Broncos WR McKinley found dead, apparent suicide

Relax, dude.

 

That's horrible. RIP.


http://www.denverpost.com/sports/ci_16127852

 

So I guess the Denver Post was the second to report the news.

I ain't afraid of you, noob.

 

You'd think it would be someone on the Browns.

 

It's sad. He's actually the second star athlete from his high school's graduating class, South Cobb outside Atlanta, to die at an early age. DeAndre Adams, a Winthrop basketball star, was killed in a car accident about 3 years ago.

 

I recently read a USA Today sports article about Shawn Andrews and how he was battling depression. The comments that followed the story got me pissed off on how much fans and teams have no understanding that athletes have to hide the fact the fact that they are "not right in the head."

Being a selfish-ass athlete is different that an athlete having serious problems internally and mentally.

I have great interest in the subject of mental health/depression/suicide in sports, because I battled it in high school and in college. Hearing about McKinley's death bothers me greatly.

 

How can you differentiate between the two? The selfish-ass athlete might have problems of his own, and how he portrays himself could be a defense mechanism. It's just too easy to just each athlete merely by their exterior. Still, a very interesting topic.

 

I covered McKinley for his entire career at South Carolina and there was never a more warm person you'd meet. This guy had a smile that literally lit up a room. He was always laughing, cutting up with teammates, an all-around fun guy.

We had a nickname for him: "Yeah, yeah." He had this tick where when you sat him down in front of reporters, his first two or three answers to a question were pretty concise. You'd keep going and eventually he'd be asked the question and before he'd answer he would go "Yea" like 15 times and then start. It was his thinking mechanism.

He was back in Columbia two weekends ago for South Carolina's win over Georgia and everyone who ran into him, even coach Spurrier, said he seemed in good spirits. Honestly, I think we underestimated how important football was to him. You know how some guys want to play but it doesn't eat them up. I think being injured and not being able to play in the NFL really ate him up. Guess it was just too much for him. Hope he finds peace now. A good guy who deserved it.

 

How many active players have the Broncos lost in the last five years? That's got to be the third? That's insane...

RIP

 

this is pretty awful. RIP