RIP Sean Taylor

(pic from Upset the Setup)

I'm not a Redskin fan by any means, but for some reason, the death of Sean Taylor has affected me in a way I can't describe. It's weird. A couple days before he got shot, me and my coworkers were talking about how the Redskins might be playoff bound once Taylor returned to the lineup. When word came that he was shot, a collective WTF blanketed the office. Really? Taylor shot?

The day I heard that Taylor died was a morning that I couldn't sleep. I woke up around 4 AM, sitting in front of my TV, flipping channels, when the newscasts broke into their regular malaise of traffic and weather to report that Taylor had died, shattering the false hope given by earlier reports that he was progressing and would be okay.

Of course, Taylor was no angel. He's been in trouble with the law, spit on a player, and missed mini-camp. The media tried to bring this up as a cause for his early demise--only to be disproved when the four people arrested with breaking into his house had no connection to Taylor's past.

The whole situation is sort of regrettable though. I live in a city where over 170 people have lost their lives to gun violence this year, yet the whole community has come together to mourn one person. Is this selfish? Yes. But maybe, just maybe, people will recognize that Sean Taylors that are walking the streets today, and hopefully someone will reach out to the people like the ones arrested last week, to ensure that such tragedies never happen again.