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//  Saturday, July 31, 2010

In Memoriam, Steve McNair, RIP.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Posted by Seth Becker

Well this is two weeks in a row.  I really don't want to be the guy who writes about the deaths of those in sports.  But given I've been following the case for SportInformant, I feel I should be the one writing this.

We lost another hero this week.  Steve LeTreal "Air" McNair, 36, was found July 4th along with his now presumed girlfriend twenty year old Sahel Kazemi dead in a Nashville area condominium.  McNair had been shot twice in the chest and twice in the head.  Kazemi was found shot once in the head with the semi automatic pistol under her body.  Given what I've seen about this, it sure looks like a murder-suicide.  But no matter what happened it's a sad ending to what had been a great story.

McNair was born Valentine's day 1973 in Mount Olive, Mississippi.  Mount Olive is a 1.2 mile sparse of land in lower Mississippi with a population of 893.  Not the type of town you would expect to produce a three time all pro quarterback, but it did.  McNair played quarterback and free safety for the Mount Olive high school, leading the team to a state championship his junior year.  In 1990, McNair had 15 interceptions and was an All-State selection.  He was also named to the All-American team by Super Prep magazine.  Steve was one of those rare athletes that could have played in two sports, having also been drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the 1991 amateur draft.

McNair played his college for Alcorn State in the SWAC conference.  In his senior season McNair had over 6000 combined passing and rushing yards and 53 touchdowns.  He won the Walter Payton as the top division I-AA player and finished third in the Heisman Trophy behind Ki-Jana Carter and Rashaan Salaam, further reinforcing the notion that winning the Heisman is no predictor of future NFL success.  Today Steve still holds the record for most passing yards in what is now the Football Championship Series with 16,283.

Having finishing third in the Heisman voting it was only natural that he should be picked third in the 1995 NFL draft, this time behind Carter and Tony Boselli.  Over the next 13 seasons Steve would go onto three pro bowls, 37 rushing touchdowns, 174 touchdowns, and a Super Bowl appearance made possible by the Music City Miracle.  On the play the Titans beat the Buffalo Bills on an improbable series of laterals that lead to a touchdown on the last play of the game.  He played 11 seasons with the Titans and 2 with the Ravens. 

Since retiring in 2008, McNair had been out of the spotlight.  Unfortunately, we may be finding out why.  While McNair wasn't separated or seeking a divorce from his wife of 12 years, he was seeing Kazemi.  Some published reports have mentioned Kazemi's friends as having said McNair had plans to leave is wife for her.   So did McNair change his mind?  Was he trying to break it off with her to stay with his wife?   It's hard to say with any authority what happened yet.   All we can say for now is that McNair made a mistake.  He made an error in judgment.  One that, tragically, he was not able to correct before the end of his all too short life. 

We've all made errors in judgment.  We all make mistakes.  We normally get a chance to correct them.  So before go labeling Steve McNair a bad guy, as a few columns I've seen have, think back to the Bible.  Anyone that knows me knows that I'm not one to quote scripture.  In fact, I'm going to get more than one comment from friends for doing this.  But, here it applies.  Matthew 7:1 says "Judge not lest ye be judged." So unless you've never made a mistake, I so want to call this one "journalist" out, try to save judgment on something we can't know the whole story behind.   I guess what I'm saying is knock it off.  If for no other reason then out of respect for the widow and the children that will grow up without their father.

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