Bad Things Come In Threes.....

Bad things come in sets of three. At least that's how the saying goes. Loyal Houston Texan fans everywhere must be scratching their collective heads to the bone at this very moment. There's a guarded optimism buzzing around the trade that sent Matt Schuab to Houston, but why spend three draft picks on an immobile quaterback without upgrading that horrible offensive line? The Texans are giving up their 1st (8th overall) and 2nd round picks this year along with their 2nd round pick next year for the Schuab.

Vince Young would have only cost Houston one draft pick and we all know what kind of rookie year he had. If you're not going to fix that black hole that you call an offensive line, at least get a quaterback that can run away from the rush. Hindsight is 20/20, but the Houston brain trust needs to work on correcting that foresight when it comes to judging talent.

Potential is an ugly word in the world of sports. That's what this move was based on, potential. The back up quaterback is always the most popular guy in town and often has the easiest job in town. The opposing team never prepares for the backup, so it's essentially the same as running plays in practice (minus the no contact jersey). Ryan Leaf had potential and how did that turn out? The football gods don't take kindly to stubborn owners. I just thought I'd drop that bit of info on Texans owner Bob Mcnair.

A Call To Arms?

Too much of anything can be bad for you. This especially holds true when you’re referring to bullets instead of sweets. Unfortunately for Sean Bell, he didn’t have the option of simply refusing to have anymore. How exactly should the black community respond to the tragic shooting of this promising young man?

NO JUSTICE…. NO PEACE!!! These were the feelings that were derived from New York City Councilman Charles Barron’s speech earlier in the week. Understandably enraged by this catastrophe, he’s taken a more proactive approach with regards to the matter. “Don’t ask us to ask our people to be peaceful while they are being murdered. We are not the only ones that can bleed.” Some critics have viewed this as him trying to incite a riot, or just as bad, violence against the police.

I don’t entirely feel that Mr. Barron was out of line with his comments. He was very careful not to directly condone violence against the police. He simply stated that he would no longer preach against it. That’s the equivalent of saying “I wash my hands of the matter.” Those are just the words of a man that is disgusted with what he’s seen.

We all make mistakes, but some mistakes simply cannot be forgiven. Is this shooting one of those mistakes? Time and the jury will give us an idea, but what about the families of the victims? How are they supposed to forgive and/or forget about what’s happened to their loved ones at the hands of New York’s Finest? When are the people allowed to stand up and make it known that aren’t going to take this anymore?

Let’s stop to examine the collateral damage of the shooting. Sean Bell’s daughter, Jada, will

now grow up without her father. His fiancé, Nicole, had the happiest day of her life turned to one

that she will forever wish had never happened. One can’t truly ever recover from such a

tragedy.

Reverend Al Sharpton took a more somber tone when he addressed the media on Friday. “This is not a day for celebration,” he said. Now I don’t always agree with this man, but he’s right in that regard. There are no winners here, only losers. A guilty verdict won’t bring back Sean Bell, Timothy Stansbury, Abner Lewima, or any of the other innocent people that have been gunned down by the police. When will justice be served? The indictment is a start, but how can any justice ever truly arise from this case? If the 3 cops indicted on Friday are all found guilty that still won’t bring anyone back. It’ll simply mean 3 more families will have their collective hearts broken.

Do I believe that there should be some measure of punishment for the police officers involved? There’s not a doubt in my mind. Do I know what that punishment should be? No. One would think that living with the knowledge that you murdered an innocent young man would be a big enough punishment in itself, but in this case it isn’t.

The one thing that we can be certain of is that more lives are hanging in the balance. We shouldn’t rush to judgment out of sheer emotion; rather we should remember that cooler heads prevail. They say that time heals all wounds, but sometimes time just isn’t enough.