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2003-12-04 Home Front
Pat Tillman: The NFL’s Lonely Hero
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Posted by Dragon Fly 2003-12-04 11:57:19 AM|| || Front Page|| [5 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 If he decides to return to football when his three-year tour of duty is up, he would have the impact of a human disinfectant on the NFL.

Doubtful. There probably won't be much effect once the initial splash wears off. In addition to the the general public's typically short attention span, too many others take the the members of our armed forces and their sacrifices for granted.
Posted by Bomb-a-rama 2003-12-4 12:25:08 PM||   2003-12-4 12:25:08 PM|| Front Page Top

#2 There was a guy who played, I think with The Colts with Unitas, Donahue(?) A lineman. He was a combat veteran. He said "I've been to war, football isn't war".

It's not a game either.

Tillman is a stud. I'm sure he has no regrets.
Now Pro Wrestling, That's war man.
Posted by Lucky 2003-12-4 1:00:56 PM||   2003-12-4 1:00:56 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 Wasn't Roger Starbuck(spell?) a Vietnam vet? USNA Grad?
Posted by Dragon Fly  2003-12-4 1:10:48 PM||   2003-12-4 1:10:48 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 What pisses me off is anytime one of those gangsta thug receivers or db's scores a touchdown and SALUTES! Saw one of them doing it LEFTHANDED last weekend (cincy i think?). A complete lack of respect for the people that actually are out there fighting and have EARNED the right to salute by a bunch of overpaid spoiled thugs. The nfl should ban it, just like giving the finger or mooning the crowd. It's awful they let those scum do that.
Posted by greetingamongsoldiers 2003-12-4 1:20:39 PM||   2003-12-4 1:20:39 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 DF, Staubach was a USNA grad. Not sure about 'Nam time. Rocky Bleyer(sp?), Notre Dame Grad & Steelers running back is a 'Nam vet. Took a round through the thigh.

A lot of the NFL guys (i.e. Keyshawn "crybaby" Johnson, Terrell Owens, and any other grown man who dons earings under his helmet) make me laugh. Million dollar athletes w/fifty-cent brains. Earning adulations for playing a kid's game. I'd rather spend an hour w/a MOH Recipient then get a signed jersey & free tix from any of those chuckleheads.
Posted by Jarhead 2003-12-4 2:03:10 PM||   2003-12-4 2:03:10 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 My wife and I have agreed that when our son is old enough, he will be told the story of an heroic football player named Pat Tillman who sacrificed his career for the country he loved.
Posted by Tibor 2003-12-4 5:20:52 PM||   2003-12-4 5:20:52 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 Lucky - I coulda sworn the guy you were talking about on the Colts was in fact Art Donovan.

Posted by eLarson 2003-12-4 6:07:10 PM||   2003-12-4 6:07:10 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 I had forgotten about the Tillmans - but reading this segment brought back my memory of reading about their enlistment some time ago.

In their honor, I will include a snippet of a speech delivered some 93 years ago, in Paris, by President Teddy Roosevelt. Forgive the long quote, but it does some justice to Pat Tillman and his brother:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face in marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Shame on the man of cultivated taste who permits refinement to develop into fastidiousness that unfits him for doing the rough work of a workaday world. Among the free peoples who govern themselves there is but a small field of usefulness open for the men of cloistered life who shrink from contact with their fellows. Still less room is there for those who deride of slight what is done by those who actually bear the brunt of the day; nor yet for those others who always profess that they would like to take action, if only the conditions of life were not exactly what they actually are. The man who does nothing cuts the same sordid figure in the pages of history, whether he be a cynic, or fop, or voluptuary.

There is little use for the being whose tepid soul knows nothing of great and generous emotion, of the high pride, the stern belief, the lofty enthusiasm, of the men who quell the storm and ride the thunder. Well for these men if they succeed; well also, though not so well, if they fail, given only that they have nobly ventured, and have put forth all their heart and strength.

It is war-worn Hotspur, spent with hard fighting, he of the many errors and valiant end, over whose memory we love to linger, not over the memory of the young lord who "but for the vile guns would have been a valiant soldier." (bold italics are mine).

My sincerest respect out to the Tillman's.
Posted by Lone Ranger 2003-12-4 11:54:41 PM||   2003-12-4 11:54:41 PM|| Front Page Top

#9 See how cool Rantburg is. Art Donovan it is, I saw his rant on some ESPN show.

LR. Killer TR quote!
Posted by Lucky 2003-12-5 12:07:37 AM||   2003-12-5 12:07:37 AM|| Front Page Top

#10 Today is the day we learned of Pat Tillman's death. I am so overwhelmed with sadness and with awe of this man who, along with others, put me, my family, this country and another country's quest for freedom, honor and security above his own importance. My heart and prayers go out to his family, his wife, brother and parents especially. I cannot imagine their grief...but I pray in time they will be somehow comforted to know that so many people like myself, when learning of their husband's, brother's and son's incredible sacrifice for us are left with a new realization of what it means to be a true hero and will stive to be more like Pat.
Posted by Anonymous4506 2004-04-23 1:48:35 PM||   2004-04-23 1:48:35 PM|| Front Page Top

#11 Our family lost my sister in the Pentagon on 9/11/01; the grief is one we continue to feel. Knowing that men of Tillman's statue supported our counrty and what it represents tends to ease the pain of the loss. It is disheartening that Mr. Tillman pursued the evil that continues to threaten this country and lost his life in the process. Our family appreciates his efforts and grieve with his family and we are sorry for the loss of his life.
Posted by Anonymous4589 2004-04-26 10:15:32 PM||   2004-04-26 10:15:32 PM|| Front Page Top

22:15 Anonymous4589
13:48 Anonymous4506
04:52 Anonymous
02:03 BH
00:32 Old Patriot
00:07 Lucky
23:58 Robert Crawford
23:54 Lone Ranger
23:51 Robert Crawford
23:41 Angie Schultz
22:54 tu3031
22:51 tu3031
22:48 Glenn (not Reynolds)
22:46 tu3031
22:43 Anonymous
22:33 Alaska Paul
22:28 Alaska Paul
22:19 tu3031
22:19 Stephen
22:17 Anonymous
22:06 Alaska Paul
22:01 Pete Stanley
21:58 Pete Stanley
21:58 Bomb-a-rama









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