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The most visible Cardinal has been dead nearly five years. Pat Tillman, the football player turned fallen soldier, is here, there and everywhere Arizona plays, the 2008 team embodying his selflessness and success against great odds.

Until this season, Tillman was the lone blossom on Arizona’s blighted N.F.L. franchise, filling the Phoenix community’s collective heart with pride.

His No. 40 replica jersey — the top seller on the team Web site — hangs off the shoulders of grandmothers and bikers and businessmen who form a human ring of honor in the stands. Tillman is idolized by people who never saw him play. Journalists here are sizing him for a Super Bowl ring.

Soldiers will watch the Cardinals play the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday in Super Bowl XLIII from a U.S.O. center in Afghanistan that bears Tillman’s name and was built with money donated by the N.F.L. in his memory

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/31/sport ... ml?_r=2&hp

Shameless deification of the military. Tillman to me is a glaring symbol of US military imcompetance and the attempted cover up was scary if not criminal. He is now nothing more than a profit center for the Arizona Cardinals, the NFL and the US military.

I appreciate his service but his death serving as a reminder of how dangerous our leaders and military are is much more important than making the guy into a martyr saint.

D1B wrote:Shameless deification of the military. Tillman to me is a glaring symbol of US military imcompetance and the attempted cover up was scary if not criminal. He is now nothing more than a profit center for the Arizona Cardinals, the NFL and the US military.

I appreciate his service but his death serving as a reminder of how dangerous our leaders and military are is much more important than making the guy into a martyr saint.

Damn right the military is dangerous, D. And they know where you live, fcuker.