Three Mondays…three weekends marred by senseless deaths that
touched the sports world. I’m getting sick and tired of feeling sick and tired.
Two weeks ago, upon restarting the Hat Trick after a month
long delay, I had the unpleasant but, I thought, obligatory task of discussing
the murder-suicide committed by Jevon Belcher of the Kansas City Chiefs, who
killed his girlfriend before turning the gun on himself. Last week, the story
of Josh Brent of the Dallas Cowboys grabbed headlines. Brent was the driver in
a single car accident that killed his teammate and best friend, Jerry Brown.
His blood alcohol level was reportedly more than twice the legal limit. Today
we are all mourning the mass killing at Sandy Hook Elementary School in
Newtown, Connecticut that left 26 innocent people dead, including 20 children aged 10 and under.
NO ESCAPE
The children at Sandy Hook Elementary were not pro athletes.
This tragedy aside, they could not have otherwise been more anonymous. They
were ordinary Americans going about their business. This tragedy touches the
sports world because it touches EVERYONE. Everyone either has children, wants
children, cares about children, knows a teacher, had a favorite teacher, or was
a child at one time in life.
At NCAA, NBA, and NFL games across the country over the
weekend, there were moments of silence observed honoring the victims of the
mass shooting. What does it accomplish? It won’t bring the victims back and
does very little to ease the pain of their families and the survivors. We want
to do something, but the harsh reality is that we can do nothing in the wake of
the death and violence that can undo the damage done. We can only comfort and
console those who need it most.
ACTION vs INACTION
We can write all of the articles we want. Public officials
can give all of the speeches they want to. We can erect memorials from sea to
shining sea and even have a colored ribbon dedicated to victims of random, mass
violence. Until we as a society begin have serious discussions with the end
goal of changing the landscape that helped enable the perpetrator (and others
like him) carry out nearly two dozen infanticides, we are doing little more
than giving the families of the victims a pat on the head.
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