| When the story first hit the wires last Friday
morning, at a time when Pro Football Weekly’s editors were primarily focused
on the upcoming free-agent scene (the latest issue of PFW’s main theme), it honestly
didn’t register much of a reaction. I remember quickly scanning the AP lead:
"Fresno State QB David Carr and his wife and baby escaped injury after a driver
slammed into his compact car and sped away Thursday night."
The key words "escaped injury" were enough to convince me the wire copy
wasn’t worth dwelling on just then, with a clump of team-by-team free-agent
assessments waiting to be edited.
This morning, however, that same piece of wire copy just happened to attract my
attention, and I decided to take a more thorough look at it. A few paragraphs that I
skipped over last Friday really raised my eyebrows:
"Carr and his family were headed south on Highway 41 … when the speeding
Chevy sport utility vehicle rear-ended his Saturn sedan." … " ‘Thank
God, he’s looking out for me any my family,’ Carr said as he stood near the wreck."
… "The impact sent Carr’s 21-month old son, Austin, sailing from a child
seat in the car’s rear into the front seat where Carr sat with his wife,
Melody." … " ‘The baby was screaming and Melody was hysterical,’
said Sheryl Carr, the quarterback’s mother. ’ "
It suddenly occurred to me that Carr, widely expected to be the top overall choice in
the 2002 draft by the Houston Texans, has got to be saying a few extra prayers these days
— and probably every day for a very long time to come. Last Thursday night, while
driving to visit his mother with his wife and infant son, for a few fleeting moments Carr
and his family no doubt felt like they were staring death in the face — thanks to
some brain-dead jerk that had no business being behind the wheel.
We’re told one of the biggest reasons the Texans like Carr so much, beyond the
impressive numbers he racked up at Fresno State, is the fact he’s mature beyond his
years, a deeply religious man with a strong family background, a devoted husband and
father.
And you can bet he’s more devoted than ever after managing to safely pull his car
to the median last Thursday night. If his reactions perhaps had been a little less
fine-tuned, a real tragedy might have occurred.
In addition, while not nearly as significant in the overall scheme of things, the first
round of the 2002 draft would no doubt have undergone a major facelift.
Like Carr said, though, "thank God" that’s not the case.
At the end of the week at the annual NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, I’m
looking forward to talking with Carr for the first time. I suspect his brush with fate
could be a delicate subject, but with media coverage of the Combine increasing every year,
you know the subject will be brought up.
And it will be something that Carr and his family will have to live with from now on
— the realization that their lives could have very easily been reduced to a pile of
rubble on the side of a California highway.
A promising career in professional football is something to look forward to.
But it doesn’t hold a candle to a loving, healthy family. |
