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A league source tells us that the Packers are miffed at an official medical ruling that the death of assistant coach Ray Sherman's 14-year-old son was a suicide.
Folks within the Packers organization believe that the death was accidental. Based on the stories we've read, we agree.
As reported, Sherman's son, Ray II., apparently came across the gun while helping the family move from a rented home in the Green Bay area. Though we're not experts on the issue, we doubt that the decision to take one's own life occurs spontaneously, upon the sudden discovery of a firearm.
Also, we've seen many reports regarding the reactions of boys who find guns in an otherwise safe environment. Adolescent males are curious by nature, and they have an innate sense of invulnerability. Even most adult males can't look at an image of a .38 without having an inexplicable impulse to pick it up and put their finger on the trigger.
Who's to say he didn't think the gun was empty, or that he wasn't playing an extremely misguided game of Russian Roulette? Fourteen-year-old boys do stupid things on a daily basis -- but they rarely commit suicide without some prior objective evidence of a problem.
Thus, unless the esteemed officials in Green Bay know something we don't, they should back off. It's hard enough for Ray Sherman's family to deal with the loss of their child. It's surely even harder to hear the rushed judgment of some pointy-headed bureaucrat that their son ended his life intentionally.
Folks within the Packers organization believe that the death was accidental. Based on the stories we've read, we agree.
As reported, Sherman's son, Ray II., apparently came across the gun while helping the family move from a rented home in the Green Bay area. Though we're not experts on the issue, we doubt that the decision to take one's own life occurs spontaneously, upon the sudden discovery of a firearm.
Also, we've seen many reports regarding the reactions of boys who find guns in an otherwise safe environment. Adolescent males are curious by nature, and they have an innate sense of invulnerability. Even most adult males can't look at an image of a .38 without having an inexplicable impulse to pick it up and put their finger on the trigger.
Who's to say he didn't think the gun was empty, or that he wasn't playing an extremely misguided game of Russian Roulette? Fourteen-year-old boys do stupid things on a daily basis -- but they rarely commit suicide without some prior objective evidence of a problem.
Thus, unless the esteemed officials in Green Bay know something we don't, they should back off. It's hard enough for Ray Sherman's family to deal with the loss of their child. It's surely even harder to hear the rushed judgment of some pointy-headed bureaucrat that their son ended his life intentionally.
