The headline of Nunyo Demasio’s Friday article on Sean Taylor asserts that he is a man surrounded by “complexities,” as if he were somehow unique in that regard. He’s a nice guy, it seems – “good natured”, as unnamed interviewees put it – who nevertheless evinces something of a “recalcitrant side”, obstinate and given to “cavorting” with unsavory types. Wow. It’s almost as if human beings have some sort of “dual nature”. If only we had, say, a body of literature that explored this phenomenon – maybe it wouldn’t seem so problematic. Regardless, what Demasio and his sources fail to clarify throughout the Post’s longish article, is what Taylor’s personality has anything to do with the job he was hired to do for the Redskins, and his inability to do it within the guidelines set for him by the team and the league.

This DCist recently found himself conversing with a friend who had just about had it with the Redskins. “I never thought I’d say this,” he said, “but I’m done with them.” This friend had much to cite as the rationale for feeling so jaded – years of bad decisions, Snyder’s “show-biz” approach to (not) winning – but this recent stupidity over Sean Taylor seemed to be the catalyst. “Be honest,” he demanded, “if you or I do what Sean Taylor did, do we keep our jobs? No. And why should we?”