Beautifully expressed. Thank you for posting this. A 24-year-old man with a bright future, a young family, and massive potential on the football field will never be what he could have become.

He was simply a joy to watch on the football field.

Damn, I shouldn't have read this at work!! I could not have said it better myself. This truly hits home and brings everything into perspective. So, with that, I will go sit in the bathroom and cry for a bit.

God Bless Sean Taylor!!

Thank you Jason for posting this.

Thank you Ehren for so eloquently describing emotions that I did not really understand myself.

Well said. Thanks.

Thank you so much for posting this and thank you to the writer. I believe this is one of the best comments, emails, articles that I have read during this awful tragedy. I know that personally, Ehren has spoken what I have felt as a Redskins fan and as a human being about the loss of Sean Taylor's life. The tears definitely began to well up. Thank you so much.

RIP Sean Taylor. Always to be missed....

This comes close to how I feel as well. I am just not ready to let go of Sean and of all the things I thought he would become for the Redskins and as a person.

I think for most of us fans, we come across a professional or colleage athlete that captures the essence of how we would want to play a game if we had the physical tools to be competing at the highest levels of sport.

For me those are usually players I see over a period of time, so typically they come from the the home team. I prefer players that are almost "cartoonish, or in other words, "super human" in what they can do within the game. And I often prefer athletes that have some flaws as well, which increases my rooting interest and helps me appreciate their successes in the game and that they have a human side outside the game.

In Basketball my favorite was Chris Webber, a guy who could pass with deft touch, block shots, dunk, and had soft hands inside. He could do things, at moments, that would make you call up your buddies and say "did he just do that?".... Did he just catch the ball three or four feet from the basket and turn and dunk from being flat footed?. Sean Taylor was that player for me in Pro-football.

I was excited the minute he was drafted. His first action in the pre-season against Miami Dolphins and included a jarring hit that caused the Dolphin TE to fumble and later he had an intereption for a touchdown. Instant electricity. Instant enforcer status with the big hits. He brought instant potency to the defense with scoring and return capability.

But as the legend grew, with the fumble returns, the interceptions, the sacks, busting up Terrel Owens fingers, giving Pinkston the "short arm syndrome", sacks on QBs, super human plays, we were watching Sean Taylor become something special in front of us, on the big stage. We loved to talk about his Dumb@ss troubles and bonehead moves off the field, BUT it was clear, he was OUR dumb@ass. OUR enforcer. OUR young star. Like the tough brash younger brother that you chastise for being on the edge, but secretly admire the wildness for what it is...part of the package. Sean was in Gibbs doghouse, but impressed enough to illicit a public shout-out from Gibbs to "the U". We loved the contrasts, I know I did.

Taylor OUR new warrior. Arrington smashed him with shaving cream pie, then passed the torch with the nick-name "reaper". 21st Century Camelot stuff. Legend stuff. Cartoonish stuff. Good stuff. We sweated his gun case in Florida, we rejoiced when he beat the jailtime, we enjoyed his Pro-Bowl status, our Pro-Bowl saftey. Blowing up the punter. Compilations of hits and plays on You-tube set to the latest hip-hop tracks. OUR pop-star hitter.

Images burned into our hearts, Sean dancing with "D" between plays to "bring em out, bring em out", giving a rare interview with Moss and Portis in directors chairs with Redskin park in the background, laughing, smiling. The three amigos. Doing a cameo in Eastern Motors commercials, becoming part of the fabric of the community.

Drawing praise from his coaches, Gibbs calling him "the best athlete on the team" "could probably start at WR if not so important on Defense". Greg Williams says "best I've ever coached". Perhaps in our subconcious, our hopes for the future were doing push-ups in the corner. Sean would be our goal line receiver weapon when it finally became "our year", Al-la the fridge or Patriots linebacker. Our perennial pro-bowl Saftey and cornerstone of the defense for the future would lead us back to the promised land.
To lose all the legendary stuff, the good stuff, the parts of the mountain climbing that would have been so rewarding for him and for us, so suddenly leaves me empty and sad.
Cartoons, Super Humans, OUR #21, are not supposed to die at 24.

Excellent post. I am a 37 year old male with three boys and I can't understand why this situation is affecting me so much. I keep telling my wife I think I could've handled this tragedy with anybody else much better, but there is something about Sean Taylor that makes it that much more sad. You hit the nail on the head. BTW way I used to respect Bob Costas but after his lead in on Sean on Inside the NFL I have none.

So true.

This is so well said. I think there are many Skins fans who feel the same way. Watching the Cowboys game a few weeks ago, I kept think, "I can't wait til 21 is back in for the last game of the season." Now that is all gone.

He was also a guy who always had the D's back. If the ball was ever thrown deep, I thought, "I can't wait to see the hit Sean is going to put on" or "I know Sean's going to pick this off." If a runner made it through the line, and started to break it up field, I could wait to see 21 streaking to make the stop. I still can't believe it is gone. I am 33, and this loss is on my mind so much. I can't even imagine what the guys in the locker room are thinking. My prayers are with them.