I remember the news that day. It was in the beginning of this blog, one of my first posts. If you know me, you know how big of a sports fan I am. I was truly saddened the day Pat Tillman died. He was a great competitor, and a fun player to watch on Sundays in the NFL. A true American Patriot, and a special hero of mine. Here is the article...

by Jeffri Chadiha, SI.com
October 26, 2004

The white envelope arrived in a large cardboard box stuffed with hats and T-shirts, a package that looked like an ordinary piece of Jake Plummer's weekly fan mail. But when the Denver Broncos quarterback read this particular letter last week, his eyes nearly filled with tears. An Army Ranger had written to thank Plummer for attempting to honor Pat Tillman's death by fighting the NFL two weeks ago. The man had served with Tillman, and he said Plummer's actions had lifted the spirits of the entire battalion. They had lost a brother when Tillman was killed in April. Suddenly, the Ranger wrote, they had found another.

What that soldier certainly recognized was that Plummer had followed his heart during that brief battle with the NFL over the right to wear a decal bearing Tillman's No. 40. Plummer wasn't merely sticking up for Tillman. He was doing something Tillman likely would've done were he alive today, which made the decision all the more notable. There were many days when Plummer lived vicariously through his old friend, often eagerly anticipating where Tillman's convictions would lead him next. Now Plummer operates with a similar passion.

"Pat's death has definitely made me a more motivated person," Plummer said. "I don't want to just talk about doing things anymore. I want to go out and do them. In fact, we're busy with football right now, but I have plans for the offseason and I'm going to follow through with them. That's what Pat was like. He had a plan, and he made it happen. That's inspiration for me to get off my ass and do the things I want to do, and it should be for everybody else."

This doesn't mean Plummer is going to train for a triathlon or climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. He has simpler goals. He wants to continue the piano lessons he started as a child or maybe take up guitar. He's become such an avid handball player that he has set his sights on competing in an Idaho tournament for the top competitors in the state this summer. There will be a couple road trips as well, though at this point he's not saying exactly what his destinations are.

This is noticeable progress for Plummer, who rarely thought about how best to maximize his free time in the past. He played golf practically every other day when he wasn't working out at the Broncos facility in the offseason. When he played for the Arizona Cardinals, he often filled his days with activities straight out of junior high, like playing H-O-R-S-E or racing miniature Hot Wheels cars in the home he shared with his best friend Ty Hamilton. They even drove to Best Buy once, picked out a pair of unfamiliar reggae CD's and then played them later to determine who had found the better selection.

Plummer's behavior wasn't unusual. There are plenty of young, wealthy pro athletes who have trouble finding meaningful ways to fill their lives. But the more Plummer watched Tillman, the more he saw a different way of approaching the world. The last time they saw each other was in Seattle two years ago, when Tillman was home on leave and Plummer was still playing for Arizona. On the day before a Seahawks-Cardinals game, they chatted at an Irish bar, and Plummer noticed Tillman was talking more about issues around the world and reading more political books. Plummer said that meeting made him "want to be more involved with what's happening in the world and in my life. There are too many things happening to just be focused on golf and working out."

That may have been the moment that set him down the path he arrived at two weeks ago. To hear Plummer explain it, he didn't have a grand plan for creating a controversy over the decal. He simply didn't like the league's decision to honor Tillman for only one game. So after Plummer wore a decal bearing Tillman's No. 40 in Week 2 with the rest of the NFL players, he slapped his sticker back on his helmet after removing it for a week. He quickly discovered how many people supported the move.

Fans offered to pay the fines threatened by the NFL. Veterans called into radio talks shows to protest the league's ridiculous dress code policies. Denver owner Pat Bowlen also jumped into the fray. He told Plummer he would ask the NFL not to fine the quarterback and if that didn't work, Bowlen was willing to send a donation equal to the fine amount to the Pat Tillman Foundation. In the end, a league that prides itself on public relations made the right move -- it settled the situation quietly without any fines. Plummer agreed to take the decal off, and Bowlen promised to put Tillman's No. 40 in the north end zone of Invesco Field and also to play a public service announcement for the Pat Tillman Foundation at Broncos home games.

Of course, Plummer would love to do more. You can hear it when he talks about the need to support the troops and his desire to keep Tillman's memory alive. But Tillman's spirit will live on. It will be there when Plummer takes his next piano lesson and as he drives across the country. It will be there every time he passes on a round of 18 holes and ponders what dream he can pursue next. It will be there because Plummer has learned to copy the conviction of Pat Tillman, which, when you really think about it, is the most touching way to honor a deceased brother.

CU frat pledge wouldn't quit on teammates

A letter to my boys: please be smart. Remember, you don't ever have to do anything you don't want to do. No amount of peer pressure can make you do anything, it's you who has control over your life and your decisions. Let this be a lesson for us all - we live, and die with the decisions we make (or don't make).

This is so tragic, and happens so frequently that it is almost unimagineable. How can we let our guard down? Each year it's someone else. The same story, just a different year, and different name. My greatest fear is losing my boys. It's never too early to teach them about peer pressure, even if they are only four.

By George Merritt and Amy Herdy
Denver Post Staff Writers

No matter what the pain, even when he couldn't see straight, or breathe, or taste anything but dirt and blood, Lynn "Gordie" Bailey would not quit.

It was how he played football. It was how he lived life.

Standing around a campfire in the mountains of Gold Hill with 26 other Chi Psi pledges, the 18-year-old Bailey faced a new challenge with his new team: "No one is leaving until the whiskey is gone."

He would not let them down. No matter what.

"My brain is telling my body to quit," he once wrote of playing football, "but my body won't let it."

When he was urged to finish vast amounts of Ten High Whiskey and Carlo Rossi wine, Bailey's enthusiasm did not quit.

His body, however, did. By the next morning, he was dead. read more>>

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I know I'm doing a lot of copy and pasting here, but these articles on Pat Tillman really hit home with me. This blog is supposed to be my original thoughts, but in this case, I'll let it slide. America needs more citizens like Pat Tillman.

By EDDIE PELLS, AP Sports Writer
October 13, 2004

DENVER (AP) -- Pat Tillman always stood up for what he believed. His friend Jake Plummer wanted to as well, but officials from the NFL weren't so keen on letting him.

Plummer relented Wednesday, agreeing to adhere to the league's dress code and remove a sticker from his helmet that honored Tillman, who was killed in the war in Afghanistan after quitting football to join the Army.

"When it comes to honoring Pat, he's bigger than a sticker on my helmet," Plummer said. "I don't like the fact I can't, but I understand what the league wants to accomplish with its rules and regulations."

To soften the blow, the NFL said it would not fine Plummer for wearing the sticker last Sunday in violation of league rules. Also, the league agreed to let Plummer tape public-service announcements honoring Tillman and play them in stadiums nationwide on the weekend after Veteran's Day.

"We, too, want to continue to keep Pat Tillman's legacy alive, but ... we have rules regarding personal messages on uniforms that we needed to apply consistently," the NFL said in a statement.

Tillman, a former teammate of Plummer's at Arizona State and with the Arizona Cardinals, quit the league in 2002 to join the Army Rangers. He died in combat in April. read more>>

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