Kansas City Chief's player commits suicide

[mraynrand]

To cap an emotional and informative opening segment to Football Night in America, Peter King of Sports Illustrated supplied some new details regarding Saturday’s tragic events in Kansas City.

Citing a source close to law enforcement on the scene, King explained that Jovan Belcher and Chiefs G.M. Scott Pioli separately arrived at the parking lot outside the team’s facility, at approximately 8:00 a.m. local time. Pioli noticed that Belcher seemed very upset. Police say Pioli tried to calm him down.

At the same time, a Chiefs security officer saw that Belcher had a gun in his possession. The security officer called police.

During a short conversation, Belcher thanked Pioli for giving him an opportunity as an undrafted free agent from Maine in 2009. Belcher then asked Pioli to call coach Romeo Crennel and defensive coordinator Gary Gibbs so that he could thank them, too.

Crennel and Gibbs came outside, and Belcher thanked them profusely. He wasn’t willing to talk to them or to be reasoned with. Instead, he repeatedly thanked them.

“I wasn’t able able to reach the young man,” Crennel told King after the game, but Crennel declined to be specific about what Belcher had said.

Belcher then turned around, began to walk away and shot himself in the head.

Prayers to Romeo et. al. - that's just hell to go through. Romeo's not much of a head coach, but he's a helluva nice guy. That will stick with him forever, I can tell you that for certain.

[Kiwon]

Maybe if the NFL enforced a dress code on off days and added no tattoo language to the CBA things would look up as well?

Kiwon, I trust your intentions are honorable, but to reduce this to that aspect of popular culture is a bit, ah, reductive, isn't it? Kind of the equivalent of saying that if guns weren't so easily available, this would have been less likely to be lethal?

Yes, Yes and No, No.

I put my full reply in FYI, the free speech zone of PR.

No need to muck up the football forum.

[Kiwon]

Prayers to Romeo et. al. - that's just hell to go through. Romeo's not much of a head coach, but he's a helluva nice guy. That will stick with him forever, I can tell you that for certain.

I was very impressed with his candor and demeanor at the post-game presser. He's a leader of men and it shows.

[pbmax]

I was very impressed with his candor and demeanor at the post-game presser. He's a leader of men and it shows.

It was a fantastic performance, using performance to describe it advisedly. I would not have been able to be that composed.

[swede]

I was very impressed with his candor and demeanor at the post-game presser. He's a leader of men and it shows.

I'll agree with PB here. I did see the applicable minute or so, and Crennel blended sincerity and compassion with a perfectly pitched message. I am on record saying that I despise the media-heads weighing in on the matter, but Romeo did need to say something, and what he said put everything into perspective, including his own pain and the pain that will echo on in the daughter and the families left behind.

[woodbuck27]

Prayers to Romeo et. al. - that's just hell to go through. Romeo's not much of a head coach, but he's a helluva nice guy. That will stick with him forever, I can tell you that for certain.

Nice post.

[swede]

Not as fizzy.

[woodbuck27]

I was very impressed with his candor and demeanor at the post-game presser. He's a leader of men and it shows.

Yes..... Romeo Crennel is solid as a locker room leader. That win by the Chiefs is one I'll never forget.

How often in sports do we see a performance by a team, that under very difficult circumstances defy's reason in terms of how could that team get it done! A wonderful team win for 'the Chiefs' in a season of losing.

[George Cumby]

Whitlock's essay on this mess:

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/jovan-belcher-kansas-city-chiefs-murder-suicide-tragedy-girlfriend-self-leave-orphan-daughter-why-still-playing-sunday-120112

I go back and forth on JW, sometimes he's spot on, sometimes he's off in left field. In this one, he's more or less spot on calling out Goodell for lacking the moral courage to cancel the game. Sacrifices to the football gods is also a good one.

[swede]

What was the downside to playing the game? Seriously. Who was harmed, damaged, or disrespected by playing? What practical point would have been made by canceling an NFL game because the team's coaches had been emotionally wrecked by witnessing the violent end of a player's life? Playing the game was a healthier activity than moping in the dark.

Romeo Crennel said it best: they are football players and football coaches and they play on Sundays.

If you could save a life by not playing a game then don't play the game.

If you could save some feelings by not playing a game than you should play the game.

It would be interesting to hear some non-squishy reasons not to have played the game. A lot of businesses depend, critically, on game day revenue.

I offer you the story of the man at a Packer playoff game sitting next to an empty seat. A fellow fan noted the vacant spot and asked about it. The man said that the seat had belonged to his wife for thirty years until she had passed away. The fellow fan expressed condolences and then wondered why some other friend or family member hadn't taken the seat. "They're all at the funeral," explained the man.

Life goes on.

[pbmax]

Life will go on. But if businesses really depend on having every seat filled, then the guy with season tickets should have brought someone to the game to provide some fiscal stimulus and some cheering

But there are no non-squishy reasons to not play the game. It depends on how those involved wish to grieve, if they are grieving at all. For some, perhaps the majority, playing the game was the best palliative. Others might have wished to be elsewhere. Was the game a sellout for live attendance? Chiefs fans are hardcore so I doubt there was any chance of blackout (and Saturday was too late to have an effect this week anyway), but haven't seen turnstile numbers.

How would I react? I would prefer to be down at the morgue putting a few more rounds into the idiot that did this than at the game*. Though if I knew him and he was a teammate, I might think differently. They left his locker intact at least for this game.


*Not meant to be a truthful statement, just a tempting option.

[Kiwon]

PB,

How serious is the concussion angle related to Belcher's actions? Is this media opportunism or did the Chiefs cover something up?

My bet would be on the former, of course.

[mraynrand]

Nice post.

blow it out your bilge pumps

[pbmax]

PB,

How serious is the concussion angle related to Belcher's actions? Is this media opportunism or did the Chiefs cover something up?

My bet would be on the former, of course.

No idea and like I said earlier about the soldier and PTSD (in whose case there was ample evidence of his struggles), there is probably a distinct lack of medical evidence in Belcher's case. And that doesn't even cover what we don't know about the damage's effect on such a young guy.

There is information (the Deadspin article is from a friend of Belcher or at least the family) that he also had trouble with short term memory. The informant goes to great lengths to report that there was trouble more serious and earlier than the dispute about the night out. Its possible that might be discernible if others witnessed his difficulty. Could it be related to a concussion? No idea, though it is one of the symptoms generally.

There is a date problem too. That Deadspin article says he had the head injuries in early Nov and then missed a game 2 weeks later. Perhaps the Chiefs had a bye week? If not, why was he cleared to play in the interim? If he suffered from two separate incidents, then there may be more medical information available but then there are more questions about whether he was fully healthy before he was cleared to play again.

[woodbuck27]

blow it out your bilge pumps

Needing attention?