darkwingnut
New member
I know this is not a football forum, but one of our NFL analysts up here has some very interesting points on this story.
Chris Schultz TSN Sports
11/27/2007 4:27:25 PM
Sean Taylor; tragic, magnificent, and now just a memory.
It's so tragic that at 24, he is gone.
There is a lot more to this story than has been reported so far, and the lessons to be learned are painful to consider.
I used the word magnificent to describe him as a football player. It is the perfect word. Nobody was more intimidating than Taylor.
I also used the word magnificent to describe the way he was apparently turning his life around, moving forward.
What are the lessons?
Pro athletes have to stop flaunting wealth. It creates jealousy, an animosity that can make people targets instead of human beings. You don't need to drive a Hummer, you don't need a customized license plate, and you don't need all the jewelry.
I have visited Miami twice, and it is the most disturbing American city I have been to. The disparity between wealth and poverty is extreme. On one block, there is a $10 million home. On the next block, there is a structure that should not be inhabited. On the next block is a restaurant with service and accommodation beyond compare. Down another block is a rehabilitation centre.
History shows that the suppression of a population will not be maintained forever. In a given time, a person's life can be so painful, so desperate that they will take action. Whether that action is due to the desire to exist, to improve, or a drive of jealousy, each situation has its own story.
But I do believe that the third element, jealousy, is very relevant in society. At every Super Bowl I have been to there were people who would take their wealth and shove it in your face. And at every Super Bowl I have gone to, I have seen the opposite. I've seen the anger, the envy, the disgust.
Now, I have no idea why Sean Taylor is gone. The truth will come out over time. I can't say that he ever flaunted his wealth, but I know other pro athletes do and it creates a disconnect from every day people that is very real.
Everyone knows that pro athletes are paid ridiculous amounts of money. In football, that has been relatively recent, starting in the early 90's with the revenue generated from four competing TV networks. But in general, people who flaunt wealth separate themselves from society. It's not an inclusive feeling they generate.
Money is a powerful drug that allows those who have it to have security and adventure. And it allows people to represent themselves with a certain image that can be offensive to many.
What is also fascinating is that if you take money away from someone who had it given to them, their self-image is destroyed. If you take money away from someone who is self-made, who earned their own money, they have the strength to reproduce the results again because they've done it before.
I really admired Sean Taylor on the football field. You could sense he came from a tough background and was himself a very tough kid, a tough young man. And could he ever hit! He hit with a level of intensity and courage that few possess.
But something happened. Was it robbery, a vendetta or jealousy? Maybe a bit of all three? We don't know.
Sean Taylor; magnificent.
Sean Taylor; tragic.
Chris Schultz TSN Sports
11/27/2007 4:27:25 PM
Sean Taylor; tragic, magnificent, and now just a memory.
It's so tragic that at 24, he is gone.
There is a lot more to this story than has been reported so far, and the lessons to be learned are painful to consider.
I used the word magnificent to describe him as a football player. It is the perfect word. Nobody was more intimidating than Taylor.
I also used the word magnificent to describe the way he was apparently turning his life around, moving forward.
What are the lessons?
Pro athletes have to stop flaunting wealth. It creates jealousy, an animosity that can make people targets instead of human beings. You don't need to drive a Hummer, you don't need a customized license plate, and you don't need all the jewelry.
I have visited Miami twice, and it is the most disturbing American city I have been to. The disparity between wealth and poverty is extreme. On one block, there is a $10 million home. On the next block, there is a structure that should not be inhabited. On the next block is a restaurant with service and accommodation beyond compare. Down another block is a rehabilitation centre.
History shows that the suppression of a population will not be maintained forever. In a given time, a person's life can be so painful, so desperate that they will take action. Whether that action is due to the desire to exist, to improve, or a drive of jealousy, each situation has its own story.
But I do believe that the third element, jealousy, is very relevant in society. At every Super Bowl I have been to there were people who would take their wealth and shove it in your face. And at every Super Bowl I have gone to, I have seen the opposite. I've seen the anger, the envy, the disgust.
Now, I have no idea why Sean Taylor is gone. The truth will come out over time. I can't say that he ever flaunted his wealth, but I know other pro athletes do and it creates a disconnect from every day people that is very real.
Everyone knows that pro athletes are paid ridiculous amounts of money. In football, that has been relatively recent, starting in the early 90's with the revenue generated from four competing TV networks. But in general, people who flaunt wealth separate themselves from society. It's not an inclusive feeling they generate.
Money is a powerful drug that allows those who have it to have security and adventure. And it allows people to represent themselves with a certain image that can be offensive to many.
What is also fascinating is that if you take money away from someone who had it given to them, their self-image is destroyed. If you take money away from someone who is self-made, who earned their own money, they have the strength to reproduce the results again because they've done it before.
I really admired Sean Taylor on the football field. You could sense he came from a tough background and was himself a very tough kid, a tough young man. And could he ever hit! He hit with a level of intensity and courage that few possess.
But something happened. Was it robbery, a vendetta or jealousy? Maybe a bit of all three? We don't know.
Sean Taylor; magnificent.
Sean Taylor; tragic.
