Extremely Bad Taste.

I just sent the following letter to one of my favorite columnists, Tuesday Morning Quarterback (in the actual message, I signed it with my real name):



*****************************************

From: me

To:TMQ_ESPN@yahoo.com

Subject: Your Darrent Williams comment from January 2



Hello Mr. Easterbrook,



My name is jcabana, and I hail (in all senses of the word) from Washington, D.C.  I have been a loyal reader of your column since it first arrived on ESPN's Page 2 site.  I followed you to nfl.com, and returned with you to ESPN.  All the while, I've quoted you numerous times to people who normally don't spend time reading about football as much as I do.  I think I've written to you once before, perhaps to correct a mistake you made.  I never felt much need to add my two cents to your columns. 



Until now. 



I 'm not going to mice words: the brief section of your recent column on Darrent Williams was not only in extremely bad taste, it was factually ludicrous.  Specifically, you said:



"Darrent Williams, 1982-2007: Once at a Bill Cosby concert I heard Cosby say, "Nothing good has ever happened between midnight and dawn." He meant this seriously, and proceeded to talk about why it was foolish for anyone except cops and hospital personnel to be anywhere but home during those hours. According to initial reports -- bearing in mind that initial reports from the scenes of tragedies are often wrong -- Williams was murdered leaving a nightclub about 2 a.m., the morning following the Broncos' final game of the season. Yes, it was New Year's, and many people are out to all hours that morning. But should they be?

I am a big believer in the power of statistics to help us lead our lives. Statistics cannot tell us what will happen, but can suggest a great deal about what is likely to happen. Statistics tell us we should not fear airline flights but should be very wary about crossing the street. (There were 4,881 pedestrians deaths in the United States in 2005, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.) Statistics tell us we shouldn't worry about drinking tap water but should be cautious about corn syrup in foods. And statistics tell us we are far more likely to be victims of violent crime, or involved in automobile accidents, after midnight than before midnight. The sorts of people who are out on the streets in the wee hours, or driving on the roads then, are the sorts of people whom the wise avoid. It's not enough to mourn the loss of Darrent Williams. Learn the lesson: When the clock strikes midnight, you belong at home."

First of all, it is extremely distasteful to treat someone who passed away only two days prior as a statistic.  Darrent Williams was a promising young man with a bright future as a football player.  To reduce his death to assert your beliefs about the danger in staying out past midnight is a completely insensitive thing to do.  If this were your son who was killed -- apparently over an argument he wasn't even directly involved in -- how would you feel if you read something like this?  Wouldn't you feel a bit angry at the thought that some stranger used your kid as a lazy anecdote because he was murdered?



What you've done, for all intents and purposes, is 'blame the victim.'  You didn't specifically say that Williams got himself killed, but the implication is clear.  This is the equivalent of telling a woman who gets date-raped that she shouldn't have gone back to her acquaintance's house by herself.  Or telling a jogger who gets stabbed to death in an empty park that he/she shouldn't have been there at all.  It's a vulgar thing to think, let alone write in a public column. 



Furthermore, your logic is flawed.  I love Bill Cosby, but I don't agree with everything he has ever said.  Statistics do tell us a lot of things.  They also can be manipulated to tell us several conflicting things, not all of which make sense.  Take your airplane statistics.  Steven Levitt tells us in Freakonomics that death rates in automobiles, planes and trains are not much different.  Why?  Because most statistics showing airplane travel accident rates vs. automobile accident rates do not factor in the frequency of travel.  Most people are in cars a lot more often than they fly; on top of that, airplane accidents are a lot more likely to be fatal than car accidents.  When these factors are taken into account, death rates in both cars and airplanes are much closer than you'd think.  The difference might not even be statistically significant. 



Saying that more violent crime occurs late at night is all well and good.  Concluding that violent crime rates between midnight and dawn means that everyone should be camped out in our homes during those hours makes no sense at all.  Do such statistics take into account who falls victim to violent crime in the first place?  How many of these crimes are committed against people in their homes already?  How many involve drug or gang activity -- something your average person isn't involved in?  People driving vs. people on foot?  How many depend on location?  If I'm in a bad neighborhood or a city vs. the suburbs or a rural area, doesn't that make a difference? 



The fatality rate of automobile accidents on freeways is higher than that of local-road accidents.  Perhaps we should avoid highways?  Most automobile accidents happen within a few miles of home.  Should we thus not drive near our homes?  Should we push our cars 4 miles from home before we get behind the wheel?  I'm in my late-20's, and 95% of my friends have gone out past midnight at least once a week since (at least) the age of 18.  From the way you make it sound, we are all lucky to have made it to the age of 30.



I still will read your column every week.  I realize that when you write a great deal of copy you are likely to let something slip out that you should have thought better of.  I'm not going to sit here and say that I've never written anything that I regret.  I'm going to give you a mulligan on this, and also chalk up your attitudes towards going out late as a generation gap issue. In the future, please tread more carefully (and be more thorough) before you decide to use a tragic event as a lifestyle rant.



Regards,

jcabana

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