Listening to NFL Countdown about the Jovan Belcher murder/suicide....

[HammerOfTheDogs]

A few things: Tom Jackson and Chris Carter got to talking about "you need to talk to your teammates, to let loose your emotional feelings". Problem is, Carter and Jackson were both perennial all-Pros and Hall of Famers. It's easy to talk like that, but a low-level player like Jovan Belcher (who lost his starting job last week and might possibly get cut soon) can't afford to show weakness in an NFL locker room. NFL players and people who tried out for NFL teams have all told me that the League is cutthroat and remorseless. You perform or you're gone. How can you open up in an environment like that? NFL players have hundreds of players coming out of college every year who want their jobs and they have to work their asses off 12 months out of the year to stay there.

Everyone is sad about Belcher...but what about his girlfriend and the baby they orphaned? In the end, Belcher was a murderer who committed suicide to escape justice (in this life, anyway).

About gun violence. If guns were banned, Belcher would've still found a way to commit murder-suicide (no, Tom Jackson, guns are NOT the problem).

Finally, the question went around the board about whether you should play a game so soon after Belcher's Murder-suicide. One of the panelists was Mike Ditka. He played a football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers 2 days after Kennedy was assassinated. I thought he'd bring some of that perspective on that, but I'm surprised he didn't.

 

[DerHntr]

As bad as this sounds, at some point their needs to be a PSA that encourages people who are absolutely determined to end it all to only off themselves. The # of murder suicides is alarming.

 

[patdog]

Completely agree with you. Feel sad for the murdered girlfriend and the orphaned baby. Not for the killer. I'm glad he saved society the cost of a trial and incarceration.

 

[eckie1]

Not to mention what that ******* put his own mother through....

Completely agree with you. Feel sad for the murdered girlfriend and the orphaned baby. Not for the killer. I'm glad he saved society the cost of a trial and incarceration.

In front of his mother, he gunned down the woman that she considered to be a daughter. Then drove off to kill himself in front of an audience. That is one 17d up situation to put anyone (much less loved ones) in on many levels.

I can only hope that neither me nor my loved ones could ever fathom circumstances that would lead to suicide. But this one was about as bad as I've ever heard.