I don't know any sports fan who hasn't heard about the Washington Redskins' Sean Taylor. The 24-year-old died yesterday morning after he was shot during a home invasion in Miami.
It was the talk of nearly every male student I saw today as most woke up to find the news blaring from every Web site and news program.
So the sports world will grieve a young life cut short too quickly.
Taylor leaves behind his one-year-old daughter, Jackie, with his girlfriend. Both were in the house at the time of the shooting, though neither were injured. It was the birth of his daughter that many credit with turning around the football star who was once quite a wild child in Florida.
However, Taylor's death is sadly part of a dismal statistic that the United States has been dealing with for a number of years.
According to the Center for Disease Control, homicide is the leading cause of death for black men ages 15 to 24.
And professional athletes are not immune to that statistic.
Just to cite a few examples:
&nbull; Detroit Piston's guard Flip Murray was fired at by two masked men in April after they followed Murray and a female friend home from a nightclub. No one was injured.
&nbull; In July, three masked men forced their way into the Chicago home of NBA player Eddie Curry of the New York Knicks and held him and his family hostage.
&nbull; Phillip Buchanon, Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback and former teammate of Taylor's at the University of Miami, was the victim of a home invasion in March 2006. Six men in ski masks beat him and stole his car, clothes and televisions.
&nbull; Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Jerome McDougle, then 27, was shot in July 2005 in southeast Miami during an attempted carjacking. McDougle also played at the University of Miami. He was shot in the stomach but released from the hospital five days later.
&nbull; University of Miami lineman Bryan Pata, 22, was shot and killed in November 2006 two hours after football practice. The murder was never solved.
&nbull; Denver Broncos player Darrent Williams was shot and killed January 1 in a drive-by shooting after the Broncos final game of the season. He was leaving a New Year's Eve and birthday party for Denver Nuggets player Kenyon Martin.
The numbers are simply too obvious to ignore and yet there have been few policies to shift what some leaders from organizations such as the NAACP have called an epidemic.
In 2003, the death rate for black men was 1,258.4. In 2004, it was 1,319.1.
This is compared to white American men, whose death rate in 2003 was 937.4 and in 2004 was 973.9.
The homicide rate for young black men is three times the rate for Hispanics, the next highest homicide mortality rate.
There are 4.5 million black men ages 15 to 29 and represent 14 percent of the U.S. male population of that age and 12 percent of all blacks in the U.S.
If the death of Taylor shows nothing, it highlights the need for action on the part of every American to make a change toward a peaceful country. Too many men have already died and the people they leave behind are paying the price.