Reflections on the Tragedy in Kansas City

This past Saturday there was a lot of great things going on in the country in the realm of sports.  College football was playing their championship games (and playoffs).  The NFL was gearing up for another great day of action.  But there was one tragic event that cast a somberness to the weekend.

When I woke up that morning and was going about my routine I saw on twitter a tweet by Danny Parkins, a sports talk host from Kansas City, who had tweeted that Arrowhead Stadium was on lockdown.  I thought at the time that was weird and was trying to think of what was going on at the stadium.  Then slowly tweets and news reports were coming in across the internet.  There was a shooting at a house in K.C. & there was an incident at the stadium practice facilities and that those two things were linked.  Then there was a murder-suicide.  Then it was one of the players involved.

Finally, the story came out.  Jovan Belcher, linebacker for the Chiefs, had shot and killed his girlfriend, Kasandra Perkins, and mother of their daughter then killed himself.  As more details came out, the more it was a tragic story.  It started with Belcher getting angry at his girlfriend for staying out too late after spending time with friends at a concert and hanging out afterwards.  It escalated into Belcher shooting and killing Perkins and then driving to the Chiefs practice facility.  There he talked with Chiefs head coach Romeo Crennel, GM Scott Pioli & linebackers coach Gary Gibbs before pulling out a gun and killing himself as they watched unable to stop him.

So much has been written in the past 48 hours that I'm sure a lot of what I say would just be repeating but there are two things that I do want to reflect on here.  The first is that it's a tragic reminder that ultimately (unlike Jason Whitlock & Bob Costas say) there is a sin problem in our world.  Belcher in his anger and jealousy acted in a tragic manner which robbed Perkins of her life and their daughter of her mother.  Sin was at the root of this.  I was reminded yesterday morning by my pastor who preached on anger (it was planned sermon prior to this event) and was reminded of the verse in Ephesians 4:26-27 "Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil."  Unfortunately, Belcher in his anger did sin and in one instant not only his life but the lives of those around him were affected.  Sin has consequences that affect not only us but those around us.  Thankfully we have a savior in Jesus who forgives us of our sins and does not leave us in our sins but until He returns again, we do have to deal with the effects of sin.

The other thing to reflect on was something I read this morning on NBC's Pro Football Talk website.  There was an article written by Mike Florio.  He shared Brady Quinn (Chiefs QB)'s comments postgame.  If you haven't heard or read them yet, they are worth sharing.  I will leave you with those quotes:

“The one thing people can hopefully try to take away, I guess, is the relationships they have with people,” Quinn told reporters after the game.  “I know when it happened, I was sitting and, in my head, thinking what I could have done differently.  When you ask someone how they are doing, do you really mean it?  When you answer someone back how you are doing, are you really telling the truth?
“We live in a society of social networks, with Twitter pages and Facebook, and that’s fine, but we have contact with our work associates, our family, our friends, and it seems like half the time we are more preoccupied with our phone and other things going on instead of the actual relationships that we have right in front of us.  Hopefully, people can learn from this and try to actually help if someone is battling something deeper on the inside than what they are revealing on a day-to-day basis.”

Random Sports Reflections

As I take a few minutes out of a cold, rainy Monday in the Upstate of SC to ponder about some stuff...

*True to form, I picked the AFC & NFC title games correct just like last year.  Well if that holds to form, whoever I pick for the Super Bowl should win right?  Haha, hmmmm probably not so fast on that one.  Lot of time to think through that.  I am glad that Baltimore isn't going.  That would've been a rough game to watch.  It's like the Yankees playing in the World Series, not worth watching cause I don't like them.  Instead we get a rematch of Super Bowl XLII.  I'll have my thoughts & predictions of that game next week.

*Sad to hear about the passing of Joe Paterno over the weekend.  It is a tragic story in many ways and one that can at times leave one speechless.  I refrained from blogging about the story when it came out last November.  Partly because I didn't know what to say & partly because it seemed that everyone else was talking about it.  I didn't know what I could contribute that was any different.  The whole scandal is a reminder of how we live in a fallen world.  I hope that JoePa was a believer and I hope that would give comfort to his family as they mourn his loss.  And I hope that there is continued prayer for the people of Happy Valley and the Penn State community for those who are having to deal daily with the effects of the actions of Jerry Sandusky.  And I hope that there are believers in that area who are able to share Christ and let Him work & heal broken lives there.

