Surprised No More

As I reflect on the shooting death of Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor, who was killed during a robbery at his home, one aspect of the tragedy jumps out at me above all others: the fact that a young athlete in the prime of his career being gunned down is not so shocking anymore. The first athlete I ever remember being killed during the prime of his career was former Minnesota Twins outfielder Lyman Bostock in 1978. Bostock was shot inside of a car stopped in traffic in Gary, Indiana after playing a game in nearby Chicago earlier that night. It was a case of a jealous spouse and Bostock being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I thought back to that time when considering Taylor’s story and remember how shocked I was when I heard about Bostock. Now that probably was due to the fact that I was only 8 years old then and baseball players seemed invincible to me. Back then it seemed like athletes were untouchable and nothing could cut them down in the prime of their lives. It was sort of an innocent thought about athletes in our society. The Bostock thing just seemed out of place in the sports world. Unfortunately today, incidents like the Taylor shooting are all too common. The days of when the Bostock shooting seemed like an aberration are long gone. We now live in a very violent society where guns are king and any disrespect shown between people potentially can end up in gun battles and death. Add to this the intense media coverage of events like the Taylor shooting and what you end up with is a feeling that the good old days of thinking athletes are invincible are long gone. And that is sad, because part of the allure of watching sports is convincing yourself that the athletes you watch are indeed invincible. It’s not a rational thought but it’s part of what you have to buy into in order to enjoy sports. It will never be 1978 again and the media clearly shows us how human athletes really are. Because of this, sports aren’t as romantic as they once were and in turn aren’t the diversion they are supposed to be from everyday life. Nothing that happens in the sports world in terms of violence surprises us anymore and because of that we all end up as losers in viewing the game of life through sports.