Same Fate: Different Face

(Photo courtesy of Google)

Sean Taylor died yesterday at the age of 24. Some of you may have a brother, sister, friend, or maybe you are 24 yourself, so you can only imagine how "young" 24 really is. Sean Taylor was a safety for the Washington Redskins. He led them this season in interceptions. He was a pro-bowler. He was an All-American in college and was making a "killing" in the NFL.
So, you may be asking yourself, "just because he was a football player, does that make him special? Just because he made millions does he deserve special attention?"
The answer to both of those questions is: No.
Everyday black kids are dying on the streets of rough neighbor hoods, playgrounds, suburban sidewalks.
According to the Bureau of Justice, in 2005, black males, 18-24 years old, had the highest homicide victimization rates. Their rates were more than double the rates for black males age 25 and older and almost 4 times the rates for black males 14-17 years old.
According to the Bureau of Justice,white male young adults (18-24 years old), offending rates fell to an all-time low in 2005.
What Happened to Taylor could have happened to anyone, but it was more likely to happen to Taylor because he was black.
There is a serious epidemic hovering over our nation, our culture. And it needs to be dealt with. Black-on- black violence, gun violence, domestic violence. It's a plague and like a difficult math problem we can't figure out the equation.
Something needs to happen.
Something must happen.
Otherwise our children and their children can never play hopscotch or "wall ball" like we once did and truly feel safe.
Taylor wasn't different. Taylor was another victim. He just brought the issue back to center-stage.

The Real MVP

If you were to take a quick glance at ESPN, you might think that Tom Brady and his 38 touchdown passes is the MVP of the NFL. Wrong. Maybe, Randy Moss? Or Tony Romo? Or even Ben Roethlisberger? Those are all valid choices, yet all terribly wrong. With all of the records being broken and the hype around a perfect season, one name sticks out: Brett Favre.

Favre this season has resurrected. He's playing his best ball since his three-time MVP seasons in 1995-1997. Favre has his beloved Green Bay Packers looking like Lombardi's Packers. Without a doubt, if Favre wasn't on the Packers, if he would have decided to call-it-quits in the off-season and not keep all the nation impatiently waiting, the Packers would not be atop the NFC North.

The crazy thing is: nothing has changed about Favre. He's still that loose, reckless cannon that torched defenses ever since he has been in the league. Yes, Peyton Manning may be the best "General" on the field or Brady may be able to make the "toughest" throws, but Favre does something that neither of them do. Favre, all by his lonesome, takes a sub-par team with a decent defense and creates a Super Bowl contender. If that's not valuable, then I don't know what is.

"A Sad Day for Baseball"

I came home from a long day of work and sat down ready to watch the afternoon edition of SportsCenter. It was a quiet, windy day outside. Until, I read the "Breaking News" at the bottom of my television screen. My only reaction to seeing that the current Home Run KingPin, Barry Bonds, was indicted Thursday on four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice was "Dag, Barry!"

After all the allegations and rumors and books and claims and home runs, Bonds finally hit a wall. Since December 2003, federal investigators must have gathered more information leading up to this deferred indictment. It's intriguing that on the same day that the career-halting indictment hit the public's ears, Bond's ex-trainer, Greg Anderson,was released from prison. Anderson didn't want to testify against his close friend. A noble decision, but we'll have to see how that piece of the puzzle pans out.

Bonds will appear before a U.S. District Court on December 7th in San Francisco. He may opt towards the plea bargain or he may desire to take it to trial. In whatever scenario, Bonds career will forever be plagued with this scandal. Ironically enough, although many MLB fans didn't support Bonds during his chase after Hank Aaron's Home Run Record, it's still without a doubt a sad day for America's favorite pastime.