Monday Morning Starting Five: The R.I.P. Steve Air McNair Edition
There’s so much celebrity death going on. I knew somebody who was tragically murdered as well and I wish it all would stop, but time stops for no one. There will be more death. There will be death around your corner, on your street and in your neighborhood. You will know some and will have heard of others. Steve McNair’s death is the most searched event in this site’s history…even over a holiday weekend. He was that dude. Played with great chill and was the face of the Tennessee Titans for a decade. He and Eddie George rocked the NFL block with poised and proper professional athleticism. Lining up against a McNair led team meant you were in for a straight up bar fight. He won and he smiled doing it…even though he was in ridiculous pain. His years on this earth would have been painful because
of all the wear and tear but now his sons are missing a Father. His family is missing a son and a brother and his wife is missing her husband. I hope you all are listening when stuff like this happens. Women are no different but we as men need to understand the importance of raising our kids with one woman. I look at my three kids and wonder what would have been. How would they be different? Would they be more earth grounded as a result? Life never knows. If you are out there, stop. If you are in a marriage you don’t want to be in and there is no shot at reconciling, then step clean. Come on brothas. The sins of the Father affect his grandchildren. I’m not judging Air. I loved him. I rocked an authentic jersey of his for years. It was sturdy like him. I was proud to wear it and now I truly know why. He was really the first Black quarterback to be drafted and given the 
keys to the organization and he damn sure showed and proved. How will Vince Young be affected? He still owns the Division 1-AA total passing yardage record. I thought he’d come in and wreck passing shop in Tennessee but Fisher relied on his penchant for winning the moment instead of the big bang play. All that fight was on our mind when he drove 87 yards in the Super Bowl and was one step from taking an already crazy game into overtime. He was shedding lineman and linebackers on that final drive like his life depended on it. His legacy was defined by that moment…even in defeat. He was the toughest athlete I’ve ever seen…bar none. What a quarterback. What a player. What a fighter. What a teammate. What a friend. What a husband. What a Father. Hold ya own and love the ones you are with. If it works out, generations of your family will shine. We miss you Air. Even in death you still teach us.
Cynthia McKinney released and is returning home. (Davey D’s Hip Hop Corner)
Rasheed just helped the Celtics win the Eastern Conference. (Boston Herald)
Roger Federer becomes the most accomplished male tennis player ever. (Guardian.co.uk)
Venus and Serena cap their Wimbledon dominance with yet another doubles crown. (Guardian.co.uk)
Tiger wins at Congressional (Baltimore Sun)
Pretty stirring tribute video of Air’s career…
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July 6th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
My pops called me earlier and asked “why?” I don’t know man. I’m not the moral police and Lord knows I have my shortcomings. Dude was a football legend. Fame, power and money attract honies. We know this. I’m not ready to throw Steve under the bus because he had a side chick. I don’t condone it, but I just feel that people are taking this “he cheated on his wife so he deserved it” stance. STEVE MCNAIR DID NOT DESERVE TO BE GUNNED DOWN. Let the one without sin cast the first stone. Now folks are whispering that his wife hadn’t seen him in two days. That’s none of our business man.
I’m sick right now. I struggle with the thought of a man losing his life over this. If every man with a jumpoff got shot there would be alot of dead men. Many of our fathers, grandfathers, uncles, brothers and best friends would be gone. I’ve read others saying he chose a low class chick abd maybe that led to his demise. WTF does that matter? There’s no “right” way to cheat. There’s no proper chick to involve yourself with. High class, low class, no class we have a man gone before his time.
To tie in all of these thoughts I’ll say that I appreciated McNair as an athlete. His personal life is tragic in that it caused an untimely death and the loss of a husband and father. This is crazy…..
July 6th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Good points my brotha. His demise does not influence my view of him as a football player. I would never condone infidelity but, like you say, his life is none of our business and I’ve never been cool with booty chatter anyway.
July 6th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
Sad story.
The entire story isn’t out yet — and I won’t comment on that aspect of it until the results are in.
