Hundreds Mourn McNair

Ever since the news of his death raced through the streets of Nashville this July 4th weekend, the parking lot of Steve McNair's Gridiron-9 restaurant has been jammed....not with those looking for an economical meal...but by near speechless fans stunned by the brutal murder of the former Tennessee Titans' All-Pro quarterback who had touched their hearts.

One mourner, Antonio Malloy, quietly observed, It's a tragedy. Just for his family and all the sports fans that love him in the game of football. And I'm still like baffled something this happened."

In a story where the actual truth may never be known, Nashville Police are still trying to reconstruct what resulted in the shooting deaths of the 36-year old retired football star and his apparent lover 20-year old Sahel Kazemi. Both were found dead on Independence Day inside a downtown condo McNair had rented.

Police regard McNair's death as a homicide after a business partner found him shot twice in the chest and twice in the head. Kazemi's body was found to have one gunshot wound to her head. However, Nashville PD still will not label her death a suicide pending autopsy results. Authorities also aren't sure who owned the semi-automatic weapon found near Kazemi's body.

A precursor to the shootings might have come just two days ealier when an alleged impaired Kazemi was arrested for driving under the influence. However, McNair, who was also in the car at the time of the arrest, was not charged. Nashville PD says their investigation is still open although no other arrests in the case are expected.

Meanwhile, at the restaurant that McNair built near Tennessee State University, as an affordable food alternative, the mourners...young and old...black and white...paid nearly silent homage.

Malloy summed up the outpouring by saying, "He's liked by everybody. People who know him from the game. White. Black. Doesn't matter. For the kids that looked up to him. That idolized him in the game."

A game, in which McNair, who played sparingly his first two seasons, honed his skills as the 1997 starter with the then Tennessee Oilers who played to sparse crowds at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis while a stadium was being built in Nashville.

McNair would not only eventually lift the team to respectability, but also to win an infamous yard of a Superbowl win three years after enduring the team's stay in Memphis.

But, those memories didn't seem all that important to the emotional crowd ready to give their hearts to a man they felt...wasn't afraid to wear his on his sleeve.