the real tragedy of Sean Taylor....

This article does not have much to do with anything related to local sports in and around the Louisville area. However, there is a very sad lesson to be learned from the Sean Taylor tragedy that needs to be discussed.

If you had followed the career of Sean Taylor you know about the trouble he has had not just in the years growing up in some very rough areas of Miami, FL; but also even the problems the surrounded him when he had reached the pinnacle of his success to play a sport at the highest level in the NFL. To sum up in a very quick form, Taylor had problems in the NFL almost from day 1. Some of those issues were minor - such as skipping out on the NFL's rookie symposium, for which he was fined $25,000. There was also a $17,000 fine for spitting at Tampa Bay's Michael Pittman during a playoff game two years ago.

The most serious incident occurred in June 2005, when he was arrested and charged with felony assault after authorities said he pointed a gun at three men outside a house in West Perrine, a rough neighborhood south of Miami, and accused them of stealing two all-terrain vehicles from him.

After a plea bargain, which put him on probation and included community service and charitable gift donations, he still was not the model citizen.

The real change in Taylor's behavior came after the birth of his daughter. That single event changed him in ways that only that event could have. After the birth of his child, he did become the model citizen, both on and off the field. He became humble in his off-field dealings with the media and his coaches. Joe Gibbs, (Head Coach for the Washington Redskins), once said to media, that Taylor would cradle the baby in his arms as he carried her into Redskin Park and "you just knew how much that baby meant to him. I could see (that) maturing process (that happens) when you get a first child."

In the 2006 season, (the same year his daughter was born in May of that year), not only did Taylor's demeanor and attitude change, but also his level of play jumped up. That season he not only was named the Redskin's Defensive player of the year, but also made and played in the NFL Pro Bowl. He also started distancing himself from some very bad, and criminal "friends" that he had known growing up. This was a clear indication that he was changing, and for the better. During some Pro-Bowl game interview, Taylor was quoted as saying:

"I just take this job very seriously. It's almost like you play a kid's game for a king's ransom. And if you don't take it serious enough, eventually one day you're going to say, 'Oh, I could have done this; I could have done that.'

"So I just say, 'I'm healthy right now, I'm going into my fourth year and why not do the best that I can?' And that's whatever it is, whether it's eating right or training myself right, whether it's studying harder - whatever I can do to better myself."

At the time, media people claimed he was "downplaying" the importance of the Pro Bowl. Personally, I think he was putting football and his career in the right perspective.

The real tragedy of Sean Taylor's death is that he will never get to see the one factor in his life that was his turning point to his own maturation ever again. His daughter.