Nobody Deserves This

I was honestly saddened to hear of the death of Mike Tyson’s four-year-old daughter, who died Tuesday after getting her neck caught in a treadmill cord.

It gave me a pang when I heard of the tragic circumstances.

Don’t get me wrong. I have always been a critic of Tyson and always will be. It’s hard to think of much good to say about a person who has lived a life that includes numerous criminal acts, including rape. Nor is it easy to like a guy who has bitten off part of an opponent’s ear and said he’d like to maim or eat other people’s children.

But nobody deserves to have their little ones die so soon and so tragically. Not even Tyson.

A lot of people think the media love the misery of athletes, actors and politicians. But I don’t know of any media person who sees such tragedy and says, “Good, he deserves it.”

Everyone felt sorry for Derek Fisher and his daughter’s eye cancer. Same with Carlos Boozer and his son’s sickle cell anemia. That doesn’t mean athletes aren’t accountable for their performance and their behavior, or that they get a lifetime pass on the field. It only means nobody should be gleeful when truly sad things happen to them.