Sad news indeed. Tillman was a fan favorite around here (Phoenix), went to ASU and then to the Cards. It was shocking here when he joined the military, but he did it the right way. No self-aggrandizing, no ulterior motives, no media circus throughout basic training. He just said he was going to do it and did it. In this age of the multi-million dollar contracts and bling-bling lifestyle of professional athletes, the thought of one leaving it all with no motive other than to serve and to do one's duty, for patriotism, is hard for many to fathom. This man didn't just slap a flag on his car on September 12th and say "See how patriotic I am", he did what he felt needed to be done. I applaud, salute, and thank you Pat Tillman. deadcowdan, I share your concerns re: the Cards. A more greedy, inept, and callous lot than the Bidwell's would be hard to find.
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I don't know what's more shocking -- Tillman's decision to leave all that money on the table to enlist or his refusal to use it as a PR opportunity.
or his refusal to use it as a PR opportunity. As opposed to, one assumes, the Cardinals or the NFL in the next season.
I hate this war. I hate that we're losing men and women, sons and daughters, husbands and wives, daddies and mommies, en masse everyday.
As opposed to, one assumes, the Cardinals or the NFL in the next season. or a certain former owner of the texass rangers.
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Does the NFL have a service/citizenship type award, like say, the Masterton Trophy in hockey or something similar, that could be named for him? The NFL has a Man of the Year award that honors players for their off-the-field work, but it's already been named after Walter Payton.
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jerseygirl, I heart you and I guess acknowledge the reality that we humans just aren't capable of this kind of emotion for every single American/coalition/innocent Iraqi soldier and citizen who lose their life in this tragic farce. Tillman's high profile makes him a receptacle for our grief.
That blows. And it's sad that it takes the death of a sports figure to make us all feel like this. It would be great if we had an article written about everyone who dies at war - not just the famous ones or the cute ones. But I'm sure we'd get desensitized to that pretty quickly, too. It's all very, very sad.
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Strange that Tillman seemed to desire the anonymity and not blow his decision into a media-frenzy, which should give anyone enough insight into his quality of character, - and that this is the exact effect of his death. I am really not looking forward to the opening of football season - this will be leveraged to no end. He seems to have died doing what he clearly felt was the only right thing to do (for him). Isn't that less than tragic?
Two points: If you need war to put football in perspective you have a problem. I'm sick of Fox News exploiting Tillman (an other fallen troops) for their Republican, jingoistic agenda.
