Asks the Official Site.
44.3%
Hardest,
most feared tackler in NFL
29.5%
A great Redskin, a great teammate
23.7%
A young father coming into his own
Total Votes: 32225
And there's nothing wrong with that. While his greatest impact on the world was as a father, which is a more important role than football player -- as Taylor knew as well as anyone -- the vast majority of us were not connected to him in that capacity. I voted: Hardest, most feared tackler in the NFL, because that's what I loved about Sean Taylor. I loved being able to watch him lay wood on opposing players and claim him as my own. I loved
writing about Sean Taylor no fewer than 130 times. I loved that
AOL Sports considered him the 2nd Baddest Man of all time for emulating a "runaway train" to great effect against opposing players. I loved cheering for him as
Sports Illustrated's Top Hitter in the NFL. I'll love that in his
KSK memorial, the original Meast (Man-Beast) is tagged eloquently and completely as
"Badass". Because that's what Sean Taylor was: A total, complete, and absolute bad ass. He played the game, more than any person I've ever seen play the game, as though
it mattered, as though he cared about every single play like it were the last one he'd get. Whereas many were
questioning whether Sean Taylor's Pro Bowl hit on Brian Moorman was out of line, I was absolutely
loving it. Afterall, that's what made Sean Taylor such an outstanding entertainer; he played the most aggressive sport exactly how we all know it should be played: with awe-inspiring reckless abandon. And that is exactly how he
felt about the game. From my all time
favorite Sean Taylor quote per
The Washington Post:
"It's almost like we play a kid's game for a king's ransom," Taylor said, "and if you don't take it seriously enough, one day you're going to say, 'Oh, I could have did this, or I could have did that.' I'll just say that I'm healthy right now, and I'm going into my fourth year, so why not do the best that I can? Whether it's eating right, whether it's training myself right, or whether it's studying harder. It's whatever I can do to better myself."
That is how I will choose to remember Sean Taylor
the football player.
Unfortunately, that's the only extent that I really knew Sean Taylor. I never had the pleasure of meeting him as a fan, though I'm told by Extreme Skins that there was never a nicer person more willing to hang out and sign things for Redskins enthusiasts like myself. And thus what I knew about Sean Taylor the man was limited to whatever little bit of his character I could glean from his play and the few but impressive quotes shy #21 was willing to grace the rest of us mere mortals with. Those both told volumes about him as a man.
But more importantly, and although facts are still coming in, here's what I think I'll remember about Sean Taylor the man: Knowing full well that someone had tried to break into his house earlier that week, Sean Taylor asked Coach Gibbs if he could return home to protect his house and family, walked into a gun fight armed with a knife and almost fucking won. He survived a mortal arterial wound for 24 hours despite flatlining twice and losing huge volumes of blood. Why? Because even Death gets alligator arms when the Real Grim Reaper goes at him Brave, on the Warpath.
At least that is how I'll remember it. And years from now, when my own children are watching old highlights of Sean Taylor launching himself from sideline to sideline, ruining the opposition, I'll make sure that's how they remember him too. Gone but never forgotten.