With that said, I believe that Jerrold is right in that people are introducing elements into the discussion that are tough to swallow. Perhaps this is something that elders have known for millenia — that people need “idols” to be perfect; perhaps that’s why Christians fought like cats and dogs over the question of Jesus’ humanity and perfection; perhaps that’s why there were at least 16 crucified saviors before him with similar stories.
Either way, we are what we are. You don’t have to be perfect for me to love you. You don’t have to be a sinner for me to revile you.
I have many fond memories of McNair as a player (even though I am a Steeler fan.) He was hard to root against. He was usually going to beat you anyway. He always found Mason or Wychek on 3rd down. He always made that extra yard. He was always on the field.
To be off the field, forever, at age 36 is simply tragic. Men have recovered from “infidelity” (such as it is) before to achieve great things in the public sphere. I am, however, left with the cruel juxtaposition of McNair’s short life with the long, long life of Vietnam War architect Robert McNamara. He died at age 93. What more could Steve McNair have achieved in SIX DECADES?
I do not know or care to know the intimate details of Mr. McNair’s relationships at home or outside the home. It is none of my affair. Nonetheless, there are two young people who’ve lost their lives in a manner that defies reason. There was a solution to this that eluded both of them. That is the tragedy and we are all diminished by this.
July 6th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Temple3:
You are very smart.
July 6th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
I agree w/ Jerrold and T3. Very well stated my brothers. I don’t know what more I can add to sum up how I feel about the entire situation.
July 6th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
I second GN’s thoughts.
July 6th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
What’s disheartening is the fact that according to reports in the Nashville community people are “surprised” that McNair had an alleged relationship outside of his marriage.
Why?
This sort of idol worship ended for me when I was in high school and heard Sugar Ray Leonard admit that he had used cocaine and beat his former wife Juanita. I loved Ray Leonard as a little boy, had his gloves and trunks…I wanted to be Ray Leonard.
None of this is shocking, only the fact that Steve McNair is gone
July 6th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
To be fair, I don’t place the use of narcotics (specifically cocaine) and violence against women (particularly in the case of a paid pugilist).
In keeping with what Jerrold said up top, I don’t know too many men (past or present) who have practiced monogamy. That applies a thousand times over to young men with money and social standing — let alone military power, political power or some other form of “magnetism” that attracts others. It is simply a rare thing.
The very idea flies in the face of our biology and the overwhelming majority of social and sacred traditions around the world. (I am not making a moral judgment about whether it is “right” or “wrong.”) At the bottom of this question of monogamy is the real world issue of how women fulfill their biological imperative — 1) optimum reproduction with the men with the mostest — 2) optimal provisions for the progeny of such a union.
In a patrilineal society where women are largely removed from the sources of wealth, they choose marriage — and optimize their outcomes through the legal and fiscal enforcement of monogamy. Women fight for property rights and “allow” men to “cheat” (or optimize their biological imperative — to germinate). In a matrilineal society, women are not excluded from production and DO NOT have an imperative to impose monogamy because it is not in their economic interests to do so. Instead, “cheating” as it were, can only occur beyond the limits of an agreed sisterhood where women also choose (though not exclusively).
I cannot walk down the simplistic path about monogamy and “cheating” because the economics of this form of social organization is simply too complex. Monogamy has costs and benefits — just like other systems, but it is routinely abandoned in America and the West because men in power know they need not follow its directives.
Was not the Anglican Church founded over the “right” of a rich and powerful man to have a “side chick”?
July 6th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
Pardon me:
I meant to say that say “…alongside adultery.”
In the grand scheme of things, perhaps a sin is a sin is a sin — but like Jerrold said, let he who is without cast the first stone. My hands are TIED!!!
July 6th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
Temple, I was using the Sugar Ray Leonard example to point out that was when I realized that these were people with problems like everyone else.
I think we’re all bound and gagged when it comes to throwin stones.
July 6th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
I hear you. I really wasn’t directing that to you — I was just thinking out loud. No offense.
