A True American Hero.
Base10 got caught up in the NFL draft on Saturday and plans to comment, but any talk of football today needs to mention Pat Tillman. Base10 remembers being surprised when Tillman left the NFL to join the Army. There are links here, here and here.

Base10 likes sports and admires athletes. Tillman was not the greatest NFL player, he was a seventh round draft pick, a special teamer and was pretty undersized to be a full-time linebacker. But by all accounts, he made up for these things with dedication and hard work and earned himself a $3.6 million contract with the Cards. He was also no dope, earning a degree in marketing and a 3.8 GPA. He gave up everything to join the army and go overseas to Afghanistan and fight the war on terror.

Tillman was the type of player that fans admire, the kind of guy that consistently plays a little bit above himself. As a fitting memorial, from now on when you hear sportscaster talk about how an athlete is a "team player," or a "hero," or is "brave," or is willing to "sacrifice," think of Pat Tillman. We often criticize athletes today for having feet of clay and not being appropriate role models for kids. Base10 has never been blessed with children, but if he had been he would surely point to Pat Tillman and say that this is an athlete to admire.

Unfortunately, there are detractors. Today's WSJ's Best of the Web reports the existence of a Left-Hate web site called Indymedia that is spitting out such vitriolic speech about Tillman's death, I almost wasn't going to link to it. I shudder when I think Tillman died to protect the freedoms of people like this.
- posted by Base10 @ 3:19 PM