Sean Taylor

It's a bit late perhaps to get on this issue, seeing as how Sean has been laid to rest (R.I.P Sean). However, if one thing defines me as a fan, it's my loyalty to the U. Being a life-long fan and a current student, nothing, and I mean NOTHING pisses me off as much as the general hatred and jealously of the program and the racism, lies, and generalizations that stem from that hatred. Thug U is a title that needs to be reassessed and given to someone else. Perhaps Penn State? Tennessee? Florida? That last one might get me some heat but 14 arrests since January 1, 2007 doesn't make you look good. Except of course if a Hurricane gets a traffic violation and ESPN decides thats front page material instead.

So when Sean was fighting for his life and we saw people like Colin Cowherd and Michael Wilbon jump to conclusions and allude to his past transgressions as the possible reason for the attack, that was the final straw. Sean wasn't an angel. He made his share of mistakes on and off the field, but he deserved better. He deserved the benefit of the doubt. He deserved at least a few freakin days for the police to figure out what happened before anything about his past should have been brought up. During his funeral I wondered out loud, what kind of "thug" receives such a celebration of life? Just how wrong could people have been about Sean Taylor?

Personally I haven't decided whether this is a race thing, a wrong perception of "thug" culture, or yet another example of the media jumping to conclusions about the Canes. I'd like to think it's a combination of all of them. The fact Sean was fighting for his life didn't stop the media from showing us past tragedies involving Hurricanes, never mind that none of them were connected and several of them involved players after they had left the program. I think it will take another generation or two for people to get off the Thug U image that has been slapped on the program. That of course is assuming that the media stops using it so loosely. It's similar to trying to change the minds of racists who grew up before and during the 60s. You simply can't change people's minds about Miami, no matter how many arrests statistics and academic achievements you throw at them. I just wish people kept their misperceptions quiet when it's clearly inappropriate to be dragging a man's name through the mud.

In terms of how proud I was at the unity displayed by the brotherhood that is the U at the funeral and later that night in the MNF game, I don't think I could have said it better than Canes305 at allCanes.