Dirkmonster

Keep in mind our fallen soldiers

I recently read an account of a military family member who was disheartened at the disparity in attention given Michael Jackson's death on the same day her nephew was killed in action.

It sure seems that we get desensitized to ongoing casualities in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I certainly spent a lot of time lately thinking about Steve McNair's death.  At the same time, I subscribe to a Department of Defense RSS feed that funnels press daily press releases to my news reader.  This feed contains the news releases concerning those killed in the service of our country.  I try to take note, especially of where the hero was from, on a daily basis.

It doesn't make me some kind of patriot - I just hope it gives me some kind of perspective.

McNair Tribute

I visited LP Field yesterday to pay my respects to former Titans QB Steve McNair.  Here are my pictures.

The Titans played a tribute video on the jumbotron inside the stadium.  Part of it was from a program produced following McNair's 2003 Co-MVP season.  The final segment was a highlight reel set to Green Day's Time of Your Life.

It's something unpredictable
but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

We all saw the physical pain Steve endured, and played through, in his football career.  Like all of us, he had another kind of pain to deal with as well.  I like what Ttians' coach Jeff Fisher had to say yesterday at Steve McNair's memorial service.  Steve can rest now:

As we speak, Steve is sitting in the pressbox with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, with headsets on, smiling, laughing and listening to this right now. No more turf toe. No more sacks. No more shoulder problems and no more interceptions - just touchdown passes. I am going to miss you, number 9.

Saying goodbye to #9 with compassion

Fittingly, I think, Steve McNair's family chose the 9th day of this month to hold a memorial service in Nashville.  It's also incredibly gracious that the McNair family would share the visitation and the memorial with Steve's fans in addition to those that actually knew him.

It seems like it's been a long time already, although in reality it has been less than a week since Steve McNair was murdered by a troubled 20 year old girl who then killed herself.  Although I'm probably too interested in the forensic and purient aspects of this terrible tragedy, my thoughts today concern the tension between compassion and condemnation in our society.

A friend from high school that I've virtually re-connected with commented yesterday:

...What's more frightening to me is someone at work said Steve got what he deserved...what do you expect fooling around like that? I had to step in and say that I don't think anyone ever deserves to be murdered...

Amen, Greg.  For goodness sake, we should all be thankful we don't get what we really deserve.

Another person I respect (and a minister!) surprised me with a Tweet he posted today, not about the McNair case, but you see the common thread:

Businessman is VERY touchy feely w/ his young secretary on Dunkin Donuts couch. He has a wedding ring. She doesn't. I want to vomit on them

Vomit on them? Why? Let he that has no sin cast the first stone (or vomit).

Everyone, let's face it, we all have besetting sins.  And I'm pretty sure it's not wise to look at someone else's before I look at my own.

I like what Dwight Lewis writes in today's Tennseean. Mr. Lewis is the editor of the editorial page and a friend of Steve's.

Yes, frat brother Steve was my man. And he turned out to be the man for others, as well. Remember the day in August 2005 when Middle Tennesseans turned out to help him fill six tractor-trailers with supplies for the Hurricane Katrina victims?

And I thought his recent opening of Steve McNair's Gridiron 9 restaurant was such a great idea.

But as much as I admired him, some of Steve's actions off the field that you would hear about made me feel that something troubled him. Was it the drugs that he apparently sometimes took to keep playing in games when he was hurt? Was it the pain that he often suffered after taking hard hits in games?

I don't know the answer, but his untimely death should be a lesson to others of us — to reach out when we know that a loved one or friend seems troubled. Yes, Steve would ask us to forgive him for some of the things he apparently did, but I think, too, that he would also ask us not to be afraid to say, "let's talk about whatever is troubling.''

You never know whose life you may help save.

Lord, teach me to help You save a life instead of helping you judge a life.

The McNair Case

Police confirmed Sunday that former Titans QB Steve McNair became Nashville's 36th homicide of 2009. An autopsy showed McNair was shot four times - twice in the chest and twice in the head. His girlfriend suffered one fatal gunshot wound to the side of the head. 

Everything still points to murder suicide it seems, but police are taking their time to make it official.  In my years in the newsroom, I've seen this scenario several times.  And in many cases murder suicide scenarios are pronounced the same day.  Not here.  Is it because e case involves a celebrity and local legend, or is there really a possibility this could be a double murder staged to look like a murder suicide? My gut tells me No. 9 was terminally sacked by a 20 year old girl.

