Ex-NFL Star Pat Tillman Killed In Afghanistan
WASHINGTON — Former NFL defensive back Pat Tillman died while serving as an Army Ranger in Afghanistan, U.S. military officials confirmed to Fox News on Friday.Complete details about Tillman's death were not immediately released but Pentagon officials said he was killed inside southeast Afghanistan while taking part in a special operations action. The military said there were other fatalities but it was not clear how many.
Here's what I posted back in December related to a Paul Beston article in The American Spectator.
The article included this passage -
"..[he] walked away from a three-year, $3.6 million dollar contract with the Cardinals for an $18,000 salary and plentiful opportunities to get his head shot off. That hasn't happened yet, and God willing it won't. But the pay cut kicked in right away."
Beston voiced what many thought -
"It would be a remarkable story in any time, but in a more cynical age it is nothing short of breathtaking. Imagine a 26-year old American male, talented enough to play in the National Football League and earn millions of dollars, leaving because he felt he had more important things to do. What could be more important than riches and fame? Why sacrifice when our culture so often portrays sacrifice as the preserve of misfits and losers?"
Why sacrifice, indeed.
When you look around and see assholes like Franken and Garafalo spewing their invectives on the radio and in 'best-selling' books, scumbags like Uncle Teddy and Blow-Job Bill doing their level best to take whatever they can for themselves and trashing the Constitution - all of them raking in millions along the way...
Why sacrifice - why not get yours while you can? Who could possibly look down on someone like Pat Tillman for making the most of their talent and making millions of their own?
You make a sacrifice when you can see a better way or a better future, not necessarily for yourself but for your family, friends or country. That is precisely the kind of sentiment "our culture" derides.
This was posted by a Freeper earlier:
"It is, in a way, an odd thing to honor those who died in defense of our
country, in defense of us, in wars afar away. The imagination plays a
trick. We see these soldiers in our mind as old and wise. We see them as
something like the Founding Fathers, grave and gray-haired. But most of
them were boys when they died, and they gave up two lives, the one they
were living and the one they would have lived. When they died, they gave
up their chance to be husbands and fathers and grandfathers. They gave
up their chance to be revered old men. They gave up everything for our
country, for us. And all we can do is remember." --Ronald Reagan
Here's the FreeRepublic thread of comments as news broke this morning...
It would be contrary to his wishes to be 'nothing special' - but I predict the Cardinals will be playing on 'TILLMAN FIELD' in the future.
Since the team owners seem to have sold stadium naming rights to Bank1 for about $50 million - for 30 years...
- someone mentioned on Hugh Hewitt today, "How about renaming the Arizona Cardinals, the Arizona Rangers', in honor of Tillman's service.
I like that. More fitting and keeping with his low-key approach to his chosen path.
Besides - Cardinals are from St. Louis - right?
Posted by: Jim | April 26, 2004 at 19:55