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Junior Seau's Death Bums Me Out

Without the pads, without the helmet, one could see Seau in the rawest form. And he was a man. The Man. Among boys.

Most people are going to remember Junior Seau as the great football player he was. Understandably so. He was brilliant, a combination of speed and power that makes me think he might have missed his calling running the ball on the offense.

But that's not the enduring memory I have of Seau, who fatally shot himself in the chest on Wednesday morning.

Things are a bit grainy because my memory's going back further than his NFL domination with the Chargers or NCAA domination with USC.

Seau played for Oceanside High in the 1980s, and at the time, I worked at what was then called the Oceanside Blade-Tribune. This afforded me the opportunity to see a game—I think it was against rival El Camino. A basketball game.

Without the pads, without the helmet, one could see Seau in the rawest form. And he was a man. The Man. Among boys.

He looked like he belonged in the NFL even then as he moved up and down the court and stopped players in their tracks. He was the most muscular high school player I had ever seen—or have seen since. He had the intensity of a linebacker, which wasn't surprising, but I seem to recall his patting the referee on the shoulder in crunch time.

He had broad shoulders that stretched well beyond his mullet. I believe it was a mullet; like I said, I'm a little hazy, but his hair wasn't the most memorable aspect of his appearance.

Big, fast, strong. He ripped the ball away from an opponent and I was just left shaking my head. He was an extraordinary athlete. Orange County fans might remember Tony Gonzalez of Huntington Beach, who excelled at football and basketball. That was Junior Seau, except Seau was buffer and tougher in the paint.

Any success he had beyond Oceanside High was completely unsurprising to me. There are some guys who are special. You just know they have big things ahead of them.

Seau was one of the special ones. That was apparent even when he was still a boy which, today, is how I remember him.

It's how I usually remember him.

Panglonymous May 3, 2012 at 01:38 am
His Wikipedia entry is worth a read, imo. Interesting background and life. Even hosted a reality show for a season.
MayMom May 3, 2012 at 01:23 pm
What a loss. He was not only an amazing player but he was approachable. He wasn't without his problems but the rest clearly outweighed those problems. We may never know what caused him to take his life. Let's celebrate the sportsman he was.
Margot Ferron May 3, 2012 at 02:39 pm
We have been season ticket holders to the Chargers over 15 years. I loved watching Seau play, but what I loved as I sat in the stands was hearing all the stories
of him giving back to his community. And he gave big, plus he always remembered where he came from. That is what will be forever etched in my heart. God Bless him and his family.
Martin Henderson (Editor) May 3, 2012 at 06:24 pm
Although I don't think he was a saint, I agree that he did so much good for his community (Oceanside and San Diego) and it far outweighs the "issues" he had over the last couple of years. A second tragedy will be if we never know what caused this decision to take his life. I saw one interview with a teammate who began to cry on camera; this death hits home with a lot of people in the NFL, I think.
Travis Roznos May 3, 2012 at 08:32 pm
This is such a sad story, and the note he left... wow. The NFL will have some internal communication nightmares if they don't address this appropriately. RIP #55
Mike Proctor May 4, 2012 at 12:45 am
My heart goes out to his family.....his poor parents and children.
Suicide, one of the most selfish things anyone can do.
S.A.P. May 4, 2012 at 12:46 pm
Travis, he left a note? I hadn't heard that.
S.A.P. May 4, 2012 at 12:51 pm
C'mon, Patch!
Junior played for the Chargers, the local team, for 12 years & also played at USC. You couldn't use a picture of him from one of those teams? That is a Patriots uniform :(
Martin Henderson (Editor) May 5, 2012 at 04:39 am
@Ship, it pained me to do it, but it's rights issue -- and that was a picture we could use. I'll snoop around and see if we can get a Chargers photo, but it's not like we just pull things off other websites willy-nilly. Chargers unis are much nicer, anyway.
Mike Proctor May 7, 2012 at 03:30 pm
What note....from what i have read, there was no note left. Just some letters to his kids earlier in the week that said that he loved them (nice way to show it), but nothing to indicate suicide.
MFriedrich May 7, 2012 at 09:08 pm
Condolences to his family, friends and fans. Seau was such a fantastic player. I remember him most from his college days. I think he played in a couple Rose Bowl games:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-junior-seau-obit-pictures,0,1898805.photogallery
Martin Henderson (Editor) May 9, 2012 at 10:28 am
@Ship, I have updated Seau's photo; it was the best I could do from a rights standpoint.
S.A.P. May 13, 2012 at 01:28 am
Thanks, Martin. That's a great one.
Shripathi Kamath May 15, 2012 at 01:57 am
LT was a man among boys. How high would you rate Seau in comparison, Martin?
Martin Henderson (Editor) May 15, 2012 at 02:58 am
That's an interesting comparison. I'm not an NFL expert but I know that Taylor was considered one of the best, if not the best, by football people, so you'd have to take anything I say with a grain of salt, probably. I personally prefer Seau probably because I was closer to the Chargers than the Giants.
As I recall, they were different types of LBs. Taylor played 13 years and Seau played 20; I think if you look at Seau's career with the Chargers (which is comparable in length to Taylor's with the Giants) that Seau was a better player at the end of his Chargers career than Taylor was at the end of his Giants career -- and then Seau played another six or seven years on top of it. Statistically, most notably sacks, Taylor has a big advantage and was basically unmatched during the prime of his career, but Taylor was also on a much stronger team. Both are guys you had to account for, but it was probably easier for a team to address Seau than Taylor because of the players around them. Seau was unpredictable and that's what helped make him great. Off the field, I don't think there's any comparison that Seau was the better man. It's a good question: Based on the total package (including longevity, off the field, etc.) who would you take, LT or Junior?

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