Registered: Jul 2000
Location: zanzibar
Posts: 10477

I remember hearing about him giving up his NFL career to try to become a Ranger. I think he was still in Ranger School last time I heard about him.

quote:

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In the Line of Duty
U.S. Army Ranger and Ex-NFL Player Pat Tillman Killed in Afghanistan
ABCNEWS.com

April 23— Pat Tillman, a former NFL player who swapped a glamorous football career to enlist in the U.S. Army, has been killed in action in Afghanistan, ABCNEWS has learned.

The 27-year-old former football player was killed in direct action during a firefight in Afghanistan, Pentagon sources told ABCNEWS. But there were no further details available.

A former member of the Arizona Cardinals, Tillman, along with his brother Kevin, enrolled with the U.S. Army Rangers after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Last year, the brothers were awarded an Arthur Ashe Courage Award meant for individuals whose contributions transcend sports. The award was accepted by their younger brother, Richard, while the brothers were away.

Tillman, an unrestricted free agent, spurned a $9 million, five-year offer sheet from the St. Louis Rams in 2001 to join the Army. The 5-foot-11, 200-pound Tillman was an exceptional student with a 3.84 grade point average through college and graduated summa cum laude with a degree in marketing.

The Tillman family has been notified, according to a Pentagon source.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Playa d'en London
Posts: 9861

thats real tragic. shows his love for his country.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Kansas City
Posts: 7504

Crap. This really saddens me.

Tillman was a genuine hero. He walked away from a life of genuine luxury, fame, and privilege, exchanging it for obscurity and service, because he found the latter more fulfilling. This was a man of genuine character and humility, who did the noble thing for the right reasons.

As it happens, he was also a hell of a football player, easily coparable in talent to Charles Woodson or John Lynch. I just surveyed my class, and not a one of them knew who Tillman was--whereas all of the guys knew Woodson and Lynch.

One Pat Tillman is worth six hundred pampered athletes driving around in tricked-out SUVs and flashing mad phat bling-bling. Or several hundred of me, for that matter. Much, much respect, and RIP.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Kansas City
Posts: 7504

A very, very good article on Tillman's decision, the reaction to it, and the history of American athletes as military combatants can be found here.

I guess it would be nice to think that three or four other NFL players would step forward to take his place, but I don't see that happening and in any event, I'm not going to volunteer to do so so I don't know that I can reasonably ask them to.

If there's one person you DON'T want to be in the next two weeks, it's Eli Manning. He could hardly have picked a worse time to run his little stunt. Expect some rather venemous comaprison/contrast pieces in the media in the next couple of days...

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Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Boston
Posts: 7973

This is really unfortunate. He really did something great with his life by serving his country. I agree completely with Chips, I could not do what he did and I think Eli Manning is about to look like a bigger asswad than he already did.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: zanzibar
Posts: 10477

This reminds me of the story of Bob Kalsu.

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Registered: Jul 2001
Location: Disgusting den of creepitude
Posts: 11315

We should send all NFL players. The whinning pussies complain about not making 10 mil a year....... RIP Pat.

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Registered: Jun 2002
Location: Just to the right of the moon
Posts: 3141

should be more people like Tillman in this world

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Playa d'en London
Posts: 9861

Eli Manning? can someone please explain.

Last edited by urbanjunkie on 04-23-2004 at 05:12 PM

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Upstate NY
Posts: 10225

Just heard an interview with a close friend of Tillman's. He pointed out that Pat wore number 40 in the NFL, and suggested the NFL, when they hold their press conference later today, ask each team in the league to paint their 40-yard lines red, white and blue into the future.

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Registered: Feb 2004
Location: kingdom of christ
Posts: 17817

"NO TILLMAN YOU IDIOT, THATS A GRENADE, NOT A FOOTBALL"

BOOOOMMM

"he died like a true patriot"

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Kansas City
Posts: 7504

I think the Chiefs should use their seventh round draft pick on him. It's not like they have any better use for it.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Kansas City
Posts: 7504

UJ: Eli Maning is the probable top pick in this weekend's NFL draft. He is the son of an NFL great and the brother of a current all-pro; they consider themselves football royalty of a sort.

