The shooting death of football’s Sean Taylor was mangled by the Media
By A.J. Hayes
Fox News isn’t the only media outlet that lets the facts get in the way of a good story.
Last week the sports media throughout the nation stumbled over themselves painting a “Boyz n the Hood” story line behind last week’s tragic shooting death of pro football star Sean Taylor in south Florida.
The theory was that Taylor just couldn’t shake his ghettoized past.
It’s an idea that’s quickly becoming one of the most commonly used race-related clichés in sports. It’s a versatile stereotype too, adaptable to any African-American athlete who’s either a crime victim or is implicated in a violent crime.
While police in the early stages of their investigation said the attack did not appear to have any gangland connection, the media – columnists and sports talk show hosts who had minimal knowledge of Taylor’s life away from the gridiron – weren’t having any of it.
It was clearly a “home invasion” they said, orchestrated by a vindictive group of Taylor’s former running mates, who were kicked to the curb when Taylor inked a $19 million contract to play defensive back for the Washington Redskins.