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The Gulf of Mexico fishing accident off Tampa last weekend only made national news because two of the four men on the capsized boat were NFL players--just as Pat Tillman's death was more newsworthy than other friendly fire incidents in Afghanistan and Michael Vick's pitbull ring was more than just any other dog fight. Part of the fascination with NFL players is that, in popular imagination, they are endowed with superhuman attributes of strength, determination and stamina. So the heroic image of Marquis Cooper, the missing Raider, and Corey Smith, the missing Lion, was undercut when the surviving fisherman from the quartet was quoted in the St Petersburg Times. As CBS' Kelly Cobiella recounted Wednesday, Nick Schuyler reportedly said his two shipmates "gave up hope their first night in the water, took off their life vests and drifted away."
Now NBC's Ron Mott reports that the Cooper and Smith families "are having a tough time accepting the notion" that their heroes would not have fought more tenaciously to save their own lives. Mott consulted his sources at the US Coast Guard. They told him "Schuyler's account is consistent with similar water emergencies." In those 60F Gulf of Mexico waters, hypothermia "can dramatically alter mental capacities--even for elite athletes."
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