Lean Into the Tape

It’s been an interesting week in celebrity deaths as people seek to forget the less wholesome details of people’s lives and focus on the positives. That’s human nature to a certain degree I guess, but Steve McNair’s charity work and toughness on the field are probably not the more valuable lessons of his life. Lesson 1: Keep your your pants zipped. Lesson 2: Don’t abandon your wife and kids for a batshit insane Dave and Busters waitress you met while dining with your family. Lesson 3: Referring back to said batshit insane waitress… if you just can’t live with the woman you swore you would before God and man then call a friggin’ divorce lawyer and get your new sex that way.

There’s no doubt Steve McNair is tough. Charitable? It was in his contract. He’d lose money more quickly by not being charitable than by giving 10% of it away locally. He probably was sincerely generous, but I’m leery of much of the sincerity of professional sports charities. The last act of his life, however, was about selfishness. Two DUIs (which means he was doing it a lot more than that), an affair with a 20-year old waitress — his murderer….

Lesson 4: Finish the race. His wife and children will not remember the houses he built for poor Mississippians — they’ll remember the home he destroyed — ultimately forever — by his selfishness. Lean in to the tape. I said earlier I would always remember the play from Super Bowl XXXIV regardless of the circumstances of his death. I’ve changed my mind. That’s a great play, but it’ll always be tinged with the memory of a man who lost his way. McNair once claimed to be a Christian… I hope he still clung to that faith. It’s cliche, but no less true: it’s better to start slow and finish strong than get out of the gate only to trip over the last hurdle. Run as to win the race as the Apostle Paul wrote.

I’m sure this is isn’t the proper time to say it, but no one else will. Someone else will die, the media will move on and the more important lessons will be lost. No one expects perfection, but such reckless and damaging imperfection shouldn’t be glossed over either. I feel sad for his children and his wife — who have to sit in that funeral loving — and hating — their husband and father.

And I always struggle with the propriety and timing of such discussions… Scott M. you’re in TN… how’s the coverage locally?

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