Few Players, If Any, Can Stop NFL Show
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By DERON SNYDER
We don’t know what drove Jovan Belcher to kill his girlfriend, in front of their infant daughter and his mother, before heading to the Kansas City Chiefs‘ practice facility and killing himself, in front of coach Romeo Crennel and general manager Scott Pioli.
It could be a simple case of domestic violence. Or undiagnosed mental illness. Or football-induced brain trauma. Belcher’s teammates on the Chiefs and from his days at the University of Maine say the actions were uncharacteristic of the 25-year-old man they knew.
Like others, I wonder what led him to commit such a heinous act against 22-year-old Kasandra Perkins, who gave birth to his child less than three months ago. I wonder how he could behave so horrifically in the presence of his mother, who was in town to help the couple care for her granddaughter. I wonder why Belcher was compelled to speak one last time with Crennel and Pioli, who tried to stop him from harming himself.
But in the wake of this tragedy, I find myself pondering another question, too: Whose death would be enough to alter the NFL’s almighty schedule?
