There are times when it only takes 2.5 hours or so to cause so much pressure to build up inside someone's head that the only answers are:
a) frontal lobotomy
b) millions of broken blood vessels and hemorrhaging brain tissue.
One of those times occurred this weekend, where in a span of mere hours, the nation learned of one man's selfless dedication and another's selfish greed, both in the domain of professional football.
Former Arizona Cardinal Pat Tillman, 27, was a specialist in the 75th Ranger Regiment, a light infantry unit from Fort Benning, Ga. Tillman was killed in battle in Afghanistan Thursday near the village of Sperah, 40 kilometers southwest of Khowst.
In the face of a growing terrorist threat after Sept. 11, 2001, Tillman - in the prime of his athletic life - walked away from a job that paid him $3.1 million a year to stop opposing offenses from reaching the end zone in order to join the Army Rangers, an elite section of the U.S. military.
Hours before the news about Tillman broke on Thursday evening, University of Mississippi quarterback Eli Manning had his daddy alert the San Diego Chargers, holders of the No. 1 pick in this weekend's NFL Draft, that he would not honor their decision if they selected him first overall.
I see a rather large disparity here, to the tune of a battle between everything that is right about professional athletes and everything that is wrong about them.
Tillman was a monster. He set a single-season team record with 220-plus tackles with the Cardinals. He was inline for a huge payday with any team that wanted to sign him - namely the St. Louis Rams.
Basically, he was set.
Instead, he chose to break away from football completely in order to "pay his dues" to a country and people he loved more than anyone. He sacrificed millions of dollars to do what he felt was right in his heart.
Which I guess isn't so different than what Manning did. He felt it was right in his heart to dictate to the National Football League exactly where he wanted to work in his first year. He wasn't excited that he was about to be paid millions of dollars to throw a football to other football players. He knew what was right, and it sure wasn't playing on a losing team.
Certainly there is no pride in building up a winning team in a few years, like his big brother Peyton did after being selected with the first overall pick by the Indianapolis Colts. The pride is in the money.
Right, Pat?
Tillman avoided the press after his announcement to leave the NFL. He didn't want to talk to anyone, just to do what he thought his duty was an American citizen, to keep the promise he made with his younger brother and become Army Rangers together (a unit, might I add, deemed one of the most difficult to be accepted into in the entire military).
Tillman was loved by his teammates, and while he was on leave last year, he paid his old team a visit. He still somehow managed to completely avoid the press and only speak to the people who mattered to him.
Tillman didn't mind playing for a losing team. The Cardinals have made the playoffs only once in over a decade. He gave his heart and soul, working so hard that he had to be told in practice to ease up on his teammates.
Can you really blame Manning for not wanting to play for the Chargers, though? I mean, really who wants to lose? As a football player, especially a good one, shouldn't you be allowed to choose a winning team to play for, especially one in a big city?
As I saw Manning and a companion sitting courtside for the New York Knicks/ New Jersey Nets playoff game Sunday night, I had to laugh. Not funny laugh, but laugh in a "I bet you shatter your throwing arm before you have a chance to play in your first NFL game" sort of way.
Even a pacifist like myself would be found wearing replica Pat Tillman military fatigues far before I sport a New York Giants Eli Manning jersey.
Then again, I'm not a professional athlete, and I wouldn't understand the privileges they deserve as superiorly built human beings.
As a passing note to Eli, the Chargers have played in just as many Super Bowls as the Giants in the last 10 years.
