Sean Taylor 1983-2007

The entire NFL world has lost someone today that they can never get back. 24-year old safety Sean Taylor is gone, taken away from not only his family and friends, but taken away from the fans of the Washington Redskins as well of fans in the NFL in general. We all lost Sean Taylor today. From his 18-month old daughter Jackie and his fiance, right down to my fraternity brother who I kept thinking about that loved the Redskins dearly. Right down to people like me who just love the NFL and marvel at talents like Sean Taylor.

I'll take with me a couple things from Taylor's short career that burned like a shooting star. The first would be that directly I wanted the Browns to draft this guy in 2004. I wanted Kellen Winslow Jr. very badly, but I was told all about this Taylor kid from Miami; and I saw some game footage of him and I wanted him badly. Had it not been for the Redskins spurning Winslow, he would have been in Cleveland. He was literally thisclose to being a Cleveland Brown and maybe not being where we are right now today.

I'll also take with me the few times that I got to see him play against the New York Giants on television. He was ball hawking, and intercepted Eli Manning the game I remember in Washington. The guy was a physical talent to marvel at and while so many often times an obscure player dies during the course of a season--as shocking as it is--some people just aren't realizing the impact of this. The league has lost a true rising superstar; a man who was at the top of his class at his position and had a long and prosperous career ahead of him.

Like a Shakespearian tragedy character, and as numb and shocked as I am as a football fan; it almost seems to me looking back at it all that we should have seen this coming. We should have known that Taylor would never get to play a full career or live a full life. It just wasn't in the cards. He was seemingly destined to become the most talented player to die tragically since Ricky Bell of the Buccaneers. Isn't life so funny? If we'd only known then on draft day in 2004 that we'd only have 3+ seasons of this young man. If we'd only known a few weeks ago in October that Sean Taylor was playing in his final game, wouldn't we have all rushed to a sports bar and tried to catch one more glimpse of him? I am nearly without words and in complete shock that a player of this magnitude and seeming of such invincibility is gone. I will do my best to portray my feelings on the situation.

I've read the articles and heard the quotes of everyone saying that Sean Taylor was getting his life straightened out. I know this is what everyone wants to believe and how everyone wants to remember Taylor. Bloggers like Mr. Irrelevant went so far as to rip Mike Wilbon for not buying into all of the quotes about Taylor turning his life around.

The fact of the matter is that Sean Taylor was a great football player, who was immersed in a life of violence. He played a violent game as hard as anyone in the league did. He was known for his drive to compete and his ferocious talent to hit. He'll be remembered for being able to hit as hard as anyone that's ever put on a uniform. That said, this guy should be appreciated. He was the real article. So often today in the NFL and sports, we have athletes that want to impersonate a 'thug mentality'. Sean Taylor was no impersonator of this. This was the life he lived and who he was.

Many fans will want to say that evidence was thrown out in court, but I have to believe that Taylor somehow got ahold of that gang member that stole his SUV and made a fool of him by pistol whipping him and beating him up. Sean Taylor was fearless, and he lived his life like a true badass. I can tell you right now that not many in the league have a machete in their house for protection--and I'm certainly not making light of this situation. This is very clearly a man that knew the code of the street. He knew at any moment someone could come calling for his life, and Taylor was ready for it up until the end.

I want so desperately to believe that Taylor had completely turned his life around. I want to believe that all these writers and media heads across the nation are wrong for even bringing up Taylor's troubled past. We might never know why this all really happened--and at this point it's not possible to even try to fathom it. My belief, is that this young superstar had matured and had turned his life around--and was on the way to a long career in a Washington uniform. However; like Ricky in Boyz in the Hood, and Carlito Brigante in Carlito's Way; he simply could not outrun his past.

It is heartbreaking over and over again. The impact is that the NFL has lost a superstar and Taylor's muscular body will be laid to rest in the cold ground; decades way too soon. He will be gone before he could win a Superbowl, and before he could go back to Miami U and change the way that student athletes are turning into thugs overnight at that school (Taylor was setting up scholarships for student athletes at Miami at the time of his death). Perhaps time will tell us the story. Eventually, we might just know who and why that intruder entered Sean Taylor's home and shot him in the femoral artery.

There will be a happy ending to this in my opinion. I texted it to my very close friend Ryan today from Rockville, Maryland. I couldn't stop thinking of him all day as many sundays in college he spent the entire day in his Sean Taylor jersey. I told him to remember me sending this text because I had a vision. I think in a very short time from now, whether it be 1 year, 2 years, or 3 years...... that core group in Washington will be back in the Superbowl. They're going to win that Superbowl in Sean Taylor's honor. How ironic that Washington drafts a safety in the near identical mold of Taylor in LaRon Landry before the season starts. Landry gets some starts under him with Taylor and then tragedy strikes. I truly believe this experience in the loss of Taylor will fuse this group and a champion will emerge. Jason Campbell will hand off to Taylor's dear friend Clinton Portis deep in the playoffs sometime very soon and this team will make a run. How great of a story it will be then.