*If you haven't yet, check out the site SportsYapp.  They are a part of Sports Spectrum, a magazine that talks about Christianity and sports.  They have a podcast that's updated fairly regularly and have done some interviews with some players, reporters and announcers sharing their testimonies like Dave Pasch, Clark Kellogg, Chris Broussard and Brett Kern.  There's a link to the latest podcast here on my blog (it's on the right side of the page, just scroll down and you should see it.)  Really good stuff and I suggest giving a listen sometime.

Reflecting on Steve McNair

I was on the phone with my dad (10:30pm local time in Krakow) when he told me about the death of Steve McNair. My first reaction was shock. Complete and utter shock. It's one of those things you don't expect to hear. As more information has come out, it has been more tragic in nature.

I thought as I reflected on this I'd look at both the negative and positive. The negative being that it looks more and more like a murder-suicide also involving a 20 year old girl. This girl also was arrested earlier in the week for DUI in a Escalade co-owned by Steve and her. It's sad to hear given the fact that Steve is married and has four kids and for all intents and purposes in apperance was happily married. If there was cheating involved, it is tragic. It reflects how a bad decision can have bad consequences, and in this case really tragic ones.

On the positive side, he will be remembered as a tough quarterback. When the team came to Tennessee in 1997, he was the starting quarterback. For the "hometown" team, he was the QB. He was the epitome of perseverence and toughness and no matter what injury he had and how much practice he missed, you expected to see him out on the field on Sunday. I remember last year blogging right after his retirement about memories I have of his playing days with the Titans. It was a sad day when he retired, it's a sadder day that he passed away.

My thoughts and prayers go out to his family. I hope that Steve followed Jesus and I hope that his family does and that they can turn to Him for comfort in this time of hurt. Steve, you will be missed.

Reflections on Plaxico Burress

This is one that I've mulled on a litle recently, the incident involving Plaxico Burress shooting himself. I'm not the only one as a wise man (notice I didn't say wise guy) as already commented on it on his blog (which you should check out, http://billyvsquickhits.blogspot.com/). I'll just add my two sense here.

I found it ironic that the incident happened on the same weekend as the Washington Redskins honored Sean Taylor who was tragically shot and killed in his home by robbers. I think too often there is a lack of common sense that seems to permeate in situations like the one involving Burress. There is an old saying that seems to work well..."Nothing good happens at (fill in the blank early morning hour)". I personally don't have a problem with going to a club but if you feel like you have to carry a gun in order to go to a club, then you probably shouldn't be at that club. And I'm not against owning guns either (I have several back in Tennessee that are with my family), but there should be proper care and handling with those too and not being careless with them.

Hopefully, something can be learned from this incident, especially from Burress. My guess is he will not be with the Giants next year. Wherever he lands, I hope that he will have a better perspective on his life and those around him.

Death and the Young Athlete

I'm sure many of you have heard the story now about Jamiel Shaw, Jr., the high school football player from L.A. who was gunned down on March 2 as a random act of gang violence on his way home. The story was tragic not only in the sense that a young man of only 17 years old was killed but that also his mother was in the army serving in Iraq when it happened.

Stories like this crush me. I did not know Jamiel or "Jas" as he was known to his friends. I never met him. But I remember what it was like to be in high school. I remember what it was like to be around the athletes. I wasn't blessed with the great athletic ability that some of the people I was friends with. But I understood what it took to be successful. You had to work at it. In a young athlete, there is so much promise and potential and success all rolled into one. When I looked at some of my classmates, I could see their ability and also their potential. Whether they took advantage of it was up to them but it was there.

I'm sure that Jamiel was the type of player that had potential. The kind of player that was looked at by college scouts and was going to be one of the a factor on any team. But it is something that we'll never get to find out.

My hope and prayer is that Jamiel followed Jesus. I don't know if he did or not. My prayers are also with his family and friends as they deal with this tragedy. It once again reminds us how life is fragile, that no matter how invincible we may seem to be, how young we may be, we are all going to die someday. At least there is comfort in the One who has overcome death and brought Life to those who follow Him.