If there's one generalization that I've found applies to everyone in life, it's that no one truly knows how to deal with death. There really is no right way to address it, and a lot of times, people will only focus on the positive aspects of a person's life as a sort of memorial. On the one hand, this speaks to the kindness of human nature, that we can look beyond the faults and issues of a person and focus on what made others like them. It's a well-intentioned way to look a person posthumously, but often it's often a dangerously short-sighted tactic as well. Often, the media will whitewash any controversial aspects of a person's life, probably because they don't want to seem insensitive to the dead or because they don't want to insult the next of kin. When Michael Jackson and Jerry Falwell died and were treated like flawless, exceptional human beings, it rang hollow. Everyone has faults, and when those faults are as obvious as child molestation allegations (in Jackson's case) or blaming 9/11 on women and gay people (in Falwell's case), not mentioning their flaws is not only insensitive in how biased it is, it's unethical.

Which is how I felt over the swooning that took place when Joe Paterno died. If his former players and if the current Penn State students want to proselytize what a great man he was, they have to at least acknowledge why someone so otherwise beloved and respected had to be fired in disgrace. To just circle around the same anecdotes of leadership and courage without mentioning that his lack of principle allowed dozens of children to get raped, it's just not an accurate portrayal. He isn't Santa Claus. He is a three-dimensional, flawed human being. And yet when I watched the coverage of his funeral procession on ESPN the other day, I found myself on the verge of drop-kicking my television. Not once was the Jerry Sandusky fiasco mentioned. Not once, in a segment that featured tears and appraisals and compliments of him, was there even an inference of the scandal that got him fired. And in what was a recap of the man's life, it needed to be there. It needed to be shown that this too was a part of the man, myth and legend; to just bypass it entirely was disgraceful.

Now look, I'm not going to pretend that Paterno didn't do a lot of good in his previous fifty years at Penn State -- because that'd be wrong too. He did a lot of good things for the university. He helped a lot of inner-city kids, he preached ethics, he showed a compassion and enthusiasm that propelled the school from a Podunk nothing to a college football powerhouse in the time he was there. The school today wouldn't be nearly as prominent as it is now without him, and that's partly because he contributed millions of dollars to the campus over the years. These things are by no means meaningless.... BUT...

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(Mercein signals touchdown on the final play. All photos courtesy of AP Photos)

The 1967 NFL Championship Game is considered one of, if not the greatest football games of all time. It pitted Tom Landry's Dallas Cowboys against Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers. On that winter day, Lambeau Field really was the frozen tundra. A freezing temperature and poor playing conditions brought out the best in both teams, as they fought the elements in a down-to-the-wire classic.

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On December 8, 1980, John Lennon, the universally famous member of The Beatles, was gunned down on the streets of New York City.

Lennon was walking back to his Dakota apartment building at 10:50 PM when the attack occurred. Mark David Chapman, who had been stalking him for days and had just purchased a copy of The Catcher in the Rye, stepped out of the corners of darkness. Chapman called Lennon's name and at the sight of him turning around fired five bullets from his revolver. Lennon was hit with four of them and lumbered several feet before collapsing to the ground. Chapman remained at the scene, reading The Catcher in the Rye until the police showed up.

When rushed to the hospital, Lennon was announced dead on arrival, having lost over 80% of his blood. He was only 40.

The motive of Mark David Chapman is indiscernible to some. Chapman claimed that he was infested by demons that ordered him to kill Lennon. He was not well mentally; he had been placed in a mental institute as a young adult. He would later admit that his perception of Lennon as a phony, ala Holden Caulfield, pushed him over the edge, and that he was completely obsessed with the J.D. Salinger book.

Yet oddly enough, he was a huge Beatles fan. So much so that the image above shows him getting Lennon's autograph just hours before murdering him. In the scarce number of interviews Chapman has done from his Attica prison cell, he says regrets the incident. Chapman will never be released on parole, half from the fear that he would harm someone else he loved and half out of the fear that someone would instantly hunt him down.

