Steve McNair: A Life Without Excuses

(Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

Here in Baltimore, the outpouring of mourning will hit full throttle today, nearly 24 hours after the discovery of Steve McNair’s lifeless body in a Nashville condominium.

His brief career as a Baltimore Raven was a microcosm for the tenure of his life as a football player; grit and determination willing the creation of high end results, often against the consent of his body and the disbelief of those who watched him.

Steve McNair was a man of few excuses, and his life will be celebrated for taking very little and making a whole lot for the world to enjoy. When power conference schools wanted to convert the high school quarterbacking phenom out of Mt. Olive, MS to a defensive back, he took his talent to Alcorn State, where he turned the SWAC into a personal symphony of domination from under center.

When the Houston Oilers drafted him in 1995, there were very few excuses made in his two-year wait to be named full time starter. Two years later, with a new city and new name, he led the team to one of the greatest games in Super Bowl history.

Three years after collecting a 2003 MVP award, the Tennessee Titans didn’t want McNair on the premises of their practice facility. He would sign with the Baltimore Ravens, giving the club its first legitimate claim to good quarterbacking in franchise history. He underperformed, but the team excelled. He would retire after that season, without excuses.

McNair was not a man without flaws. He had brushes with the law, and whispers about his fidelity, while never fodder for media attention, where widespread from Nashville to Baltimore. But they were always overshadowed by his definitive genuineness; his longing to help people, and his drive to be as nice of a person as he could be.

Steve McNair did not live a life of excuses, and the lack thereof for his death will continue to make the coming days and weeks even harder to live with.

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