# Update: Sean Taylor Dies



## taddy1340 (Dec 10, 2004)

Now confirmed he died. As stated in the other thread, he was a thug. to be quoted as a "wonderful, humble" man doesn't strike me as someone who'd pistol whip another man. I hate to say it, but people always inflate the legacy of others after they die. He may have begun to change, but he was a thug and I wouldn't doubt if his past played a role in the recent break-ins and shooting.

I do feel for the woman and child who were in the house though...that will affect the rest of their lives...

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3129406

MIAMI -- Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor died early Tuesday, a day after he was shot at home. He was 24.

Family friend Richard Sharpstein said Taylor's father told him the news around 5:30 a.m.

"His father called and said he was with Christ and he cried and thanked me," said Sharpstein, Taylor's former lawyer. "It's a tremendously sad and unnecessary event. He was a *wonderful, humble*, talented young man, and had a huge life in front of him. Obviously God had other plans."

He said Taylor died early Tuesday at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, where he had been airlifted after the shooting early Monday.

Doctors had been encouraged late Monday when Taylor squeezed a nurse's hand, according to Vinny Cerrato, the Redskins' vice president of football operations. But Sharpstein said he was told Taylor never regained consciousness after being transported to the hospital and that he wasn't sure how he had squeezed the nurse's hand.

"Maybe he was trying to say goodbye or something," Sharpstein said.

Taylor was shot early Monday in the upper leg, damaging an artery and causing significant blood loss.

Miami-Dade Police were investigating the attack, which came just eight days after an intruder was reported at Taylor's home. Officers were dispatched about 1:45 a.m. Monday after Taylor's girlfriend called 911. Taylor was airlifted to the hospital.

Sharpstein said Taylor's girlfriend told him the couple was awakened by loud noises, and Taylor grabbed a machete he keeps in the bedroom for protection. Someone then broke through the bedroom door and fired two shots, one missing and one hitting Taylor, Sharpstein said. Taylor's 1-year-old daughter, Jackie, was also in the house, but neither she nor Taylor's girlfriend were injured.

"It could have been a possible burglary; it could have been a possible robbery," Miami-Dade Police Lt. Nancy Perez said. "It has not been confirmed as yet."

The shooting happened in the pale yellow house he bought two years ago in the Miami suburb of Palmetto Bay. Eight days before the attack someone pried open a front window, rifled through drawers and left a kitchen knife on a bed at Taylor's home, according to police.

"They're really sifting through that incident and today's incident," Miami-Dade Detective Mario Rachid said, "to see if there's any correlation."

Born April 1, 1983, Taylor starred as a running back and defensive back at Gulliver Preparatory School in Miami. His father, Pedro Taylor, is police chief of Florida City.

A private man with a small inner circle, Taylor rarely granted interviews. But, behind the scenes, Taylor was described as personable and smart -- an emerging locker room leader.

Especially since the birth of his daughter.

"From the first day I met him, from then to now, it's just like night and day," Redskins receiver James Thrash said. "He's really got his head on his shoulders and has been doing really well as far as just being a man. It's been awesome to see that growth."

An All-American at the University of Miami, Taylor was drafted by the Redskins as the fifth overall selection in 2004. Coach Joe Gibbs called it "one of the most researched things" he'd ever done, but the problems soon began. Taylor fired his agent, then skipped part of the NFL's mandatory rookie symposium, drawing a $25,000 fine. Driving home late from a party during the season, he was pulled over and charged with drunken driving. The case was dismissed in court, but by then it had become a months-long distraction for the team.

Taylor also was fined at least seven times for late hits, uniform violations and other infractions over his first three seasons, including a $17,000 penalty for spitting in the face of Tampa Bay running back Michael Pittman during a playoff game in January 2006.

Meanwhile, Taylor endured a yearlong legal battle after he was accused in 2005 of brandishing a gun at a man during a fight over allegedly stolen all-terrain vehicles near Taylor's home. He eventually pleaded no contest to two misdemeanors and was sentenced to 18 months' probation.

