Taylor’s life worth mourning

Whether it’s worth a million dollars or a million pennies, a life is a life.

The tragic death… Whether it’s worth a million dollars or a million pennies, a life is a life.

The tragic death of 24-year-old Redskins safety Sean Taylor reminds us of that. It doesn’t matter what team he played for or where he went to college. It doesn’t matter what position he played.

In the grand scheme of things, none of that stuff matters.

What matters is a young man is dead, killed by a bullet to the upper leg that damaged his femoral artery. An intruder reportedly fired the gun. Taylor and his girlfriend heard loud noises, the Associated Press reported, just before someone broke through their bedroom door and fired two shots, one of which fatally wounded Taylor.

His 1-year-old daughter survives him. His parents survive him.

Let that stew in your heart and in your mind for a moment. Throw away the jerseys, the pads, the money, the cars and the mansions. No parent ever wants to outlive his child. No parent wants to leave this life before his child grows up.

Taylor had his life stolen from him, and his daughter will suffer for it. She will never know her father. He will never have a chance to see her go to school, drive a car or go to the prom. He’ll never see her grow up.

But she will hear stories about her daddy’s life, and the young Redskin sure had an intriguing one.

He grew up a beast of an athlete. He played three positions in high school. He was a top high school football recruit. When he landed at University of Miami, a 15-minute drive from his high school, Gulliver Prep, Taylor made an immediate impact.

He was one of four true freshmen to play for Miami in 2001, when the Hurricanes won the national championship. As a sophomore, he had four interceptions, 85 tackles and returned a punt for a touchdown. He had 11 tackles and two interceptions in the national championship game against Ohio State, an epic matchup that took two overtimes to decide. To this day, the Miami-Ohio State Fiesta Bowl is considered one of the best college football games in recent memory, and Taylor’s star shined brightly in it.

In his final season at Miami, Taylor tied the Miami school record for interceptions in a season. His 10 picks matched Bennie Blades, the father of former Pitt star H.B. Blades. He shut down Pitt’s Larry Fitzgerald in Miami’s 28-14 win over Pitt.

At season’s end, Taylor was an All-American, a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award given to the nation’s best defensive back and the Big East Defensive Player of the Year.

Taylor entered the 2004 NFL Draft, where the Redskins selected him as the fifth overall pick. That’s when the talented youngster ran into some trouble.

Taylor, while starting at free safety and compiling impressive numbers as a rookie, struggled off the field. He fired two of his agents, left the mandatory NFL Rookie Symposium and was accused of spitting on Bengals receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh.

He was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol in October 2004. After a judge ruled that he had not definitively failed the field sobriety test, which was shown on tape in the courtroom, Taylor was eventually acquitted of all charges, including failing to take a breathalyzer test.

In 2005, Taylor’s second pro season, the safety produced another stellar year. But NFL and team fines and legal troubles off the field marred his solid season. Taylor was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a firearm and misdemeanor battery.

The case became a circus of sorts, with the prosecutor continuously asking for extensions. After his case had been postponed for nearly three months, Taylor’s defense team asked for the case’s dismissal. Ultimately, the charges were dropped, and Taylor agreed to donate scholarship money to Florida schools.

But what seemed certain to be another sour off-the-field career of a young NFL player suddenly changed. Taylor had a new sense of pride and a new challenge to be a better man.

His daughter was born.

“It’s hard to expect a man to grow up overnight,” Taylor’s Redskins and University of Miami teammate Clinton Portis told the Associated Press. “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.”

After making the 2006 Pro Bowl, Taylor’s 2007 season was off to an electric start. He is currently tied for the lead in interceptions in the NFC with five, even after he had missed the past two games with a sprained knee. The newly exuberant Taylor had spoken with the media in a group interview prior to the season’s start.

“I take this job very seriously,” Taylor said. “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.'”

Like a comet screaming across the sky at a furious pace, Taylor’s career flashed brightly and blindingly before flaring out without any warning sign. He was a person who wanted to change for the better off the field, and perform at his best on the field. He was an example of a guy headed down the wrong path who turned his life around.

A life is a life, and this one’s tragic ending should not be forgotten.

Contact Jeff Greer at jag59@pitt.edu. Rapid fire will return next week.