What is sure to be the first of many tough days ahead, the Denver Broncos for the first time spoke publically as a unit about the loss of teammate and friend Darrent Williams. Mike Shanahan had the most to say, as you would expect from the man that has been the voice of the franchise for over a decade, but Shanny was still visibly shaken and upset trying to explain the unexplainable. I have a new found respect for the Coach and am damn proud that he is the head honcho of an organization I hold so dear. Here are some of Shanny's comments, many while holding back tears --
Any time you deal with death, obviously it's something that is hard to talk about, It's hard to deal with. It's something that you don't really prepare yourself for. We talked about a number of things. We didn't talk about anything in the offseason. We talked about Darrent Williams and we talked about the services and the memorial and (that) he's in a better place right now and it's hard to understand why he's gone, but he's up in heaven right now
Shanny also talked about the team's decision to travel to the Memorial Service taking place in Saturday in Fort Worth Texas, as well as the private service being held at the team's headquarters on Wednesday --
Players that would like to share some of their stories within the organization with Darrent's immediate family will get a chance to do that, a number of players came to me today and said that they felt very strongly that we have a memorial service where players could share with Darrent's mom and immediate family what Darrent meant to them, reflect some stories on what he has done that she might not be aware of. This didn't surprise me, because that's the type of players we have.
The team is still discussing ways to pay tribute to Williams next season, though no decision has been made.
Perhaps the saddest thing in all of this are the two children Williams has left behind. A memorial fund is being set up in Fort Worth for his 7-year old son and 4-year old daughter. The minute I find out more information about the fund, and ways to contribute, I will post the information here.