Taylor said the end of the assault case was like "a gray cloud" being lifted. It was also around the time that Jackie was born, and teammates noticed a change.

"It's hard to expect a man to grow up overnight," said Redskins teammate and close friend Clinton Portis, who also played with Taylor at the University of Miami. "But ever since he had his child, it was like a new Sean, and everybody around here knew it. He was always smiling, always happy, always talking about his child."

On the field, Taylor's play was often erratic. Assistant coach Gregg Williams frequently called Taylor the best athlete he'd ever coached, but nearly every big play was mitigated by a blown assignment. Taylor led the NFL in missed tackles in 2006 yet made the Pro Bowl because of his reputation as one of the hardest hitters in the league.

This year, however, Taylor was allowed to play a true free safety position, using his speed and power to chase down passes and crush would-be receivers. His five interceptions tie for the league lead in the NFC, even though he missed the last two games because of a sprained knee.

"I just take this job very seriously," Taylor said in a rare group interview during training camp. "It's almost like, you play a kid's game for a king's ransom. And if you don't take it serious enough, eventually one day you're going to say, 'Oh, I could have done this, I could have done that.'

"So I just say, 'I'm healthy right now, I'm going into my fourth year, and why not do the best that I can?' And that's whatever it is, whether it's eating right or training myself right, whether it's studying harder, whatever I can do to better myself."

His hard work was well-noted.

"He loved football. He felt like that's what he was made to do," Gibbs said. "And I think what I've noticed over the last year and a half ... is he matured. I think his baby had a huge impact on him. There was a real growing up in his life."

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press


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## Bore.224 (Mar 23, 2005)

How the Hell do you know he was a thug!! :******: We all make mistakes in this life and his history of problems in no way implies that he is a thug to me anyway. He was in his own house not at some nightclub at 3AM, you should really rethink your position!


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## Norm70 (Aug 26, 2005)

i have to agree with bore, taddy. It sounds like he guy changed his ways and i don't think he commited any unforgivable crime. Sounds like he was a selfish kid that grew up. Maybe i am wrong, i think we will know more in the coming days. I didn't watch the skins that much but it sounds like he turned around on the field also.


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## SiouxperDave25 (Oct 6, 2002)

Live By the Gun, Die By the Gun


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## djleye (Nov 14, 2002)

You can't really believe that this was some random home invasion, can you? I would be willing to bet a lot of money that this was someone from his past seeking retribution. You associate with that kind of person you should know the possible consequences. I do feel for his wife/girlfriend and the kid(s) involved!!


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## taddy1340 (Dec 10, 2004)

Bore...ummm...I consider anyone involved in this type of behavior a thug...see link: http://was.scout.com/2/520808.html This story even plays to his side in that he was unfairly targeted, but it doesn't argue the facts of his involvement.

When you try to take the law into your own hands, you're a thug...black, white, hispanic, whatever. He was an arrogant athlete with a history of disrespecting authority...both legal and team officials.

Again, it's sad he died in the house, but look at the lifestyle. I don't give two shiiits if that's how he grew up and he doesn't know any better. I grew up in an alcoholic household and all my friends drink and drive. I wouldn't expect anyone to feel sorry for me if I chose not to leave that life behind and ended up dying because of it. Instead, as a man and father I left it behind. If he made enemies in the past, he should have been aware of it and gotten his family the heck out of dodge. Leave the lifestlye behind!

Sure, we all make mistakes, but when's the last time you threatened someone with a gun or were involved in a drive-by? Give me a break...T-H-U-G!


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## taddy1340 (Dec 10, 2004)

BTW fellas, I'm sure you'd be the first to forgive me and not consider me a thug or the like if I pistol-whipped you, a friend, or family member or pointed a handgun and threatened to kill you (stated for effect only). It doesn't matter if he was trying to find his stolen goods. This ain't the wild west.

Do a search on "Sean Taylor pistol whips" and tell me differently.