July 6th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
I disagree with Jemelle’s assertion that Mc Nair is not a Hall of Fame player because if you would change teams and put Tom Brady or Peyton Manning on those Titans teams I highly doubt they could get to a Super Bowl with their style of play but if you put Mc Nair on those Colts and Pats teams the Colts would be wearing more than one ring. Mc Nair’s style of play was a combination of Steve Young andf Troy Aikman and because of Jeff Fisher’s system he was rarely able to show those gifts to the world.
R.I.P. Steve Mc Nair
July 6th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
The list of guys with more passing yards than McNair who are not in the HOF or not definitely going (Favre, Brady, Manning):
Vinny Testaverde, Drew Bledsoe, Dave Krieg, Boomer Esiason, Kerry Collins, Jim Everett, Jim Hart, Ken Anderson, Steve DeBerg, John Hadl, Phil Simms, Mark Brunell, and John Brodie.
This is an interesting question. Brunell had fewer starts, more yards, more TD’s, fewer picks and a higher rating — but McNair never played with the equivalent of a Jimmy Smith. He had the equivalent of a Keenan McCardell in Derrick Mason, but the Titans were notorious for their inability to stretch the field. Of course, Brunell was never known for his toughness or his ability to deliver big wins in big games.
On the face of it, I’d take McNair over every QB on this list because of his versatility. His accuracy improved over his career — and had he had an opportunity to play with the guys that Culpepper played with, this might be an open and shut case.
I can’t say one way or the other if he’ll get in, but I wouldn’t be outraged either way. Steve has numbers very similar to Phil Simms and Aikman, but Aikman’s numbers are really pedestrian for a man with 3 rings. Phil only won 1 Super Bowl and that was by the slimmest of margins (arguably even closer than McNair’s loss.)
July 6th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
None taken my man. I think he gets in, if it happens on the first try will be the debate.
July 6th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
So sad
July 6th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
I hear the call about the infidelity thing and concur. I also heard that he and his wife was separated (don’t know the validity of that) not that it really matters at this point.
However, the use of the cheating angle is the beginning of the “keep McNair out of the Hall” movement. Trust!
As Temple said, even with the people around him, he was still a warrior and produced.
I see it hear and also on the continual Michael Jackson is a pervert/pedophilia attacks. African people…it’s still not safe to get in the murky waters of gutter attacks.
July 6th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
You are right on Temple about Mc Nair, if we are going to judge Quarterbacks by championships then Brad Johnson should be in the HOF , stats are not the true indicator of team success. Mc Nair had to play with less talent than Manning and Brady with only Eddie George and Jeff Fisher’s conservative offense schemes hindred his development.
July 6th, 2009 at 11:03 pm
Watch someone like Steve Deberg get in one day way down the line based on touchdowns and longevity.
It’s not about titles or Marino wouldn’t have smelled the Hall.
July 6th, 2009 at 11:56 pm
Sanfoka,
One thing I have always observed about America and Black Men is the double standard of morality they always assign to us when we have moral failings. It does not matter if it’s Ike Turner, Micheal Jackson, Jim Brown or Prince , White Americans (and many minorities) will act like moral gatekeepers but will deny that John Lennon beat up his first wife or that Brad Pitt had an affair with Angelina Jolie while still married to Jennifer Aniston and still give the benefit of the doubt and celebrate their achievements.
July 7th, 2009 at 12:29 am
Great points Temple, Jerold, Eric, Sankofa…….as always you brothas speak the truth.
I really can’t add any more to the comments about Steve’s life on and off the field…..you guys said everything that I was thinking.
@Sankofa
“However, the use of the cheating angle is the beginning of the “keep McNair out of the Hall” movement. Trust!”
D@MN RIGHT!!!!
I been telling my wife this ever since the news dropped….and yes Mizzo Deberg or even Vinny will make it before Steve.
Air Mcnair is a HOFer I don’t give a flip what those fools in the media say.
How in the world a man throws for 31,000 yards and rushes for 3500 and isn’t a HOFer. Garbage black QBs have to jump through hoops for the HOF.
Anyway I hope that Alcorn has a tribute to the brotha for the first football game.
July 7th, 2009 at 12:31 am
There’s no side chick on this earth worth dying for. I don’t care how good the sex is.
