A Tragedy Filled Day For Sports

Kansas City Chiefs Jovan Belcher

Saturday December 1st was a tough one for the sports world as three different people lost their lives all on the same day.

The day started off on a terrible note when Kansas City Chiefs middle linebacker Jovan Belcher murdered his girlfriend and then proceeded to take his own life a few moments later. Apparently Belcher and his girlfriend got in an argument and it resulted in Belcher shooting her. Belcher then drove to the Chiefs facility to meet with his head coach and General Manager to thank them for everything that they had done for him, and shot himself in the head right in front of them.

The entire story is very said and tragic and by the response from the people who knew him and played him, surprising. Belcher and his girlfriend left behind a three month old baby and the entire situation is something that you never want to see. There are only 32 starting NFL middle linebackers in the entire world and Belcher was one of them, and he still took his life. A guy who came from the small school of  the University of Maine and was undrafted, earned everything up until that point. Very sad.

News got even worse in the NFL as a Cleveland Browns employee was found dead at their teams facility. Eric Eucker, one of team's groundskeepers, hanged himself and not much else has been reported. However, the fact that two different people took their own lives at different NFL training facilities id both odd and unfortunate. Belcher and Eucker did have vastly different roles with the team's that they were affiliated with, but both were people of the sporting world, that created a very tough day for fans everywhere.

Legendary Rick Majerus

The final death was not a suicide, it was in fact the result of heart failure as former NCAA men's basketball coaching legend Rick Majerus died at 64. Majerus is one of the greatest coaches to ever coach the game as he only had one losing season out of 25 seasons. Majerus also tallied 520 total wins and the most impressive season came in 1998 when he led the University of Utah to the NCAA Championship shocking the country. However, the most interesting thing about Majerus was that he never coached at a major basketball program. He spent his time coaching at Marquette (before they were in the Big East), Ball State, most notably University of Utah, and most recently at St. Louis University. He never had the top recruits, but people will definitely agree that he always got the most out of his players.

One Last Thing: December 1st will be a tough day for many as many were impacted by the losses of Belcher, Eucker, and Majerus. However, the teams that all of these men represented did their best to win for their fallen friends as the Chiefs, Browns, and St. Louis University all won their first games since these tragedies. It doesn't ease the pain of those affected by these deaths, but it is promising to see these bands of brothers coming together in a time of tragedy and playing their hearts out.