Salute to Jack Tatum. RIP

Submitted by Section 1 on

Sad news from California that Jack Tatum has died after a courageous battle with mutliple health problems including severe diabetes that took his leg some years ago.

Tatum was a ferocious hitter, and earned (cultivated?) that reputatation in the NFL.

As our rival on the field for OSU, I honestly don't ever recall Tatum drawing a single personal foul or ever once laying a dirty hit on a Michigan player.  Indeed, while he was involved in some frightening plays in the NFL, I always marveled at his skill.  He was a tough player, not a dirty player.

Rest in Peace, Jack Tatum.  You were one of the great ones.

chitownblue2

July 28th, 2010 at 11:14 PM ^

You chose to take offense, in the name of Christianity, to a person whose point was to ask people to stop slandering a dead man because he used an exclamation you disliked. You chose to ignore the forest for the trees, and ended up attacking someone whose entire point was that people should be more considerate. You chose to ignore what he was saying, and take umbrage with how he said it. I think that is silly.

skunk bear

July 28th, 2010 at 11:32 PM ^

wasn't an attack. It was a criticism. A single comment. Because of the irony of offensively asking people not to be offensive. It wouldn't have been a big deal if LP wouldn't have taken "umbrage".

My comments imply that I understood what LP was saying.

chitownblue2

July 28th, 2010 at 10:48 PM ^

Skunkbear, just sit this one out.

You're equating Last Prophet's syntax to Don's stated desire that Jack Tatum is suffering eternal damnation. You're choosing to be upset over a colloquialism instead of the guy who hopes the recently deceased rots in hell. Equating the two, is, frankly, idiocy.

skunk bear

July 28th, 2010 at 11:20 PM ^

I simply made a very tame criticism. LP insists on defending it. It is not defensible.Let LP stop.

Please understand, all  I did was offer a mild rebuke for what LP said and then respond to LP's responses. It was not my intent to make a big deal of this or equate anything with what Don said. Ijust feel drawn into this.

TheLastHarbaugh

July 28th, 2010 at 11:32 PM ^

I love your view of this. As if this is entirely one sided, and I'm the one dragging it on, and you haven't continued to respond to every one of my posts, (as well as Chitown's and a few others).

Here's another problem, your reponse may have had nothing to do with what Don said, but my post was 100% a response to what Don said, so to simply sweep this fact under the rug when addressing my comment is a logical fallacy. 

TheLastHarbaugh

July 28th, 2010 at 11:22 PM ^

Skunkbear, just sit this one out.

You're equating Last Prophet's syntax to Don's stated desire that Jack Tatum is suffering eternal damnation. You're choosing to be upset over a colloquialism instead of the guy who hopes the recently deceased rots in hell. Equating the two, is, frankly, idiocy.

Yes, this post is 100% what I've been trying to convey.

To think that my use of Jesus Christ is somehow an attack on and/or mocking Christianity as a whole is simply foolish.

Then to compare that to Don's post is beyond foolish. It is, as Chitown put it, idiocy.

chitownblue2

July 28th, 2010 at 10:54 PM ^

You clearly don't understand what epithet means. He didn't use it as an insult, he used it as an exclamation. This is not at all similar to a racial or religious slur.

skunk bear

July 28th, 2010 at 11:15 PM ^

it qualifies as an "epithet" as the dictionary defines it or not, I find it offensive. What do you suggest that I do? Not say anything? And if instead of a simple "sorry, no offense" I get some loon who feels "attacked" because I dared make a criticism, should I respond? Or just as you say sit it out?

TheLastHarbaugh

July 28th, 2010 at 11:31 PM ^

So by your logic, if I am offended by your name Skunk Bear, in reference to a Wolverine (even though I know that Skunk Bear was the Native American name for the Wolverine) will you apologize for offending me, and change your name?

ten.gtd

July 28th, 2010 at 2:36 AM ^

both physically and mentally. Played as he was expected to play for the franchise that drafted him and EXCELLED at it.

Don't tell me that if we had a Michigan safety that could wreak havoc on the field we wouldn't take that and run with it every Saturday - and whatever day we played the BCS championship.

A lot of split second moral judment going on in this thread - the kind you probably don't have flying through the air trying to drop a receiver. The man lost a leg to diabetes, was a shadow of his former self, waiting for a kidney transplant when he diesd at 61.

