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The murders of Darrent Williams and Sean Taylor in 2007 still rattle the foundation of the National Football League — constant reminders of the violence that can stem from the riches of professional sports.
Over the weekend, another one of those perspective-framing incidents was narrowly avoided when Miami Dolphins wide receiver Brandon Marshall was stabbed in the stomach by his wife.
The articles sprang up on virtually every sports site, but perhaps more interesting was the commentary by readers and their almost unanimous conviction that this was just another nail in his coffin, despite the fact that he was the victim.
I was baffled by the personal resentment of so many people who have never met Marshall, only judging him on previous behavioral transgressions during his brief NFL career. Labeled as a menace to society who was more deserving of jail time than an NFL career, people completely ignored the idea that we could be talking about another tragic murder of a young NFL superstar rather than a domestic dispute.
Marshall’s survival is pure chance. The knife that was driven into his stomach didn’t puncture any of his vitals — but had his wife struck a few inches in either direction he could have bled out on the floor of his own home — at 27 years old with a $50 million contract.
Public attempts to figure out how these events occur probably trigger the volatile responses chastising Marshall’s lifestyle, along with articles suggesting that the Dolphins are better off just cutting ties instead of dealing with this “headache.”
He and his wife are recently married and money is the least of their worries. So how can it reach the point where he has to fend off a knife-wielding wife with his bare hands?
A Dolphin teammate texted a Miami reporter, “And this is supposed to surprise me how?” It’s tough to doubt that both sides equally contributed to the dispute; however, Marshall’s wife had no bruises in her mug shot a few hours after the altercation, and there was no mention of Marshall using any weapons against his wife — no indications have surfaced yet that this was an act of self defense.
Marshall’s previous history of domestic abuse makes it easy to categorize this event in with past incidents. But I encourage people to resist easing into that frame of mind. We don’t know the guy or his wife, and we don’t know the contributing factors that ultimately placed him in a hospital and her in jail. All we know is his past behavior and what was reported after the incident.
But in truth, only two people were present at the stabbing.
I’m not defending Marshall because of any bias. I’m just not part of the overwhelming majority that pretends this type of behavior is exclusive to rich young athletes — they’re just the ones we hear about in the media. If you have the audacity to judge, at least approach what happened between Marshall and his wife as an isolated incident instead of pouncing on the opportunity to make blanket statements about a lifestyle you cannot relate to.
But what if the knife did hit a vital organ and Marshall had died? How many of the same people criticizing him as an immature and spoiled athlete would be quick to post messages like, “Such a tragedy, RIP Brandon”?
When Taylor was shot and killed in 2007, it was the other way around. The people who cried out against Taylor’s lifestyle, and blamed him for his own death, were drowned out by the sympathizers.
In reality, Taylor’s lifestyle did welcome dangerous behavior eventually leading to his shooting, but if you mentioned that in the aftermath you were labeled insensitive.
If you subscribe to the notion that Marshall “had it coming,” ask yourself this: Does a guy really need to die in order for us to apply the appropriate perspective?
Bangor Daily News