AGAIN, it's a shame that his family was subject to such malicious act. I think Michael Wilbon may have said it best, "I know how I feel about Taylor, and this latest news isn't surprising in the least, not to me. Whether this incident is or isn't random, Taylor grew up in a violent world, embraced it, claimed it, loved to run in it and refused to divorce himself from it. He ain't the first and won't be the last. We have no idea what happened, or if what we know now will be revised later. It's sad, yes, but hardly surprising."

Finally...crimes ARE NOT mistakes...they are crimes. Mistakes in our past are being bad to our parents, cheating on a loved-one, etc...NOT threatening to kill someone.


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## djleye (Nov 14, 2002)

Well stated Mike.................For Packer fan!!!!! :wink:


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## taddy1340 (Dec 10, 2004)

In reading the numerous articles and blogs about this topic, it amazes me how people want to say how much he was growing up and becoming a better person and his negative past shouldn't reflect who is. Again, mistakes are one thing, but threatening a person with a loaded gun is on a whole new level! And then he only gets 18 months probation? They want to say he was just a kid and he'd learned from his mistakes and he was finally on the right track and this is a "tragedy." He was over 22 years old when that happened!

There are fellow men and women serving in the military at 18...are they "kids" that should not be held accountable and given a pass like Taylor? This crap makes me puke...I don't care if the shooting was related to his past or not. He was shot and it's horrible it happened, but it was also terrible that he never served a day in jail for his actions.

Maybe when OJ dies, we'll all remember what a great running back he was and give him a pass for his off the field behavior.

If he wasn't an NFL player, it would be just another blip on the radar and most people wouldn't give a crap. The real tragedy is that yet another child will be left without a father.


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

This is dead on ......."AGAIN, it's a shame that his family was subject to such malicious act. I think Michael Wilbon may have said it best, "I know how I feel about Taylor, and this latest news isn't surprising in the least, not to me. Whether this incident is or isn't random, Taylor grew up in a violent world, embraced it, claimed it, loved to run in it and refused to divorce himself from it. He ain't the first and won't be the last. We have no idea what happened, or if what we know now will be revised later. It's sad, yes, but hardly surprising."

A thug is a thug is a thug.


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## R y a n (Apr 4, 2005)

An excellent article written by a black sportswriter...

It's about time they started calling a spade a spade..

Ryan

*Taylor's death a grim reminder for us all*
Jason Whitlock / FOXSports.com

*http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/7499442*

There's a reason I call them the Black KKK. The pain, the fear and the destruction are all the same.

Someone who loved Sean Taylor is crying right now. The life they knew has been destroyed, an 18-month-old baby lost her father, and, if you're a black man living in America, you've been reminded once again that your life is in constant jeopardy of violent death.

The Black KKK claimed another victim, a high-profile professional football player with a checkered past this time.

No, we don't know for certain the circumstances surrounding Taylor's death. I could very well be proven wrong for engaging in this sort of aggressive speculation. But it's no different than if you saw a fat man fall to the ground clutching his chest. You'd assume a heart attack, and you'd know, no matter the cause, the man needed to lose weight.

Well, when shots are fired and a black man hits the pavement, there's every statistical reason to believe another black man pulled the trigger. That's not some negative, unfair stereotype. It's a reality we've been living with, tolerating and rationalizing for far too long.

When the traditional, white KKK lynched, terrorized and intimidated black folks at a slower rate than its modern-day dark-skinned replacement, at least we had the good sense to be outraged and in no mood to contemplate rationalizations or be fooled by distractions.

Our new millennium strategy is to pray the Black KKK goes away or ignores us.

How's that working?

About as well as the attempt to shift attention away from this uniquely African-American crisis by focusing on an alleged injustice the white media allegedly perpetrated against Sean Taylor.

Within hours of his death, there was a story circulating that members of the black press were complaining that news outlets were disrespecting Taylor's victimhood by reporting on his troubled past

No disrespect to Taylor, but he controlled the way he would be remembered by the way he lived. His immature, undisciplined behavior with his employer, his run-ins with law enforcement, which included allegedly threatening a man with a loaded gun, and the fact a vehicle he owned was once sprayed with bullets are all pertinent details when you've been murdered.

