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National Football League
Draft King Analysis
July 5, 2009
Lou Pickney, DraftKing.com
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The city of Nashville is in mourning tonight following yesterday's senseless murder of retired quarterback Steve McNair, who was found dead from four gunshot wounds just as Independence Day festivities were getting going in Music City. His girlfriend, Sahel Kazemi, was found dead as well at the scene of McNair's murder, in her case from one gunshot to the head.
According to this page on the Memphis Commercial-Appeal website, there was no one in the state of Tennessee with the last name Kazemi with a handgun permit as of May 2, 2009. McNair renewed his permit in March of this year; this isn't surprising since, in a 2003 DUI arrest that was later overturned due to there not being probable cause for his stop, police say McNair had a 9-mm handgun in his possession that he had a permit to carry. But, as of this writing, there is no official word on who owned the gun found at the scene of the crime.
If it was a murder-suicide perpetrated by Kazemi, it would run counter to statistical evidence that murder-suicides with intimate partners are rarely perpetrated by women, that most murderers in murder-suicides are male, and that most murderers are older than their victims.
Could this be an anomaly? Sure. There is more to the story yet to be uncovered. But, no matter how it sorts out, what happened is a sordid tale that will have no happy conclusion.
But this story goes far beyond a retired athlete found dead. McNair and Nashville have a special relationship, one that outsiders might not fully understand. It goes well beyond the typical athlete/city connection.
To understand why McNair meant so much to Nashville, one must understand that the story of the NFL in Nashville will forever be linked with McNair. The #3 overall pick in the 1995 Draft by the Houston Oilers, McNair came in as the heir apparent to QB Chris Chandler, who famously gave McNair the cold shoulder and did little to give his would-be replacement much help as a mentor. After two years of backing up Chandler, McNair was elevated to the starting QB position and Chandler was shipped to Atlanta for a fourth-round draft pick in February 1997.
The timing of McNair taking the reigns at QB was critical for the franchise, which had just relocated from Houston to Tennessee. In 1997, the Oilers played in Memphis (as the Tennessee Oilers) while the team established itself in Nashville as they began construction on a new stadium on the other side of the Cumberland River from downtown Nashville.
The idea was for the Oilers to play in Memphis for 1998 as well, but lagging ticket sales in Memphis (which knew it was only a temporary home for the Oilers) prompted the team to set up shop in Nashville a year early, playing its home games at Vanderbilt's Dudley Field. At that point, Vanderbilt's field had astroturf and could take the beating of repeated gridiron action. To point, my high school's football team (Father Ryan High School) used the stadium in that era as well for all of its home games, just as it did when I was on the team in the early 1990s.
1999 was a vital year for the franchise. The team, searching for an identity that people in Nashville could connect with, was rebranded as the Titans. Never mind that the Jets once had that name; for people in Nashville, the Tennessee Titans were finally a truly local team, not transplants with oil rigs on their helmets. The franchise, which went 8-8 wearing white uniforms in literally every game of the 1998 season (the only time I know of that happening in the NFL -- any help from Uni Watch on this one?), had a new look and a team ready to make a run at the Super Bowl.
The rebranding coincided with the team's debut at the new stadium called "The Coliseum" (now LP Field). What had been an eyesore of rusted industrial buildings had been transformed into the location of a modern stadium, a place that everyone in Nashville could be proud to have in their city. This, along with the opening of the Nashville Arena (home of the NHL's Predators) ushered in a new era of professional sports in Nashville.
The Titans went 13-3 in 1999, but they did not win the AFC Central, as the Jacksonville Jaguars at 14-2 were able to best them for the conference crown (with both losses coming to the Titans). It's forgotten by many, but the only team to beat Jacksonville in 1999 was Tennessee, and they did it *three* times.
 | Steve McNair lead the Titans to a berth in Super Bowl XXXIV. (Mark Cowan/Icon SMI)
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Eddie George was in his prime at running back, but it was the steady leadership of McNair under center that kept the team on track. The team's playoff run began with the now-legendary Music City Miracle win over Buffalo. From there, McNair and the Titans won at Indianapolis and at Jacksonville to reach Super Bowl XXXIV.
The St. Louis Rams beat the Titans in that Super Bowl by seven points, with Mike Brown famously tackling Titans WR Kevin Dyson at the one yard line to end the game. But McNair played well in the spotlight, and more importantly he (and the 1999 Titans) put Nashville on the map as the home of a major league professional team playing on the largest stage that sports has to offer, at least for football fans.
Fans who helped the 1999 Titans sell out every home game received immediate gratification for their support, and that galvanized the way that sports fans in the city looked at the Titans -- and, in a larger sense, in Nashville's move to seeing itself as a bona fide NFL city. The south will always be about college football, but the 1999 Titans proved to Nashville, and the world, that the city and the region could become enthusiastic about the pro game. Ten years later, the enthusiasm hasn't waned; the Titans have sold out every home game ever played at what is now LP Field.
McNair played with the Titans for six more seasons. In early 2006, a messy conflict created a rift between the team and McNair, one that ended with the Titans releasing McNair. He signed with the Baltimore Ravens, a team that Titans fans had grown to loathe due to their multiple playoff wins over Tennessee. McNair spent two years with the Ravens before retiring following the 2007 season.
The fact that McNair went to Baltimore did little to quell Nashville's love for him, and for what he had done for the city in his time with the Titans. It's important to remember that, prior to 1998, Nashville didn't have any major league teams in any of the big four sports leagues (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL). Going from that to having a team playing in the Super Bowl in January 2000 was a huge leap, one that forever solidified the stars of that 1999 Titans squad as sports legends in Nashville.
And, now, McNair is gone, forever frozen at 36 years old -- and cemented as a permanent icon in Nashville sports history. There will be plenty written about him in the coming days and weeks (there already has been quite a bit written on him in the past day despite this being a holiday weekend in the United States), but it's vital to understand that McNair meant something special to Nashville. I grew up in Nashville, I live just outside the city now, and I ask that you take my word on it on this one. RIP #9.
One more note: you absolutely owe it to yourself to read this article by Tom Curran, who examines the permanent impact that McNair's success had on the NFL Draft.
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