Does death make a player a hero?

We sure can make dead people into heroes. Steve McNair was an outstanding quarterback who spent the last few weeks of his life with a 20-year-old girl in Nashville. That time with her may have cost McNair his life.

I don't mean to prosletyze here, but let's call it like it was: McNair was fooling around on a wife and children, to the point that folks thought the two lived together. This isn't my idea of a role model.

I prefer Jason Whitlock's take on McNair than the lionizing of him, and I understand and appreciate Jeff Fisher's statement that the Steve McNair he (Fisher) knew would want to say 'I'm sorry.'

This is no way minimizes the tragedy of McNair's death. Two people lost their lives, and families have lost loved ones and children have lost their father. It's horrible.

I just don't get ignoring the situation for what it was.

On the field, McNair was a very, very good quarterback. He did some good things for the Titans, and he was tough. Perhaps, in his day, the toughest player in the league. But I kind of choke when I hear him mentioned as a Hall of Fame candidate. There's no way, and had McNair not died such a tragic death he would not even be mentioned for the Hall.

The entire picture that's painted of McNair indicates how little we know these guys. People always ask me what they're like, and I say for the 30 minutes a week I am actually interacting with them they're fine or they're not fine. I don't really know them. Nor do any of us. We know what they do on the field, how they act there, and we know all the typical clichés about guys being tough or team players or all that other stuff. What they do on their private time, well that's much more indicative of who they are.

McNair was entitled to live his life as he chose, but his choices would not have been mine. If we hide from that reality, we hide from the truth. And don't we owe each other at least that much?