Pat Tillman killed in Afghanistan

MSNBC ^ | 04/23/2004

[valleygal]

Your post #417 is great. I too think renaming Sun Devil stadium or naming the new Cards stadium after Tillman is unrealistic. But naming the field is another thing. And I still agree a scholarship in his name is a great idea.

[Dr Snide]

GWB should make an exception and go to his funeral.

I disagree. Tillman made it perfectly clear when he did this that he was NOT to be treated any different than anyone else. I think that should be respected.

[af_vet_rr]

Some of that could just be bad memory. Ted Williams never even flew a combat mission in WWII, tho' he did serve as a pilot. In Korea, he almost didn't make it back to base in the first combat mission he ever flew as his plane had been hit and he lost his bearings. Had to be led back by a fellow pilot and crash landed. He was pretty lucky to survive. Don't really know what his missions were like after that first one.

I think he did mostly ground attack in Korea, since he was a Marine pilot, and if memory serves, most flew in support of Marines on the ground with the AF and Navy dealing with air superiority. I believe he flew several missions (30+) after the one where he crash landed (which he had to do after flying too low over a bunch of North Koreans to see either where he was at or to dodge another jet).

In WWII he didn't fly combat, he was about to ship when V-J occured. I'd bet he probably set some gunnery records in training if they tracked those types of things back then, if those he flew with are even half right.

[Dr Snide]

Glenn Beck had a guest on that suggested making all the 40 (Tillman's number) yard lines in the NFL Red, White, and Blue permanently to honor his sacrafice and the sacrafice of others. I like this idea.

[The KG9 Kid]

Breaks my heart, just like the rest of them whose names I don't always know.

RIP Pat Tillman.

[valleygal]

I used to be a Redskins fan, myself, as I grew up in MD (during the Sonny-Billy days). But I disagree with you. I don't think the Cards or ASU need to name or rename the stadiums. I wonder if I'm the only living in AZ who feels this way.

[timpad]

It's already Frank Kush field, so we'll run into problems there. I support renaming the ASU stadium. The Cards stadium naming rights have likely already been sold.

[Dr Snide]

I had just explained who Tillman was and what he did to my oldest son last week as an example of what a true hero is. My son also plays safety and he was very moved by Tillman's story. He called me today with the news almost in tears and I wasn't that far off. I can't think of what the NFL can do that would be enough but I hope they find an appropriate way of honoring a true American hero. My son on the other hand said he is changing the his number from 36 (in honor of Leroy Butler who he had met before) to 40 to be like his new hero. I can only hope that he turns out to be as much of a man as Pat Tillman.

[condi2008]

***THE MANSIONS OF THE LORD***

To fallen soldiers let us sing
Where no rockets fly nor bullets wing
Our broken brothers let us bring
To the Mansions of the Lord

No more bleeding, no more fight
No prayers pleading through the night
Just divine embrace, eternal light
In the Mansions of the Lord

Where no mothers cry and no children weep
We will stand and guard though the angels sleep
Through the ages safely keep
The Mansions of the Lord

From "We Were Soldiers"

[threat matrix]

That's a wonderful idea, what a great way to show the troops that we havent forgotten during the college/NFL season

[PRND21]

RIP and thanks, Pat.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

I love it when you surface. You're so damned funny.

I just hate that you had to bring up Kerry, a man who got a Purple Heart for a freaking BRUISE and then turned on those with whom he served, on a thread about a genuine American hero who voluntarily gave his very life for this country.

Shame on you.

[valleygal]

The land was granted to them by a businessman named John F.Long. Maybe someone else here from AZ can remember how it's being funded. But taxpayers didn't want to pay for it after the Diamondback stadium (Bank One Ballpark). One PHX council woman got shot it the behind (literally) after that vote!.

