This tragedy brought back the whole Steve McNair murder/suicide for me. I've been observing how the media has been trying to handle this, and you can see them fumbling around with it. How do you honor what was obviously a troubled young man, yet also take into account that he was also a murderer? How do his teammates and loved ones separate the person they love from the person who, as the last two actions he took on this Earth, murdered the mother of his child, then took his own life? In the case of McNair, he was the murder victim, yet the media struggled with his loss because it came at the hands of his 20 year-old mistress. They were forced to make a moral judgment, almost saying in the process that he was less of a victim because his adultery placed him in the position to allow it to happen. His murderer was painted as a victim also. I didn't know much about Javon Belcher, but I had followed McNair since college, and by all accounts, he lived an exemplary public life. He was one of my favorite players. He was a leader by all accounts. He organized relieve efforts and delivery of supplies to his home Gulf region after hurricanes. He was a great teammate. He opened his own restaurant, largely to serve college kids that didn't have a lot of money. He was there himself, every day with an apron on, working and interacting. But he was also cheating on his wife, with a waitress from another restaurant where he went with his family (the chick actually served him and his family). He ended up being defined by the way his life ended, not how he lived it.
