I was born and raised in San Francisco, the most beautiful city in the world, and home to the San Francisco Giants and San Francisco 49ers. During my Frisco days I went through many phases in my life; I embraced and then discarded many fads, but there was always one constant: My allegiance to my home town teams.

I moved to Virginia a few years ago, and changing my allegiance from the 49ers to the Washington Redskins has proved to be mission impossible. I still root for the Niners, but I try to watch at least a couple of Redskins games every year.

There are only a few Redskins players that I am familiar with, and Sean Taylor, the free safety is one of them. He reminds me of Ronnie Lott, the 49ers safety who was renowned for his hard hits, and was an integral part of the 49ers dynasty in the 1980′s.

Lott and Taylor are the antitheses of prima donnas who are loathe to get their uniforms dirty; these warriors leave every last drop of sweat and blood on the gridiron.

“Sean Taylor died at the age of 24 from critical injuries sustained after being shot by an intruder at his Miami area home. He was pronounced dead on November 27, 2007, at Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital.” — Quotation from Wikipedia

When a famous athlete dies it’s his heroics on the basketball court, baseball diamond or gridiron that we remember. When Joe Montana dies its his almost ballet-like artistry on the football field that I will remember.

But if a sports star has am impact outside of the world of sports, his achievements or notoriety outside of the playing field will be mentioned in his obituaries and news articles.

I don’t think it’s racist to mention that Sean Taylor, an African American, had several brushes with the law. But it’s important to keep things in context, and by all accounts, Taylor was a changed man since the birth of daughter 18 months ago.

But some of the assumptions, by writers and pundits, in reference to the death of Taylor have been outright racist. Shame on those who argued, before all the facts were in, that Taylor died a violent death simply because had a criminal record. “It’s his past catching up with him”, was one of the comments I heard at work.

It would be more logical, and non-racist, to assume that Taylor met a violent death because his material wealth made him a target for armed robbers.

I don’t have a police record, but I have made serious mistakes in my life, and I hope that when I die it’s my essays and good deeds that my family and friends remember, and not my shortcomings.

Let’s remember Sean Taylor the gifted football player, and not use his violent death as an excuse to characterize all African American athletes as thugs and criminals.

REFERENCES:

1. The Redskins Encyclopedia
2. Game of My Life Washington Redskins: Memorable Stories of Redskins Football (Game of My Life)
3. Mark May’s Tales from the Washington Redskins
4. Joe Gibbs: Fourth and One
5. The New Updated Edition Redskins: A History of Washington’s Team