Ode to Sean Taylor

A post by "Blake the Megalomaniac" To see more posts click here

April 1st, today, is what would be the late Sean Taylor’s birthday.  At the risk of making this all about me, I’d like to give a quick anecdote in memoriam of him.  Happy Birthday to the player God made specifically to play safety for the Washington Redskins.

I thought up two ways to honor Sean Taylor with this post, 1) would be to write it in 21 minutes in honor of the jersey number he donned for three seasons or 2) write the post and leave it unedited to symbolize the much maligned and flawed Taylor who perished before he could fully disprove his doubters. None of those ideas seemed appropriate enough (maybe next year) though.  What I will leave you with is how I came to the Sean Taylor wagon, initially letting it pass, opting to go the way of the doubter, then jumping aboard once I realized some things about him.

My former allegiance to another team has been well-documented and isn’t a fact that I try to hide. I am a Washington Redskins fan but I was at one point big into the Tampa Bay Buccanneers (years before they won their SB mind you).  I’ve always been a defensive guy and when I saw what Monte Kiffin and Tony Dungy were doing with Warren Sapp and those guys, I strayed from the Skins and fell in love with the Bucs.

At one point, I did have a mild disdain aimed at the Redskins, fueled by lack of savvy ownership (Daniel Snyder) and roommates who arrogantly said things in 2004 like “Sean Taylor is the best player in the league,” (Ryan Adams) or that the Redskins were “going to win the Superbowl,” (Pat Toland) before a 2006 season where they went 6-10 if I remember correctly.  In the back of my mind though I still remembered sitting and watching the 1991 Superbowl victory after I moved to Virginia and that always reminded me where my true loyalties lay. They lay with the hometeam.

Being the devil’s advocate when dealing with brazen homers I tended to bash Sean Taylor much like the media.  All I knew of 21 was his rap sheet and the media played that up to be more extensive than it actually was.  As the very green wannabe blogger and/or journalist I bought in blindly.  It was only after he started playing tremendously well did I even think to reevaluate my opinion of the man.  My fondness for defense and safeties in particular forced me to change my opinion of him.  It’s funny how prowess on the field can make you open your eyes but once I did, I realized that Taylor was adored by his teammates and coaches and after that I didn’t begrudge him at all.

When he perished it was difficult for everyone.  Fans were saddened because he not only had so much more to accomplish for the Redskins on the field but so much more to accomplish off it as well.  Listening to all the kind words that poured in from everywhere was touching.  Gregg Williams called him the best player he had ever coached. With that I say, Happy Birthday Sean Taylor.

RIP MEAST

udothedishes…