Fisher Will Remember McNair Fondly
Tennessee Titans Coach Jeff Fisher said Monday that he will remember the good about late quarterback Steve McNair.
"As I sat in my office moments ago pondering what to say, it occurred to me, 'Say what the Steve McNair you knew would want you to say,' " Fisher said at a news conference. "The Steve that I knew, if he were here right now, would want me to say, 'Mechelle, I love you. Tyler, Trent, Steven, Junior, I love you.' That is what he would want me to say, the Steve that I knew: 'Lucille, Fred, everybody, I love you.' The Steve McNair that I knew would want me to say, 'I'm sorry. I'm not perfect. We all make decisions sometimes that are not in the best interest. Please forgive me.' The Steve McNair that I knew would want me to say, 'Celebrate my life, for what I did on the field, for what I did in the community, the kind of teammate that I was.' That is what Steve that I knew would want me to say.
"I have known him for 15 years. We endured wins and losses, joy and laughter, sadness. I've watched one of the greatest competitors of all-time on the field do whatever it took to stay on the field. I watched one of the best teammates you could ever have, be a teammate to everybody, to extend a hand to everybody.
"The Steve McNair that I knew was a great person. He, along with these teammates here, put this organization on the map here in Tennessee, put us in our first Super Bowl. I think you all realize everything he did in between.
"I will miss him, as we will all miss him. I ask you to honor what he did on the field and in the community and what he was as a tremendous teammate. That is his legacy and I'm proud to have been a part of that."
Fisher was on a trip to the Persian Gulf with other coaches when McNair was shot to death over the weekend.
"I had an opportunity to experience a once-in-a-lifetime trip over the last five or six days with four other coaches: Bill Cowher, Jon Gruden, Tom Coughlin and John Harbaugh," Fisher said. "I would love to go into that another time, that experience and I'll share that with you.... We were hustling back from Baghdad to Kuwait to the airport to try to make our flight and it was going to be difficult to make, and as I got off the aircraft on the runway... I had [phone] service in Kuwait and I had a number of calls come up and as I was looking at the numbers, Eddie [George] called me and gave me the news.
"... Personally, we all have to deal with the loss and personally I had a lot of emotions, especially the emotions coming from the trip and everything which were incredible. I just immediately started reflecting."
George, the former Titans running back, also attended Monday's news conference and said: "It is a devastating loss for the community, for the organization, for our former teammates. This is not an easy thing to do. All we can do is just rally around each other, pray for Steve's family, pray for Steve and, like Jeff mentioned, get past the circumstances and look at the human being that we were all impacted by. Because he blessed us with so many memories and so many great times, and he really has had a positive impact on this community, and I will miss him dearly.
"... I am saddened by the loss of a dear friend, and I'm not in a position to judge anyone or to be judged. That's left up to God. He was close to me. We came into this organization together. We built something together... Led by Jeff Fisher, I mean, that was some tough times, and all we had was us. So I know the type of person Steve is. I know the type of father he was. He was a dedicated father. He was very involved in all of his sons' lives. He was committed to us, committed to the community. You know, we all make mistakes we all wish we could go back on, but I'm not here to dwell on that. I'm here to celebrate the life of a dear friend and teammate."
By
Mark Maske
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July 7, 2009; 11:49 AM ET
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