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Enter the contest, it’s easy. Tell us what you’ll Just Start. Fact, fiction or fantasy. What have you always dreamed of doing? What are you resigning from and moving towards? And, how will the Just Start grant ($50k) help you strike out on your own?

Hey, I’ll take $40,000 in cash and $10,000 in assistance to get a business off the ground. Oh, who am I kidding, I’ll take the $5,000 prize too. I’m not picky! While winning is likely a long shot, I decided to take advantage of the opportunity and made four of my own submissions.

• Fantasy Camp and Adventure Planning

• Going to the Dogs

• Connecting with the Elderly

• Solutions for Seniors

For anyone that is interested, you can click on the above links to find out more about each submission. If you are feeling extra generous, you can go ahead and signup, rate my submissions and even comment on them. The evaluation of entries is being conducted by a panel of three judges and the five finalists will be announced on January 7th.

Whatever the outcome, it was a fun exercise. You have until December 15th (11:59:59 p.m. PT) to make your own submissions, so get going! Oh, and read the rules.

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Former teammate Lavar Arrington, current teammate and close friend Clinton Portis, and Carolina Garcia, sister of Sean’s girlfriend, all made touching tributes to Sean. I think they did a great job of sharing who Sean Taylor the man, was.

I was surprised (but glad) when Florida City mayor Otis Wallace addressed the the media, when he said:

“One of the things that I hope comes out of this tragedy is that the media get a small lesson in grace and humility. For those who took the liberty of recklessly speculating that this young man’s death was caused by the way he lived, all I can say is they should be ashamed.”

It’s only human nature to want to speculate and guess when details of a story are missing or unclear, but I think the media has the responsibility to get the facts right before broadcasting a story. They should have simply stuck to the facts: Sean Taylor was murdered in his own home.  Instead, the media made wild speculation and decided prematurely that Sean Taylor’s past associations and/or transgressions had come back to haunt him. This of course, was not the case.

It seems that in this day and age that more emphasis is being placed on getting the story out as soon as possible regardless as to how many details remain unknown, even if it means filling in the gaps with speculation and uncorroborated statements. What the media fails to realize is that by doing this, they are potentially damaging the victim’s character all the while making the situation even more painful to those closest to and most affected by the loss. It’s irresponsible and reckless.

Finally, it was great to see the entire Redskins organization attend the funeral. I think the Redskins organization, and more specifically owner Daniel Snyder, have handled this tragedy flawlessly. He has been nothing but a class act and I commend him for his actions. He not only flew the entire organization down to Miami for the funeral, but also setup a memorial trust fund for Sean’s daughter, making an initial contribution of $500,000 with an added promise that profits from Sean Taylor merchandise would also be donated.

While we have lost a great man and a gridiron god, he will never be forgotten. I’m grateful that I had the opportunity to see his passion and dedication for the game, his raw athleticism, to see him perform. He was a quiet leader and he played with mind, body, and soul, but most importantly heart.  A true Redskin.

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A senseless tragedy, a life cut short, a child robbed of her father, a girlfriend (fiancé?) robbed of their love, a team (and league) robbed of a great player, a community of fans robbed of a role model.

Listening to and reading some of the public response to the news this morning, I felt compelled to respond to some of the ignorant responses.

Some people have said that something like this was inevitable, that Sean Taylor was a “thug”, was targeted for a reason, had previous run-ins with the law (DWI, assault/firearm case), and thus had it coming.

Are you serious? I’m fairly certain 99% of you (as well as myself) know nothing more than what has been reported by the media. He used bad judgment in one situation, and in the other was simply attempting to reclaim property that was stolen from him. These cases occurred in 2004-2005. Reportedly, he had matured over the last two years; more specifically after the birth of his 18 month old daughter. Need I remind you that he was only 24?

It’s hypocritical that the media gives so much attention to this death when people get killed every single day and are simply overlooked.

Sure, noone is saying his life was worth any more or less than that of the soldiers who give their lives each and every day serving our country, or your neighbor who lost their life in an accident. For better or worse, Sean Taylor was a public figure. He was a star athlete in the most watched sport in the United States. As such, the general public has a greater connection with him than they might with a soldier they have never heard of, or your neighbor down the street. It isn’t necessarily right or wrong as I believe any innocent life lost is one too many.

From a Washington Post Q&A session with Michael Wilbon on Monday, November 26:

McLean, Va.: Will your opinion of Taylor change if this does not turn out to be a random incident (e.g. home invasion)?

Michael Wilbon: No … people’s opinions are shaped by the way they’ve grown up, the way they see the world, what they know about the world the person in question grew up in, etc. Sean Taylor isn’t the only guy I know who fits his general profile. I’ve known guys like Taylor all my life, grew up with some. They still have shades of gray and shouldn’t be painted in black and white…I know how I feel about Taylor, and this latest news isn’t surprising in the least, not to me. Whether this incident is or isn’t random, Taylor grew up in a violent world, embraced it, claimed it, loved to run in it and refused to divorce himself from it. He ain’t the first and won’t be the last. We have no idea what happened, or if what we know now will be revised later. It’s sad, yes, but hardly surprising.

Michael, you are an idiot. So what you are saying is, “you can take the man out of the hood, but can’t take the hood out the man”? Give me a break. That’s a pretty narrow-minded statement if you ask me. You don’t know how Sean viewed the world. You apparently think you have some insight into his character to imply that he didn’t have the strength to overcome his environment. Even if all of what you said about Sean was true, it certainly doesn’t make his death an inevitable event. 

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