And where does sports tie into this? Back in 1980, there were only three major TV channels and the one commanding the most attention at the time was ABC with Monday Night Football. The tip of Lennon's fate came through and the decision to announce it was confirmed. Howard Cosell of all people broke the news to the world:

"This, we have to say it, remember this is just a football game, no matter who wins or loses. An unspeakable tragedy, confirmed to us by ABC News in New York City: John Lennon, outside of his apartment building on the West Side of New York City, the most famous, perhaps, of all The Beatles, shot twice in the back, rushed to Roosevelt Hospital, dead... on... arrival."

Further reading:

Crime Library: The Man Who Killed John Lennon [TruTv]

WBBM Channel 2 - 10 O'Clock News - Lennon Death [YouTube]

Happy birthday instant replay!

On this day in 1963, this television technique made its debut during the annual Army-Navy football game. On a fourth quarter run by Rollie Stichweh, TV viewers were able to see the Army quarterback streak for a touchdown seconds after it happened. Because slow motion was a few years away, the run was replayed in normal speed. And to make sure the TV audience grasped that they were indeed watching a replay, CBS announcer Lindsey Nelson screamed, "This is not live! Ladies and gentlemen, Army did not score again!"

"It's been a fun thing over the years," Stichweh later said. "People who watched the game on television were honestly confused. Many asked me how it was that we happened to score immediately after we did on the same exact play."

"Video replay" was devised by CBS director Tony Verna, who was dissatisfied that television viewers had to wait until halftime to see highlights from the ballgame. That replay of Stichweh was the only one of the day, as the machine Verna brought in to play back the video weighed over half a ton and malfunctioned throughout the game.

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(Luckett, Bettis and a pair of Lions observe the coin flip)

One of the strangest controversies to befall a referee concerned the most basic facet of a football game: the coin flip. It was Thanksgiving day -- the Lions and Steelers were tied at 16 at the end of regulation. Phil Luckett met the team captains at midfield and tossed the coin into the air. Steelers running back Jerome Bettis, to the naked ear, appeared to call tails as the coin hung in mid-air...

But as he knelt down to retrieve the quarter, Luckett announced to the Silverdome crowd that Bettis had called heads and that the coin was showing tails. Bettis and teammate Carnell Lake immediately argued with the head official; it seemed obvious that the word out of Bettis' mouth was "tails." Luckett insisted that he had called "heads" and conferred with the other officials. Despite the protests of the Pittsburgh sideline, Detroit was awarded the right to receive the football at the start of the overtime.

Less than three minutes into the extra session, Jason Hanson booted a 42-yard field goal to put the Lions on top. Since the format for overtime was sudden death, Hanson's kick gave the Steelers a 19-16 defeat, one that could have been prevented had they won the coin flip.

"What makes me mad is when you fight and scratch for 60 minutes out there, and the game is decided by guys who wear striped shirts," Steelers coach Bill Cowher said. "There's something wrong about that." He was by no means alone in his thinking. The general consensus was that the Steelers had been robbed by an incompetent official.

After the game, Luckett told reporters that Bettis actually called "heads-tails," and that he honored the first declaration. "That is a lie," Bettis responded. "That's a baldfaced lie."

Detroit cornerback Robert Bailey heard differently. "To me, it sounded like one guy called heads and one guy called tails. That way, no matter what happens, you can argue. It's an old trick."

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(Tommy Nunez Jr. tries to separate Ron and Ben. Photo by Allen Einstein, Getty Images)

On November 19, 2004, the United States witnessed one of the ugliest moments in the history of sports. A lopsided game between the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons got interesting in a hurry as several players temporarily lost their minds. The ensuing mayhem was train-wreck theater at its finest -- it forced the NBA commissioner to dish out the harshest suspensions in league history while he simultaneously tried to repair the league's fractured image.

