Finding Wisdom in Lives of McNair, MJ

They memorialized Michael Jackson on Tuesday in Los Angeles, and they'll do the same for Steve McNair on Thursday in Nashville. Before I continue, neither McNair nor anybody else ever will match Jackson as a universal icon for the ages, but comparisons exist nonetheless.

They both had their devout followers in life, and they both continue to have them in death. More important, when it comes to those who deeply sit inside the public's consciousness -- particularly entertainers and athletes -- they both delivered a couple of lessons for posterity with their shocking departures.

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There was the lesser lesson, which was what you SHOULDN'T do -- Jackson, regarding his highly publicized addiction to prescription drugs that reportedly contributed to his demise; McNair, regarding his extramarital affair that proved fatal.

In sum, don't put yourself in bad situations.

Then there was the greater lesson, which was what you SHOULD do. Jackson and McNair either understood as much, or it just came naturally for them. Whatever the case, they both performed enough overwhelming good through the decades that even their human frailties will continue to fade into the shadows.

In sum, the better you treat folks, the more they'll support you -- no matter what.

So will the lessons of Jackson and McNair be learned by others? Well, no, but we can dream. We can dream that others won't do the typical, and that is, view themselves as the exception to the eternal truth that says you will reap what you sow. We can dream that others won't study the lessons of Jackson and McNair, apply them for a while and then suffer from amnesia.

The reality is that more than a few celebrities don't pay attention to the lessons of a Jackson and a McNair, or they just don't care.

The sports world is the epitome of this. Soon after Magic Johnson shocked the universe with his HIV announcement, athletes everywhere announced what they wouldn't do anymore involving their sexual exploits.

You know the rest.

When Lyle Alzado died at 43 of a brain tumor after becoming the first mighty face of steroid use among athletes, his peers suggested they'd lift weights and eat all of their vegetables as their only way to strength.

You know the rest.

There also was that silliness on Capitol Hill in 2005. Mark McGwire said he wasn't there to talk about the past, Sammy Sosa forgot how to speak English and Rafael Palmeiro wagged his finger in defiance at U.S. Congressmen. Given the universal backlash from that, you'd think no player would testify again in another such hearing on the use of performance-enhancing drugs and respond with blatant lies.

Roger Clemens said what?

How did Clemens repeat the sins of McGwire, Sosa and Palmeiro again in such a short period of time? Why have amateur and pro sports leagues featured so many artificially enhanced athletes despite Alzado's death? What causes these guys to continue their dangerous relationships with multiple women, especially when none of these guys have given any of these women a wedding ring? And why are the many I'm talking about here so defiant while others shun philanthropy to their detriment?

It's called arrogance, something that neither Jackson nor McNair possessed in huge doses in contrast to others. Yes, we'll remember Jackson 's plastic surgeries along with his controversial death and crazy legal battles. And, yes, we'll remember McNair's issues with drinking and driving. We'll also remember that he left behind a wife and four children after he was murdered next to his girlfriend in a condo they often shared.

Before long, though, we'll forget the weird involving Jackson, and we'll remember the wonderful. This goes beyond his splendid gifts as a singer, dancer and performer, because you had his nearly unprecedented donations to charities along with his obsession with saving the world. As for McNair, the warrior of a quarterback for the Tennessee Titans and later the Baltimore Ravens, he'll always be more than that. He'll always be remembered as the prolific Good Samaritan, spanning from his adopted Nashville to his native Mississippi. He'll always be the huge contributor, both physically and financially, to those suffering during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.


To me, McNair always will be the guy I met for the first time in 1994, when he was a senior at Alcorn State. He was perfecting his Air McNair legend back then by collecting a slew of Division I-AA records as a fearless quarterback who bruised opponents with his legs and his arm. He eventually won the Walter Payton Award that goes to the top player at that level of college football. He later finished third in the Heisman Trophy balloting. This would make some cocky, but not the favorite son of Mount Olive, Miss.

After I drove to the middle of nowhere that is Lorman, Miss., home of Alcorn State, McNair invited me to his dorm room for a chat.

Two and half hours later, we finished.

He was engaging. He was sincere. He was a joy. He remained that way through my other encounters with him. I'm talking about everything from the Music City Miracle, when his Titans shocked the Buffalo Bills in a home playoff game with laterals as time ran out, to the aftermath of his Titans finishing a yard shy of pushing a Super Bowl game against the St. Louis Rams into overtime in Atlanta .

He never changed as a pleasant and accommodating soul, which is why I always gave him the benefit of the doubt -- no matter what. Which is why others he encountered during his 36 years did the same. Which is why I wonder why most of his peers -- and those of Jackson -- rarely get it.

Terence Moore is a national columnist and commentator for FanHouse. He is a frequent panelist on "Rome Is Burning", an ESPN show hosted by Jim Rome, that is seen Monday through Friday at 4:30 PM ET. Moore spent more than three decades working for major newspapers, including 26 years as an award-winning sports columnist for the San Francisco Examiner and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He resides in Atlanta .