"Like Tina Turner Said...We Don't Need Another Hero..."

Steve McNair has totally pissed me off.

Because his troubles aside, well, okay, he got killed, but it’s a fine line, I really don’t appreciate being made to feel like I’ve turned into my father.

HATTIESBURG, Mississippi (CNN) -- Thousands gathered Saturday for the funeral of former NFL quarterback Steve McNair, who was killed a week ago.

"Steve was like a hero to me and heroes are not supposed to die," Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young told the crowd, his voice cracking.

"He inspired me," Young said of his longtime mentor. "He has helped me on every decision I have made."

McNair's casket -- sitting front and center at the University of Southern Mississippi's Reed Green Coliseum -- was draped with flowers. Adjacent to it was a large photograph of the slain quarterback, one of many. A floral wreath framed a No. 9 jersey.

Among those in the audience were former NFL quarterback Brett Favre, Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis and Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler.

Mississippi's Oak Grove High School football team, for which Steve McNair Jr. plays, was also there, dressed in their game jerseys.

"We are here to celebrate a king," Lewis told the crowd.

Titans coach Craig Johnson and McNair's coach at Alcorn State University, Cardell Jones, also spoke.

"Mississippi has lost a tremendous legend," Jones said.

Police in Nashville, Tennessee, said McNair, a 36-year-old married father of four children, was killed by his mistress on July 4 in what they have classified as a murder-suicide.

Sahel Kazemi, 20, first shot McNair in his right temple, then fired three more shots at close range, most likely while he slept in his condo in downtown Nashville, police said.

The young woman then sat on the couch next to his body and killed herself so that she would fall into his lap, police said.



I was only halfway through the news report before I knew exactly what my father would be saying.

Because I was saying it myself.

Are you fucking kidding me?

“…Celebrate a king?”

“…Heroes aren’t supposed to die?

This married father of four was shot to death by his mistress.

Reportedly because the mistress found out he was fooling around on her.

And this weeping and wailing at the loss of a “tremendous legend” has put me pedal to the metal in old guy mode, a condition most often presenting with the telltale use of the opening line…

“The problem with the world today…”

It’s not for me to judge Steve McNair’s life or lifestyle.

Lord knows I’ve got enough work to do keeping my own karma above the water line.

But I’m not about to shed a tear or bend a knee in sorrowful worship of a guy who not only let everybody, including himself ,down but managed to get himself killed doing it.

And this “hero” left behind four children who have to grow up knowing that their daddy died because he was cheating on the woman he was cheating on their mother with.

A high school team all dressed up in their jerseys?

Celebs and sports stars all banding together to grieve the loss of a “king”?

Puh-leeze.

Steve McNair is dead.

But he wasn’t assassinated in the service of his country, for Christ’s sake.

He was murdered for cheating on his mistress.

Hero, my ass.

Man, that sounded just like my dad.

Thanks a lot, Steve.