Enough Already!
Originally posted on "The Radioaffliction" on 10/01/04
Every now and then I will have to discuss the goings on a certain sports network. I don't want to mention any names because that would not be discreet but their initials are E S P N.
Both Sportscenter and their radio programs have been on the NFL's case on the handling of former player Pat Tillman, who left the NFL and joined the Army Rangers and was killed in Afghanistan earlier this year. I thought the NFL did a nice job of honoring Tillman at all stadiums in week two of the season with a moment of silence and all teams having a #40(his#) sticker on all helmets(his old team Arizona Cardinals will have the sticker all season). But that's not enough for ESPN, they have gone as far as to say the whole NFL season should be dedicated to him, or the 40 yard line on all fields should be a memorial, this from the network that has already televised his memorial, and when his flag draped coffin arrived home. My view on that is, if you do that for one fallen soldier, you HAVE to for everyone. Pat Tillman is not the only soldier who has died in this war, not the only to give up a career to do something he felt compelled to do, and I hope I'm not coming across as un-American when I say this, he is no more or less heroic for his sacrifice just because he once played in the NFL. One day they will make a memorial for the Gulf War, and all the names on there will be the same size, and should all be honored the same.
The problem that has arose is a former teammate Jake Plummer of the Denver Broncos wanted to keep the #40 sticker on his helmet. The NFL said no and if he did he would be fined. At first that seems kind of cruel, but the honoring as been done, and it's time to move on, which Plummer has agreed to do, and has said he will honor Tillman in other ways. I applaud Plummer for that, and it's time for ESPN to move on as well.
Every now and then I will have to discuss the goings on a certain sports network. I don't want to mention any names because that would not be discreet but their initials are E S P N.
Both Sportscenter and their radio programs have been on the NFL's case on the handling of former player Pat Tillman, who left the NFL and joined the Army Rangers and was killed in Afghanistan earlier this year. I thought the NFL did a nice job of honoring Tillman at all stadiums in week two of the season with a moment of silence and all teams having a #40(his#) sticker on all helmets(his old team Arizona Cardinals will have the sticker all season). But that's not enough for ESPN, they have gone as far as to say the whole NFL season should be dedicated to him, or the 40 yard line on all fields should be a memorial, this from the network that has already televised his memorial, and when his flag draped coffin arrived home. My view on that is, if you do that for one fallen soldier, you HAVE to for everyone. Pat Tillman is not the only soldier who has died in this war, not the only to give up a career to do something he felt compelled to do, and I hope I'm not coming across as un-American when I say this, he is no more or less heroic for his sacrifice just because he once played in the NFL. One day they will make a memorial for the Gulf War, and all the names on there will be the same size, and should all be honored the same.
The problem that has arose is a former teammate Jake Plummer of the Denver Broncos wanted to keep the #40 sticker on his helmet. The NFL said no and if he did he would be fined. At first that seems kind of cruel, but the honoring as been done, and it's time to move on, which Plummer has agreed to do, and has said he will honor Tillman in other ways. I applaud Plummer for that, and it's time for ESPN to move on as well.
posted by Peter A. Clay at 4:57 PM
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