[BleedBurgundy]

Originally Posted by SC Skins Fan

Here's an email I just sent to Wilbon that I'm sure he'll never read. But hey, JLC read my email yesterday and put it up on his blog so maybe there's a chance.

Mr. Wilbon,
I'm sure you have gotten a tremendous amount of email and I suspect you'll never read mine. I actually thought that your column made some good points, and was probably less offended by it than many Redskins fans were. What was offensive, however, was how you said you were not surprised at all when you heard of Sean Taylor's death. I follow the Redskins as closely as anyone I know and I was shocked. I can see how you could say that if you heard someone on the Redskins was shot you might think immediately of Sean Taylor, but to say you were not at all surprised? Come on. Also, as the story is currently playing out (and maybe I'm rushing to judgement as quickly as you did) it seems that the stock narrative that you and other writers overlaid on this story does not fit. If this just was a case where some guys thought they could get some money or valuables, did not think anyone was at the house, were surprised when they found Taylor there, got scared and fired two fatal shots into the night before running away, then how do you explain that?
I can understand, somewhat, your initial reaction, but do you think that you too quickly imposed your own narrative on these events? So Sean Taylor made some bad choices (and really one bad choice that involved anything other than immaturity that we know of, and you have not offered any others that I have heard), but he moved away from his old neighborhood, he did not go out, he devoted himself to the game of football, he did all the right things. He did all the things that you say athletes should do AFTER Sean Taylor's murder. He was doing all that, he was living life the right way. So you're telling me his mistake was buying a house in a wealthy suburb of Miami rather than a wealthy suburb of Washington, D.C.? What is it that you wanted from him? What could he have done to ensure that writers like you would not write that you 'weren't surprised' when he was murdered? What will it take for you to replace your stock narrative of 'a young black man killed and I'm not surprised' to a 'a young black man who was doing everything right was killed protecting his family'? When can we expect a public apology from you if events continue to play out as they currently are?

Well written. I hope he reads it, and better yet, I hope he responds to it.