They were going to build it in Tempe because Bidwell wanted to stay there and the politicos there wanted it but it would have sat at the end of a Sky Harbor Airport runway and would have been too dangerous. Some involved were saying, "Nah, it'll be fine". It was a mess. Finally Glendale got it. They had been making offers for a long time but everyone wanted it to work out in Tempe. But it just couldn't. Tempe is land-locked and has been for years.

[Rays_Dad]

Thank you Mr. Tillman for everything you did. May God have Mercy on You.

Chip

[clouda]

Tillman: What parents should have children aspire to be

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0423roberts23-ON.html



Arizona's heart is broken today.

Oh sure, the sun came up and it is shining still. But somehow, the sparkle has momentarily dimmed. The world looks different as we come to grips with the fact that Pat Tillman is dead.

Over and over today, we watched old television footage of Tillman, bringing down the opposition, of Tillman running with the stolen ball. Though he was a defensive player, it was his nature, it seems, to reach for and run with the ball. To take it whenever it was given and when it wasn't his burden to bear.

Of course, the death of Pat Tillman is no more tragic than the deaths of hundreds of other sons and daughters, husbands and wives who have been lost in the aftermath of Sept. 11. No more so than the deaths of millions of Americans who have died through all the years fighting for their country, for us.

But Tillman's story is the stuff of legend not because of how he died but because of how he lived.

This is a guy who was 5 foot 11 and had no business thinking he could play football at a major college. But his senior year, he was Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year.

This is a guy who certainly had no business thinking he could play in the NFL. But his 224 tackles in 2000 set a franchise record.

And then came that astounding day in 2001 when he turned down a $9 million offer to go to the St. Louis Rams, a team that had already won one Super Bowl and had a chance to be champions again. Instead, he took less than half that in order to stay with the 3-13 Cardinals, a team that since moving to Arizona in 1998 has made the playoffs exactly once.

"I try not to make decisions based on money," he said at the time. "One simple reason is they (the Rams) are already good and we're crap. I'd like to be a part of building something. I felt loyalty to the coaches. I've come a long way, and it's been because of them."

That was in April 2001.

Five months later, America changed and everyone knows the story. How Tillman walked away from a $3.6 million contract and from celebrity, how he traded training camp for boot camp. How he shunned not only the easy road but took the toughest, becoming one of America's elite, a United States Army Ranger.

There were no press conferences, no Wolf Blitzer interviews. Instead, he went quietly and served silently.

At a time when the ranks of professional sports are plagued with bullies and babies, with men who beat their wives and expect their due, he served.

At a time when the playing fields abound with prima donnas who hire themselves out to the highest bidder, with no mind to the fans who put them there on the pedestal, he served.

And at a time when Maurice Clarett was whining to the Supreme Court about his right to enter today's NFL draft and Eli Manning was threatening to sit out the season rather than playing for San Diego, Pat Tillman was dying.

There will be tributes to the man and rightly so. There will be calls for the Cardinals to forgo millions in order to name our new stadium for Tillman.

And rightly so.

But I think the biggest tribute any of us can make is simply this: Next time, you look at your son or your daughter, speak of the man who did it right.

Today, I'm thinking that no Arizona child should aspire to grow up to be president.

Better, I think, to grow up to be Pat Tillman.

[DuncanWaring]

I have always wondered how they got the stadium approved.

The vote was advertised as "soccer programs for the children". < /barf>

A good reason to repeal the 19th Amendment. < / 1/2 sarcasm).

[armymarinemom]

My son called from the Stan this afternoon. You could tell that he was hurting. He was sad that a patrol left his FOB and ran into trouble no matter whose name was involved.

[WinOne4TheGipper]

It's an honor (I think) to finally meet the infamous MurryMom. They getting too wacky at DU?

[cherry]

If anyone could actually figure out what you are saying, then maybe we can discuss it......LOL

Heroes and Patriots can come in many forms....

I cherish them all....

Godspeed to all of them....

One thing that I definately don't think is being a hero or a patriot is sitting in on assasination meetings and then denying it....