Dave Zirin: Where Was the Pat Tillman Story on NFL Sunday?

[marmar]

from The Nation:



Where Was the Pat Tillman Story on NFL Sunday?
Dave Zirin on Monday, September 12, 2011 - 15:08


In 2004, President George W. Bush appeared on the Jumbotron at Arizona’s Sun Devil stadium to address the combat death of former NFL player turned Army Ranger, Pat Tillman. Bush said: “Pat Tillman loved the game of football. Yet, as much as Pat Tillman loved competing on the football field, he loved America even more.… Courageous and humble, a loving husband and son, a devoted brother and a fierce defender of liberty. Pat Tillman will always be remembered.”

But Sunday—while NFL teams around the country commemorated the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks—Pat’s name was mentioned only before the game in Arizona. In stadium after stadium, in pregame show after pregame show, as the NFL’s 9/11 commemoration strategy was rolled out with lockstep discipline, Tillman’s name was conspicuously absent. George W. Bush certainly got his moment in the spotlight, receiving a standing ovation by 70,000 fans at the Meadowlands. On other football fields, massive flags were unfurled, “official NFL/9/11 logos” were unveiled, soldiers were cheered, Reebok’s “We Will Never Forget” 9/11 gear was worn, and yet it was as if Pat Tillman had never existed.

The NFL’s media man, Brian McCarthy, vigorously contested this when we called for comment. “Yesterday was a day to remember to those who lost lives on 9/11.... We did not single out any NFL player that had been in the military. We saluted all military members around the country and the world. Pat means so much to the NFL. We have funded the ‘Pat Tillman USO Center,’ a USO center in his name in Afghanistan at Bagram (Airfield). We also worked with his wife Marie on the creation of the NFL scholarship. The first thing you see in the NFL (New York) building is Pat’s jersey. He is very dear to the NFL family. We salute him every day. If (you are) trying to create controversy, there is none.”

I respectfully disagree. I don’t contest that Tillman’s jersey is in the NFL office, or that “he is honored every day.” But I think it’s worth asking why the NFL paid so little attention to Pat. It’s worth asking because the answer says a great deal. 

Pat Tillman is the only NFL player—or professional athlete—to die in the theater of war since September 11, 2001. He walked away from millions of dollars to join the US Army because of the way 9/11 shook his system. On 9/12/01, Tillman gave an interview where he said, “My great-grandfather was at Pearl Harbor and a lot of my family has gone and fought in wars, and I really haven’t done a damn thing.”
 .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/blog/163328/where-was-pat-tillman-story-nfl-sunday

[seabeyond]

1. i was not paying attention to any of the 911 stuff sunday. but fantasy football had me

paying a bet of attention to that. i actually thought about that on the late game. why arent they talking tillman. so, they didnt say anything? i didnt know. but of course not, and good point.

[smokey nj]

2. Showtime aired the Pat Tillman documentary on Sunday night. As far as I know,

it was the only 9/11 programming Showtime aired that day.