San Diego has the first pick, and Manning has been throwing something of a public tantrum about going there; by threatening to sit out the entire season if drafted by them, he hopes to compel them to trade the pick to his team of choice, New York.

The compare/contrast angle, obviously, is: Tillman gave up multiple millions and chose to be shot it in Iraq; Manning refuses to take multiple millions if it means being assigned to play football in San Diego. Manning could do a lot worse than to shut his damn mouth at this point.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Playa d'en London
Posts: 9861

i see. i hope someone has pointed out to him how much of an idiot he is.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Upstate NY
Posts: 10225

His dad is the one making the noise, sticking his nose into things better left to his son's agent. Of course, the father, Archie, played out his hall of fame NFL career in another bottomless hole, New Orleans, and doesn't want to see his son live through the same hell. San Diego will probably trade down in the draft, but it would serve the Mannings right for SD to pick Eli.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Playa d'en London
Posts: 9861

does drafting occur in every major sport in the usa?

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Upstate NY
Posts: 10225

yes

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Kansas City
Posts: 7504

With the arguable exception of hockey, North American sports have no youth development system comparable to that of European soccer clubs. American athletes are overwhelmingly developed by university sports teams, where they are prohibited from (officially) earning a salary to play. They are then drafted by the professional clubs.

Baseball has an elaborate developmental structure of minor-league franchises through which young players advance en route to the major leagues, but even to enter into this system players must initially be drafted, and the lower division teams are wholly controlled subsidiaries of the main franchise (think in terms of Manchester United owning Barnsley, Notts County, and Stafford Rangers and controlling their rosters).

Football and basketball have no real youth development of any kind; you get drafted out of college (or, in basketball, a very small number of extraordinary high school players may be drafted). At that point, if you don't make the major league roster, you get cut loose and exiled to the netherworld of the minor leagues (CBA or NBADL for basketball, NFL Europe or AFL for football). These leagues claim to be developmental in nature, but very very few players emerge from them to have successful careers.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Playa d'en London
Posts: 9861

thanks for the information. this and franchising gives me a headache.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: zanzibar
Posts: 10477

from july 2003

quote:

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Pat and Kevin Tillman have returned to the United States after serving in combat during Operation Iraqi Freedom and both have been selected by the Army to participate in a three-month-long elite Ranger training regimen, the Arizona Republic reported Tuesday.

"The boys have been back for a couple of weeks now, and now they are stationed in the Tacoma, Washington, area," their father, Patrick Tillman Sr., said to the Republic Monday. "They are both healthy and fine, and we, of course, we are very relieved and very happy."

Since joining the Army following the 2001 World Trade Center disaster, the Tillmans have refused all media interviews -- a policy they still enforce. They will, however, be recognized in absentia on ESPN's 2003 ESPY Awards on July 19, when they will receive the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. Their younger brother, Richard, will accept on their behalf, according to their father.

"To tell you the truth, the boys are not too pleased about the ESPY thing," said the elder Tillman. "But I am. I'm very happy about it. I'm proud."

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Registered: Dec 2000
Location: Smith County
Posts: 1366

quote:

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Originally posted by CHiPsJr


Tillman gave up multiple millions and chose to be shot it in Iraq;

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Kansas City
Posts: 7504

Both, actually. And yes, the CFL is also an NFL dumping ground.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Beyond Mason-Dixon Line
Posts: 17060

Hat's off to you, soldier.

Tillman obviously figured out something at a much earlier age that took me years to learn for myself -- it ain't always about the do-re-mi.

Amen.

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Registered: May 2002
Location:
Posts: 9852

i'd enlist in the army too if i was stuck playing for arizona. unless, of course, rod tidwell was on my team. he seems fun.

he died, though, to bring us a sports forum. we should remember that.

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Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Wetaskiwin AB, Canada
Posts: 1438

Ya gotta admire the guy for giving up fame, fortune and a life of privledge to fight and die for his country. I'm sure he'll be remembered as a hero for the decision he made and being a soldier better than he would a fo