July 7th, 2009 at 12:34 am
“Let he who is without sin cast the first stone”? In that case, I can’t even look at a rock, let alone throw one. Monogamy ain’t a cakewalk. It’s a conscious choice.
July 7th, 2009 at 12:35 am
Eric you hit the nail on the head with that statement.
Yeap the parameters of morality always change when its black folks. And we can never live down or pass so called wrong doings. No matter how long ago they happened.
Where as whites transgressions are thought off being part of the past and shouldn’t be brought up……you know let bygones be bygones.
July 7th, 2009 at 12:37 am
Sorry guys but
“Where as whites transgressions are thought off being part of the past and shouldn’t be brought up……you know let bygones be bygones.”
Should be
“Where as whites transgressions are thought of as being part of the past and shouldn’t be brought up……you know let bygones be bygones.”
July 7th, 2009 at 12:49 am
True Matthew…..but I cannot judge what goes on in other folks houses.
As I was telling a friend of mine……many of these relationships (with folks with money), are open relationships or even mutual agreements. In that the mate with money is able to do what they want as long as the other mate is financially taken care of.
Case in point I won’t say any names. But my cousin was engaged to an NFL player. They had been dating since college.
My cousin and the NFL player had come to an agreement that as long as he took care of her economically and didn’t bring the women around, she didn’t care what he did.
My cousin was for years openly looking to “catch a star athlete in college” who was going pro. And the athlete she was with was looking for a women who was bringing something to the table that the other women he was dating wasn’t (my cousin was going to school to be a doctor).
The relationship was similar to relationships that many politicians make with the women they marry (IMO). The women are there because the men need these women for career advancement. Where as the women are there because the men can provide a certain life style for them or help advance their careers (see Hillary and Bill).
July 7th, 2009 at 12:58 am
I would add another example of what I mentioned above would be the relationship between Kenny Anderson and the young lady on the real world.
Now I don’t think that there was a mutual agreement in terms of Monogamy was ever involved (because she was on Oprah after the divorce).
But all of the attributes of the relationships I mentioned above were there…..economical support for the woman (who was looking for a man that could provide a lavish life style for her)…..the man getting a women who for a lack of a better word was “going places” in terms of stardom or earning potential.
July 7th, 2009 at 1:53 am
Origin:
That’s the Old School way of sustaining relationships. It’s why heads of state in Europe never get removed from office for having “affairs.” Damn sure wouldn’t happen in Africa or Asia. And people wonder why the Puritans got run the f%@!!! out of dodge.
July 7th, 2009 at 2:06 am
You brothers are on point on the double standards, but let’s not let the enemies of truth have us be distracted by ancillary conversation about his peccadillo. What Mizzo initially stated was a brother, father, son, husband, friend and icon was snatched up too young, cut down like a dog by some one with a purpose.
Now the media or the po-lice seem to be angling towards the girlfriend… an easy “wrap and cut to commercial!”. Which is a double blow to her family!
Somewhere in some corner of Babylon, we need to take the remembrance of ours out of the hands of the doers of Isfet so they don’t distort their tales. And while doing so, lets pause and reflect on how far this “civilized” Western society has/ is going in relations to African people and all people on the outside looking in.
July 9th, 2009 at 6:59 am
What Sankofa said about the cheating angle being the start of the argument to keep Steve McNair out of the hall is SOOOOOO true. Soo true. It really would be sad if Steve Damn DeBerg got in. And as Tariq said about Temple3 - yes, he is very smart. All of you guys are on point on this. I just wish that commentators could stick to sports…the actual game, and leave everything else out. I don’t know the nature of Steve’s relationship with his widow and quite frankly it doesn’t concern me. She’s going through her own personal hell right now, regardless of what that relationship was so I hope that folks can give her some peace. And anyway, as Origin said, who knows what goes on behind closed doors? I’m never surprised to hear celebrity breakups, or the secrets coming out of the closet or anything. While we’re going about our business day-to-day, ish is happening and to assume it isn’t is just naive. Anyway, RIP Steve.