Air McNair

That's they name they gave him back in college, maybe high school. When I was a freshman at Howard, he was in his last year at Alcorn, and man he used to give the black colleges hell. I never actually saw Steve McNair play in person,  but I would pick up The Hilltop every week, and see he posted these insane numbers--345 yards passing, 197 yards rushing, or some such. People swore he was throwing the ball to himself.

It's always cool when a kid from a black college goes and does something in the NFL. I think a lot of us feel this disconnect between living in a community that produces so much football talent, and yet having universities that produce so little. Obviously there are very good reasons for why that's true. Still, when you see a Walter Payton coming out of Jackson State, or a Jerry Rice coming out of Mississippi Valley State, or a Steve McNair coming out of Alcorn, you cheer a little harder.

I'm sorry Steve McNair is dead. As an HBCUer, he was one of us. When me and Kenyatta first hooked up, I'd use Steve McNair and Peyton Manning as Exhibit A for why she should be into football. (She loved the Titans, until they let McNair go. She still likes them, but I think she's partial to the Colts, these days.) I don't really know what to say about the manner of his death, since I don't really know what happened. My heart goes out to his wife and his kids. I'm so sorry he's gone.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2009/07/air-mcnair/20670/