Marcellus Wiley, a former NFL player, made the radio circuit Wednesday, singing the tune that athletes are targets. That was his explanation for the murders of Taylor and Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams and the armed robberies of NBA players Antoine Walker and Eddy Curry.

Really?

Let's cut through the bull(manure) and deal with reality. Black men are targets of black men. Period. Go check the coroner's office and talk with a police detective.

These bullets aren't checking W-2s.

Rather than whine about white folks' insensitivity or reserve a special place of sorrow for rich athletes, we'd be better served mustering the kind of outrage and courage it took in the 1950s and 1960s to stop the white KKK from hanging black men from trees.

But we don't want to deal with ourselves. We take great joy in prescribing medicine to cure the hate in other people's hearts. Meanwhile, our self-hatred, on full display for the world to see, remains untreated, undiagnosed and unrepentant.

Our self-hatred has been set to music and reinforced by a pervasive culture that promotes a crab-in-barrel mentality.

You're damn straight I blame hip hop for playing a role in the genocide of American black men. When your leading causes of death and dysfunction are murder, ignorance and incarceration, there's no reason to give a free pass to a culture that celebrates murder, ignorance and incarceration.

Of course there are other catalysts, but until we recapture the minds of black youth, convince them that it's not OK to "super man dat ho" and end any and every dispute by "cocking on your *****," nothing will change.

Does a Soulja Boy want an education?

HBO did a fascinating documentary on Little Rock Central High School, the Arkansas school that required the National Guard so that nine black kids could attend in the 1950s. Fifty years later, the school is one of the nation's best in terms of funding and educational opportunities. It's 60 percent black and located in a poor black community.

Watch the documentary and ask yourself why nine poor kids in the '50s risked their lives to get a good education and a thousand poor black kids today ignore the opportunity that is served to them on a platter.

Blame drugs, blame Ronald Reagan, blame George Bush, blame it on the rain or whatever. There's only one group of people who can change the rotten, anti-education, pro-violence culture our kids have adopted. We have to do it.

According to reports, Sean Taylor had difficulty breaking free from the unsavory characters he associated with during his youth.

The "keepin' it real" mantra of hip hop is in direct defiance to evolution. There's always someone ready to tell you you're selling out if you move away from the immature and dangerous activities you used to do, you're selling out if you speak proper English, embrace education, dress like a grown man, do anything mainstream.

The Black KKK is enforcing the same crippling standards as its parent organization. It wants to keep black men in their place - uneducated, outside the mainstream and six feet deep.

In all likelihood, the Black Klan and its mentality buried Sean Taylor, and any black man or boy reading this could be next.

You can go comment on his story *here* or *here*

.


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## taddy1340 (Dec 10, 2004)

Ryan...thanks for sharing. I respect Whitlock for expressing his views. It takes a black man to write that, because no white reporter's career would survive the backlash. He's often been called an Uncle Tom because of his views, but so has Bill Cosby and others. I commend them for trying to better not only their race, but American Culture.


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## Bore.224 (Mar 23, 2005)

taddy1340 said:


> BTW fellas, I'm sure you'd be the first to forgive me and not consider me a thug or the like if I pistol-whipped you, a friend, or family member or pointed a handgun and threatened to kill you (stated for effect only). It doesn't matter if he was trying to find his stolen goods. This ain't the wild west.
> 
> Do a search on "Sean Taylor pistol whips" and tell me differently.


I dunno some people need pistol whipping!!


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## taddy1340 (Dec 10, 2004)

Bore.224 said:


> taddy1340 said:
> 
> 
> > BTW fellas, I'm sure you'd be the first to forgive me and not consider me a thug or the like if I pistol-whipped you, a friend, or family member or pointed a handgun and threatened to kill you (stated for effect only). It doesn't matter if he was trying to find his stolen goods. This ain't the wild west.
> ...


Must be your way of saying...I guess I was wrong after all! :lol:


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## Bore.224 (Mar 23, 2005)

No if I was wrong I would have said " I was wrong". I did not know this man and to call him a thug when we know the papers and media blow things way out of porportion, is well lets just say foolish.

So I should have called you a FOOL


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