In a futile effort to get everybody to move on to something relevant, here are my thoughts on the Pat Tillman story-qua-eulogy that would not end:

* It doesn't matter that he played professional football. How many dead soldiers played college football? How about high school? How many were professional somethings else? The masses can be excused for thinking it matters. Media elites, who spend hour upon hour telling us that it doesn't matter, can't.

* He had to be kind of an egomaniac. How else do you come to the conclusion that one extra person joining the Army will have a more significant impact than the donation of the millions he would've earned signing a new NFL contract? Most people don't get the opportunity to put those kinds of resources into making a difference; that's why, for most people, military service seems like a chance to make that difference. Pat Tillman, as a multi-millionaire professional athlete, was not most people.

* God did not "draft" Pat Tillman. Fuck you, everyone who appropriates this to push a religious agenda. Here's what Tillman's brother said at the funeral/rally:

* Pat Tillman's funeral was broadcast all over the place. Pat Tillman died in Afghanistan, a theater that people generally still think we're doing a good job in. Sinclair Broadcasting refused to air Nightline's reading of the names of the Iraq dead. A majority now think we're fucking up in Iraq. I think we can expect more and more coverage on the Afghanistan "success" in the coming months.