See You in 1984

In 2004 when Pat Tillman died, I became aware of something that probably evident to everyone else. I really saw that there is money to be made when someone dies. I’m not talking about what somebody may give you based on their will, I’m talking about selling personal belongings of the deceased.

I collect McFarlane movie/sports figure and when Pat Tillman died some people painted figures in his likeness and sold them on ebay. To my surprise, yeah naive me, not only were people selling these custom figures but they were selling anything related to the fallen hero. Football cards, jerseys, Arizona Cardinal media guides.

By now, most of us know about the murder of Sean Taylor. He was honored at every football game, since the game this past thursday, with a moment of silence. The Redskins gave every fan, that came to the game, a very nice towel, with the number 21 on it. I just checked ebay and there are 8 towels on sale and two of them also come with the ticket stub from the game. Prices currently range from $10 - $50. Oh and I forgot to mention the person who went into the Redskins store at Fed-Ex field and bought a whole bunch of Sean Taylor jerseys.

Now Cardinal and Redskins fans expressed their sorrow and hurt and the passing of these two great men, yet amongst the heavy hearts are the wolves in sheeps clothing who are looking to make money of these guys dying. One protecting this country and another protecting his family.

The way I see it, unless you are selling the items to raise money to give to the families, I think that’s pretty low of you to make money off of the deceased. Especially before they are even layed to rest!

Am I wrong? No it’s my opinion. Yet I wonder how others feel? How do you feel?