Sadness hit the sports world this morning, as reports trickled in: Washington Redskins star Sean Taylor, 24, passed away, unable to recover from a gunshot wound to the upper leg which damaged an artery.
Taylor lived in Miami with his fiancee and fourteen-month old daughter. He was shot after a burglar had opened fire in his Miami home. It was the second time in eight days that Taylor's home had been invaded. The investigations are on-going.
Tragedies of this ilk never have an appropriate time, but in Taylor's case, the timing seems unjustly cruel.
Since arriving in the NFL as the fifth overall pick from the University of Miami in 2004, Taylor had been shadowed by poor behavior, both on the field and off. Taylor was fined at least eight times by the NFL for various infractions, including his absence from the NFL's mandatory Rookie Symposium, late hits, uniform violations, and, most notably, for spitting in the face of Tampa Bay Buccaneer running back Michael Pittman during a 2006 NFC Playoff game. Taylor had also been arrested twice; his 2004 arrest for driving under the influence was dismissed, and he plead no contest to two misdemeanors after being arrested for brandishing a gun during an altercation in Miami.
However, with the birth of his daughter 14 months ago, Taylor began to mature. He was evolving from potential to star, from team distraction to team leader.
The 6'2", 212 lb. Taylor was always singular in his athleticism. Indeed, Taylor played with the same size and ferocity as Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Fame Linebacker Jack Lambert, yet Taylor played the speed-demanding free safety position, which required him to rove the secondary like a center fielder.
Still, Taylor's natural gifts were unharnessed and sometimes erratic. As this season continued, though, Taylor was becoming more than an athlete, but a football player. Taylor was tied for the NFC lead with five interceptions, despite missing two games due to injury. It was a sign his coverage skills were catching up to his hitting ability - in his path, he left heaps of receivers like mobile homes after a tornado.
"I just take this job very seriously," Taylor said in a rare group interview during training camp. "It's almost like, you play a kid's game for a king's ransom. And if you don't take it serious enough, eventually one day you're going to say, 'Oh, I could have done this, I could have done that.'"
It is a shame that the Washington Redskins have lost a star, a teammate, and a friend. It is a shame that fans of football were deprived of seeing Sean Taylor's potential become stardom, just as it was being fulfilled.
It is a tragedy that a fourteen-month old girl will now grow up without her father.
ESPN.com's Jeffri Chadiha says it better: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=chadiha_jeffri&id=3129417
So does SI.com's Peter King: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/peter_king/11/27/taylor/index.html?eref=T1
