Sean Taylor

Michael Wilbon compared it to the death of Len Bias. Tony Kornheiser chose to highlight the reaction of his daughter, 24--the same age as the deceased--as representative of that of thousands, if not millions, of Redskins fans: tearful. When you love a team, you love the players, especially the ones who shape the team and, in football especially, make the team tough. Give the team teeth. Sean Taylor was on his way to becoming one of the very best players at a position where the impact is not so obvious. Yes, he was fearsome and feared on the field, with a dose of mercilessness and even that delectable joy that comes only from hitting, and in some cases hurting, members of the opposing team. He had that. You need that in that game. You need to be intense, but measured, precise, and Taylor was learning those qualities. And also winning games with his abilities, like last year against Dallas when he returned a blocked field goal just far enough to give the Skins' kicker a chance to win the game, which he did. I disagree strongly with some talkers who chose to roll this tragedy up with some of the more unsavory incidents to hit the NFL in recent years. However, I'm not blind to the fact that something was very wrong with this young man's life, no matter his efforts to change, but he was still very young. The coming weeks will tell us much, indeed, maybe more than we want to know about this incident. But the facts will remain constant: shot in his home, in the wee hours, by an intruder. Extrapolate all you want, the dismissive stance of "he had it coming" will not begin to tell the story of the death of this gifted football player.