Sports

The year 2007 has been tough on the NFL. There have been scandals, anger, sadness and it isn’t over. Sean Taylor – player for the Washington Redskins – was murdered at his home after someone tried to break into his home and shot him down.

It was brutal and sad, the snuffing out of a talented and promising life made even worse by the realization that he is the fourth active NFL player to die this year alone. Combine that with high-profile legal issues, major injuries to current players and a bitter pension fight involving former ones and you have a year to forget. Things are so bad, the depths so low, the pain so real, it’s overshadowed a season that, on the field at least, should be one to remember.

The thing is; as great as the action has been, as great as the storylines have played out, as perfect as heroes and villains have taken their roles, ‘07 has been a disaster in every other measurable way. One horrible tale replacing another. Taylor’s murder this week was an all-too familiar one.

The year started bad when, during the early morning hours of Jan. 1, the Denver Broncos’ Darrent Williams was shot and killed by a passing gunman while riding in a limo after an altercation at a local nightclub. Less than two months later, Broncos running back Damien Nash collapsed and died after playing a charity basketball game in his hometown of St. Louis. In March, the Patriots’ Marquise Hill accidentally drowned after falling off his jet ski in his native Louisiana. All four men were just 24 years old.

The people to remember in thoughts and prayers are the families and friends of those dealing with death and injury, with life-altering moments that they had nothing to do with and almost certainly can’t make sense of. We are hoping and praying that the year 2008 will bring some better times and happier memories to hold on too.