With 45.9 seconds remaining in the game, Indiana was leading 97-82. The Pacers had all of their starters on the floor, which was a no-no considering that the game had already been decided. Detroit's Ben Wallace went up for a layup and was needlessly fouled in midair by the Pacers' Ron Artest. Because Indiana had essentially won the game, Wallace took exception to the foul and angrily shoved Artest across the floor.

Artest backed up to the scorer's table while Wallace, who seemed compelled to attack him, had to be held off by his teammates. The referees quickly got between them and momentarily restored order. Stephen Jackson took the opportunity to needlessly posture to the Pistons players, which forced Detroit assistant Gar Heard to separate him from Mike James and Richard Hamilton.

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Three and a half years after calling it quits, Michael Jordan returned to the court in a Washington Wizards jersey. The ex-Bull retired at the capable age of 35 and had shaken off rumors of a comeback for three years. Jordan consistently noted that the odds of him staying retired were at 99.9 percent, and answered questions on coming back every single day.

Jordan enhanced speculation of a return in 1999, when he negotiated with George Shinn to become part-owner of the Charlotte Hornets. The North Carolina graduate would have controlled 50% of the organization, including everything basketball-related, and would've (allegedly) returned to the court with the intention to instate Dean Smith as head coach. Though the two failed to consummate their plans, it was clear that Jordan was not ready to leave basketball behind. (Incidentally, had that deal gone through, New Orleans and Oklahoma City might not have NBA teams today.)

In 2000, Jordan became the president of the Wizards and assumed control of their day-to-day operations. "It is a new challenge. I don't get to play. I don't get to wear a Wizards' uniform," Jordan said in a news conference. "But I will have influence with the players who wear the uniform... I'm going to try to have my imprint and footprints all over this place."

The following year, the Wizards hired Doug Collins -- who coached Jordan in Chicago before Phil Jackson -- to coach the team. Reports surfaced that Jordan was working out, playing pickup games, and was trying to lose weight. Pittsburgh Penguins star Mario Lemieux, who had jumped out of the owners' box to make a comeback of his own, anticipated a re-entrance, saying, "I'm very excited about it." His comeback was all but assured, and sure enough he announced his return to the league on September 25th, 2001.

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In the bottom of the 8th inning, the Baltimore Orioles were leading the New York Yankees 4-3. It was Game 1 of the 1996 ALCS. The Yankee Stadium faithful had come to see their beloved Bronx Bombers play the O's, while mercilessly booing Roberto Alomar, who had spat at an umpire two weeks earlier. They did not come to cheer the name of a preteen Jewish boy who had just experienced a Yankees-themed Bar Mitzvah. Yet that's exactly what happened.

With one out in the inning, the Yankees No. 9 hitter, rookie shortstop Derek Jeter, dug in against Armando Benitez. Jeter hammered a Benitez fastball to the opposite field, where the outfield wall stood at 314 feet away.

The Orioles' right fielder, Tony Tarasco, raced back to the warning track. Tarasco had replaced Bobby Bonnila, who started in right only to bruise his left shoulder, only a few minutes earlier. Now he had a chance to make an immediate impact by robbing Derek Jeter of an extra base hit.

Tarasco planted himself with his glove outstretched. Several fans in the bleachers rose from their seats, hoping to come away with a souvenir. As the ball descended, 12 year-old Jeffrey Maier extended his black glove over the wall. The baseball ricocheted off the kid's mitt and into the stands, where it vanished among the throng of spectators. Umpire Rich Garcia ruled it a home run, and Derek Jeter rounded the bases as the stadium roared with delight.

Tarasco was incensed and frantically pointed at the young perpetrator, who was being hoisted into the air by jubilant Yankee fans. Without the luxary of instant replay, Garcia was unaware that the kid had touched the ball and stood with his decision. Orioles manager Davey Johnson, coming to Tarasco's defense, argued with the umpire before being tossed. Benitez retired the side, though the damage had been done. With the score tied at 4, the game advanced into extra innings.

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