I love Sean Taylor as much as the next Redskins fan and mourn his loss every Sunday, but he could (and did) do some dumb things that get overlooked in the eulogies. Remember the Spitting Incident in Tampa Bay in the playoffs of '06 that got him suspended for the Seahwaks game (or was he thrown out of the Hawks game for something elese, I forget)? He also had that silly issue with the tape on the facemask and his socks not matching.So let's remember the good plays, but not overlook the flaws. It makes him an even better football player.
He was kicked out of the Bucs game and played the whole Seattle game (he may have left early with an injury).As you say, the flaws were part of his greatness. While I obviously don't condone spitting on an opponent, it was that type of attitude that made him who he was on the field. I'll take his attitude and one spitting incident over no spitting incident and a different attitude. He was going to get you however he could. I think he spit because he wanted to do something to Pittman without being caught. He was an intimidator. I think he would have preferred to punch Pittman, but that would have been fairly obvious and was more of a risk to get ejected. The main thing I didn't like about that whole event was that he lied to Greggggg and said he didn't spit, leading Greggggg to go in front of the media and say Sean didn't do that.My favorite "dumb play" by Taylor was in his rookie season when he sent a forearm to T.O.'s mouth on a play on the opposite side of the field. Yes, T.O. scored a TD on the drive, but T.O. also spent every game avoiding Taylor after that.As for the tape and facemask, I think that's just piling on. If he wants to pay the fine, so be it. If the team isn't going to make him change, so be it. I was at that sock game. When they came out for warmups, my friend points and yells, "Oh my gosh, look at those socks. That is AWESOME!"