I say let's give him a day to get settled in where ever his maker chose.

R.I.P. Jack Tatum

Elno Lewis

July 28th, 2010 at 8:38 AM ^

from any potential reciever's mind. 

Ok, for you people complaining about Jack--are you the same people who would complain it is obscene to write derogatory comments on bombs that are about to be dropped on people? 

Section 1

July 28th, 2010 at 9:43 PM ^

It mostly focuses (as they all seem to) on his NFL career with the Raiders.

Here is the brief on Jack Tatum's career as a Buckeye:

He was recruited as a running back by Woody Hayes.  Hayes' assistant, Lou Holtz, suggested to Woody that they move Tatum to DB.  In hindsight, that's remarkable, because while OSU had some very strong offensive backfield players, (QB Rex Kern, FB Jim Otis) they did not have an Archie Griffin-type tailback then.  (Tom Campana was their starter.)  In addition, OSU was then stocked with one of the very best defensive backfields the Big Ten has ever seen.  Tatum was All-Big Ten in all three of his years as a varsity player.  (Freshmen were not eligible in Tatum's first year.)  He was a unanimous All-American as both a Junior and a Senior.  And at a time when a certain Charles Woodson had not yet been born, Tatum was a finalist for the Heisman trophy in 1970, and was the defensive college player of the year.  He's in the College Football Hall of Fame.

I have heard many Michigan players from that era (Brandstatter, Deardorf, Darden, Craw, Moorhead, Pearson, Curtis) talk about what a ferocious player that Tatum was.  I'm not aware of a single one of them ever complaining that Tatum was ever a dirty player.

chitownblue2

July 28th, 2010 at 11:23 AM ^

Perhaps the day of someone's death isn't a wonderful time to take to a message board and hope they "rot in hell".

In the end, Tatum is guilty of accidentally severely injuring someone for the rest of their lives - it was a clean football hit that had terrible results. As there seems to be a fair amount of doubt whether the assertion that "Tatum never tried to apologize" is even true, we can be quiet.

Nothing anyone here can type will change your mind about whether Tatum was a horrible person or not, but remember that your wishes that Tatum "rot in hell" don't affect him - he's dead. They COULD affect any of the likely large number of people who cared about him - friends, family, fans.

In other words, maybe the day of someone's death is a good time for your to keep your deeply held opinions about the recently deceased to your fucking self.

HAIL 2 VICTORS

July 28th, 2010 at 2:12 PM ^

Would you take issue with Tatum if he were a Wolverine? 

Although it might have been more human of Tatum to at least meet with Stingley and offer some nice words I don't see how that can be the justification to wish he rot in hell.

Section 1

July 28th, 2010 at 2:44 PM ^

Shawn Crable.  I happen to be a Shawn Crable fan.  I liked the way he played.  Some might argue that his 4th-quarter hit on Troy Smith was filthy (it wasn't), was illegal (it was a borderline call) and was stupid.  (Hard to argue, given what was at stake.  But I was not the guy, in pads, trying to catch the fleet Troy Smith and stop an OSU drive.)  Troy got up from that play, finished the game, won the Heisman, and played in the national championship game.

Would Don wish Crable an enternity in hell for any of that?  Does it matter whether Smith was injured or not?

Crable was flagged for the hit on Troy Smith.  And, despite my Maize and Blue blood, I'd have to acknowledge that most football fans, and approximately 10,000% of all Buckeye fans, think the penalty was deserved.  Compare Tatum and Stingley.  Tatum was not flagged; and by practically all accounts, there was no basis upon which to flag Tatum.

wigeon

July 28th, 2010 at 3:05 PM ^

Tatum wasn't even the hardest hitter or dirtiest player in the game at the time- I'd vote Atkinson or Doug Plank. 

Other than that, I have no opinion on his passing other than condolences to his family.

Michigan Arrogance

July 29th, 2010 at 3:11 AM ^

TheLastProphet didn't have either the guts or the class to even speak
 

to Skunk Bear, who became butthurt from the chest down as a result of a comment from TheLastProphet in a preseason thread in 2010. Skunk Bear died in 2016, and TheLastProphet never once spoke to him after the comment. TheLastProphet always said he had nothing to apologize for, and apparently couldn't be bothered to even meet with Skunk Bear.

No mourning or regrets from me for TheLastProphet's death. Rot in hell, Assassin.