Charles Tillman might miss Sunday night's game against the Texans to witness the birth of his daughter. This sounds quite rational, particularly when given some context by the Chicago Tribune: As far as putting his family first, Tillman said he wouldn't have second thoughts about his decision based on his past. One of his daughters was born with a heart defect.
"This game is important to me, but after what we went through with my middle child Tiana, to me football is second," Tillman said. "It will always be second or third in my life."
Exactly. Case-closed. Except for those who want to open it up and crank the dial back to 1962 and make football No. 1 and everything else a distant second when it comes to being a man.
Such as, say, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk:
It's a thorny issue. My position was and is that the players have made a lifestyle choice that entails being available 16 days per year, no matter what. If they choose not to plan their nine-month family expansion activities to coincide with the eight months per year when their work activities don't entail playing games that count, why should their teams suffer the consequences?
Strongly disagree.
Pregnancy is not a perfect science. Football is not religion. Let's not shame Tillman. Let's applaud him.