And that's really hard conclusion to accept for me and the police.  McNair was called "indestructible" Saturday by former teammate Frank Wycheck.  It's tragic irony that McNair made a fortune, and a legend, surviving choreographed violence on the field only to be brought down by a girl.

Bizarre coincidence in Steve McNair death

Metro Nashville Police gave new details Saturday night concerning the violent death of former Titans' QB Steve McNair.  All signs point to a murder suicide - McNair being the victim.  Police say he was shot more than once.  The woman with him at the time, 20 year old Sahel Kazemi, was shot once and a gun was found near her.

A bizarre coincidence was revealed at the police press conference Saturday night.  Sahel Kazemi was arrested for DUI early Thursday morning after police saw her speeding at 12th and Broadway in Nashville.  McNair was with her.  The truck was co-owned by McNair and Sahel Kazemi.  In 2003, McNair was arrested for DUI at 12th and Broadway.  In that case, a loaded gun was also found in McNair's SUV.  The same Metro Nashville officer made both arrests, some 6 years apart.

Police towed a 2007 Cadillac Escalade from the scene Saturday in connection with McNair and Sahel Kazemi's death.  It might have been the SUV pictured here, in a photo I took this afternoon at the scene.  The truck was parked right outside the door to the condominum where the deaths occurred.

With the police "leaning" in the direction of a murder-suicide pending autopsies to be conducted Sunday morning, we are left to wonder what trouble led up to the killing Saturday.  Certainly the arrest could have had something to do with it.

If this 20 year old woman did in fact shoot Steve McNair and then herself, a lot of questions remain.  What was the relationship between the two? And how did it go so terribly wrong that it ended this way?

My Top 3 Steve McNair Memories

After hearing of Steve McNair's violent death on July 4th, I went to the scene.

Nashville has lost a legend who created so many memories fans share collectively.  Here are ones that I'll always remember:

1. The second to last play of Super Bowl XXXIV.  A play was NEVER over while Mac 9 had the ball.
2. The sprint up the middle of the field for a touchdown that same season in the AFC Championship game against the Jaguars.
3. McNair wasn't even in on The Music City Miracle. But I'll never forget the look on his face right after it happened.

I'm afraid in the days ahead we might learn some things we wish we didn't know about Steve's life and death.  Regardless, this is a guy who made all the difference on the field as the Titans' first QB.  But by all accounts he was a class act off the field as well.  Just tonight, a teenager was interviewed outside McNair's new restaurant near Tennessee State University.  In the last days of his life, Steve gave this kid a job when no one else would.  The young man described the leadership by example that Steve showed at his restaurant - cleaning up, taking out garbage, bringing customers exta napkins.  It clearly made an impression on this young man. 

It occurred to me that this was the same leadership we saw on the field.  He was the one with the biggest heart and the most determination - never to good to block for someone else or hand the ball off to Eddie 35 times.  But I bet there was never any question who was in charge.

Steve McNair death scene

I just returned home from the scene near downtown Nashville where former Tennessee Titans QB Steve McNair and a woman were shot to death.

Pictures from the scene.

A crowd of fans and onlookers is growing larger standing by with the sea of media.

The scene is a small condo complex about a mile north of Riverfront Park in Nashville where Nashville's Independence Day celebration is taking place.  The holiday and this grim scene have collided - just steps away from the condo crime scene is a crowded swimming pool and $10 parking spaces for the fireworks.

Looking in from the north side of the complex, I saw the door to the unit where the shooting apparently happened.  Detectives and other officials were going in and out.

The rumor on the scene was that it was a murder suicide - not confirmed at this point.

Continuous updates at at Newschannel5.com.

The shutter closes on Kodak's "Kodachrome"

The news I read today that Kodak is retiring Kodachrome, its oldest color film, is not shocking.

The funny part is the quote from Mary Jane Hellyar, the "departing" president of Kodak's Film, Photofinishing and Entertainment Group.  She's quoted as saying Kodak plans to stay in the film business "as far into the future as possible".

I was not able to find IBM's outgoing president of Typewriters, Typewriter Ribbon and Correction Tape for comment regarding how far into the future they plan to ride that product.  Perhaps that's because in a brilliant evaluation of the marketplace, I'm imagining that position was eliminated somewhere around 1991.

Shares of Eastman Kodak will cost you about $2.60 apiece if you're also interested in staying in the film business as far into the future as possible.