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This is the archive for November 2007

A Question of Security

EDIT: Taylor passed away from his injuries early Tuesday morning. A sad end to a life that had its controversies, yet appeared to be moving towards something more positive. While I extend my condolences to his family and friends, I still can't help but wonder why a man who had that many brushes with the violent side of life didn't feel the need to invest in anything to protect himself and his family from the possibility of violence. But for the grace of God, there could have been three dead instead of one.

Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor was in critical condition after being shot at his home in Miami early Monday morning. The incident is being investigated as a possible burglary.

While I join all those sending up good thoughts and prayers for Taylor and his family for a swift and complete recovery, one question keeps nagging at me as I read the story of the incident:

Doesn't this man have a security system in his home?

This is the second apparent break-in at his home in the past eight days. In the first incident, someone pried open a window, went through his drawers and left a kitchen knife on the bed. This time, someone came armed.

Sean Taylor is a Pro Bowl-caliber safety, a four-year veteran with the Redskins. This man is pulling in a more-than-decent salary. He has a home in a large city, where violent criminal activity is known to take place. He himself has a rep for getting into trouble, occasionally involving guns. If anyone needs some kind of security system in his home to protect himself and his family, it would be Sean Taylor--yet apparently all he seemed to think he needed was his trusty machete.

I can understand someone getting past a security system once, either by disabling it or because someone forgot to turn it on. However, if someone had broken into my home once already, I wouldn't be setting foot into that house until I was assured that there was something in place that somebody wasn't going to get past again. If I already had a security system and someone managed to get in the first time, I would be on the phone screaming bloody murder for someone to come to my house and find out what went wrong and make sure it didn't happen again. Hell, I probably would even upgrade what I had just to be sure I could sleep at night--but there's nothing I'm reading telling me that Taylor did any of those things, and that just boggles my mind.

I really hope I'm wrong, I really hope that it's just a detail that got bypassed in the telling of the story, but something just doesn't sound right about this.

Them badass PETA folks has skeered poor Ookie

Michael Vick has turned himself in to U.S. marshals today and will stay in jail until his sentencing in three weeks.

One has to wonder why he has chosen to go to jail before this week's Thanksgiving festivities. After all, Turkey Day is usually considered time spent with friends and family. If one is facing the possibility of spending extended time away from said friends and family, you'd think you'd want to wait until after the holiday to do so.

My thoughts:
1. He's heard that the turducken at Northern Neck Regional Jail is to die for.
2. Mama Ookie is making her godawful green bean casserole again.
3. The thought of watching Thanksgiving Day football gets him all verklempt.
4. It's just not Thanksgiving without the traditional family dogfight before dinner.
5. The PETA people threatened to inflate him with helium and enter him in the Macy's parade.

Feel free to add your own ideas.

Freakiest field goal EVER

When does it take nearly five-and-a-half minutes to determine if a field goal is good or not?
Watch and learn...



Thanks to Phil Dawson, we now know that curved support bar is called a "stanchion". Who says football isn't educational?