I was in Baton Rouge, Louisiana when I got the text message from an unreliable source of Steve McNair’s death. The shock wasn’t with the death itself (all of us will check out at some point) but it’s the untimely nature that threw me off for a moment. Most of the people I know in the Nashville area are devastated to see one of the town’s favorite people and respected individuals die a horrific death. Since Saturdays’ shocker, every news channel from CNN to ESPN (even TMZ) is working overtime to get the facts of the case and consequently state the cause of death. No one really knows what happened, not Nashville Police, not CNN and certainly not any ‘homicide expert’ on TV. It is a sad story on many levels but the real head-scratcher begins when one wonders what a married man was doing with 20-year-old Sahel Kazemi in the first place. That is the difficult question many people will rather ignore but it demands an answer as well. It is hard enough a woman telling her children of their father’s death, but now have to explain how he died and with who he died with. That is a tough one.
So maybe Steve McNair was the victim of a homicide or the tragedy was a murder-suicide, neither of which changes the facts. According to reliable reports, and just about anyone who seems to care about this story, McNair had been dating Saleh Kazemi for several months.
Pardon me for being stuck on just one side of the equation, it would be difficult if not impossible to ignore the fact that the details of Steve McNair's death stand in stark contrast to the public persona he enjoyed during his career. You may chose to believe whatever CSI crap the Nashville Police Department comes up with in the next few days, but as far as I am concerned, no one knows what happened, and no one will really know. Memo to the rest us, let us live every day like it could be our last, and be cognizant of where every moment finds us, it may very well be our last.
Our hearts go out to the family and friends, and may he rest in peace.
