As we try to strike the right balance between those of you who want us to cover every possible angle of the Steve McNair tragedy and those of you who have found yourselves actually longing for a return to the days when we talked primarily about Brett Favre and Mike Vick, here’s one that, after some deliberation, we have decided to mention.
According to Ken Whitehouse of the Nashville City Paper, McNair had filmed a suicide prevention public service announcement for the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities.
The spot had not yet been completed, and it won’t be.
“We were developing a PSA but it never reached the point of being aired and it seems broadcasting it now is not only inappropriate but doesn’t serve the community, his family or memory, or the issue we hoped the PSA would help address,” Jill Hudson, the communications director for the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, told Whitehouse.
On the surface, it’s a strange and morbid coincidence. At a deeper level, however, we can’t help but wonder how close McNair to acquiring sufficient knowledge, through his work on the PSA, to spot the fact that Sahel Kazemi was suicidal.