Miami fan in the group I spoke first. Russell Maryland, Michael Irvin, Warren Sapp, Sean Taylor, Ed Reed. Those were the first names that came to mind. What company there! He was an absolute stud.

After the 2004 NFL draft, I couldn't stop commenting to my colleagues as we were discussing football, that Sean Taylor was ultimately going to be the best pick in this draft. Now that was some praise, and I truly believed it. I would still believe it if we would have had the opportunity to discuss this draft, and him, a decade later than this. Yes Fitzgerald has been great, Roethlisberger has really developed (with a ring to boot), Steven Jackson looks great, as does Roy Williams, and Jon Vilma "must protect this house", but Taylor was still right there. He was leading the NFC in interceptions with 5, even though he has missed time with an injury. He was a Pro Bowler last year, and showed that he could make the big play and the big hit in the NFL as well. If only the intruder was unarmed, and was simply trying to go across the middle against Taylor - who would have won that battle? I think we know the answer to that question.

This incident signifies an increasingly common occurrence, which remains largely ignored - the targeting of rich African-American athletes. Paul Pierce and Sean Taylor being the best and possibly most notable. The reasoning behind this is most likely money - because, well, they have it. However, this is nothing new in the sporting world. Russian hockey players have stories of family kidnappings for payment, as do Latin American baseball players. Both of these situations went largely ignored by the mainstream media, and possibly even law enforcement, because, well, it would never happen here. Well guess what - it is happening here. Who is to say the underlying reason. Is it purely financial? Probably in some cases. Some punks trying to make a name for themselves? Probably in some cases. Whatever it is, athletes from bad situations and neighborhoods need to learn that they have more at stake than others that are able to survive and grow away from that environment. They simply do not have the luxury of maturing at their own pace that the rest of us might enjoy. Look at the rap community. Most of the general public is not surprised when a rap artist is shot. They figure that it is par for the course in that world (and no, I am not suggesting that it is, or that it should be). These athletes need to grow up and mature much faster than most of the rest of us. Taylor was 24 for crying out loud. 24!!!

This is also another hit to the University of Miami. Miami recruits a lot locally, so a lot of its players have known each other for a long time. Most of the players that move on to the NFL stay local. You might remember a situation a few years ago when Edgerrin James refused to attend voluntary off-season workouts with his Colts teammates. Why? Because he was working out in Miami with his former teammates and current players. It would be difficult to find one team whose players all interconnect with each other like at the "U". Part of that may be the small size of the university itself. Less than 10,000 undergraduates attend college there. Whatever the reason, Miami is a close knit community. This is the third tragedy to affect this community in just over a calender year. Lineman Bryan Pata was shot in the back in the parking lot of his apartment complex. Kevin Everett was injured on a special team's play for the Bills, which almost killed him. Miraculously it looks as if he is going to walk again. Now this. Cynics and idiots would say "well this is what Miami deserves for being thugs". But look at those three tragedies. Thuggishness had nothing to do with them. The only explanation for all three of these incidents is just happenstance. A weird freaky happenstance.

I apologize for the disjointedness of this post, as I didn't really have time to outline and/or edit it, but this is just my ramblings and thoughts for this terrible tragedy.

I will end it by paraphrasing some things that I have heard and/or read elsewhere. The blog Kissing Suzy Kolber gives a weekly NFL award called the Meast of the Week. The Meast comes from a performer who is so good, that they must be half man half beast. This award started with Sean Taylor, and deservedly so. In this situation, Taylor was on probation and probably not allowed to carry firearms. Therefore, when he heard an intruder, he grabbed his machete to try to protect his family. He was shot while doing so, paying the ultimate price in protecting his family, which he did so with much more ferocity than he ever could have protected an end zone. He was the ultimate safety, giving up everything to keep others from his house. Underarmed, and not knowing exactly where the intruder was, he nonetheless sought them out, so that his fiance' and daughter might be saved. Although he is no longer with us, his family is. Now that is a MEAST!!! This might be the best pass breakup Taylor every could have accomplished.

We will remember you at your best, as a phenomenal safety, and as a protector of your family. I will remember you for all the big plays - especially against Florida State.

Rest in Peace Sean Taylor, and all the best to your family and friends.