Month: July 2009

“Air” McNair: 1973 – 2009

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Steve McNair was the latest, and quite possible the last for a while, in a long line of black pro-football stars who played college ball at predominately black schools. He put up gaudy numbers at Alcorn State where he was nicknamed Air McNair and like so many black QBs before went to Alcorn State because major colleges wanted him to play defensive back.

He was a quarterback. The one quality any football fan remembers about McNair was that he played hurt, all the time. Bruised sternum, fracture in his hands, and sprains: if McNair could stand up, he would suit up. His 2003 Co-MVP season was a prime example as was his 13-3 playoff season in 2006.

Today, McNair was found, shot to death ,in a condo in downtown Nashville along with a currently unidentified woman in what police believe is a double homicide.

Steve leaves behind his wife Mechelle, four sons, the eldest, Steve Jr, who is a wide receiver and is scheduled to graduate from high school in spring of 2010 and attend college to play this fall. It will most likely be bittersweet without his father.

Update: As initially feared, the woman found with McNair was his 20 year old girlfriend Sahel Kamezi. Sure to get more ridiculous “Why do athletes cheat?” stories

Harry Reid: “We have 60, there will be blood!”

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Well, not quite:

Reid says he expects the tactic of gentle persuasion to work best, given the size of his Senate Democratic flock and the political divergences within it. “I don’t dictate how people vote,” he said in an interview this month. “If it’s an important vote, I try to tell them how important it is to the Senate, the country, the president … But I’m not very good at twisting arms. I try to be more verbal and non-threatening. So there are going to be—I’m sure—a number of opportunities for people who have different opinions not to vote the way that I think they should. But that’s the way it is. I hold no grudges.”

to their Independence some-Day

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Guardian has an interactive page as a memorial/tracker of the victims of the Thugocracy in Iran: Dead and Detained Data Blog

Another awful story from what I hope is a long awakening under an oppressive regime: (h/t The Daily Dish)

He came to my shop around 10.30am. You could tell straight away that he had just been released. His face was bruised all over. His teeth were broken and he could hardly open his eyes. He was not even into politics. He was just an ordinary 18-year-old in the last year of school. Before the election he came to me and asked how he should vote. He looks up to me. His father is an Ahmadinejad supporter.
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