The best place I’ve found so far to keep-up on the situation with Sean Taylor is on Washington Post site at the Redskins Insider Blog with Jason La Canfora. The latest information (as of 3:12 p.m. EST) has Taylor in grim conditions:

Richard Sharpstein, who has represented Sean Taylor in legal matters in the past and is a friend of the family, said moments ago that the player’s life is hanging in the balance in the hospital. Sharpstein, speaking from the hospital, said Taylor is “nonresponsive and unconscious” and the doctors are “worried about a possible brain injury or death.”

Sharpstein, who has been with Taylor’s family at the hospital much of the day, said that there are major worries that Taylor may have lost oxygen to the brain, and that no other procedures are planned for right now. “They’re waiting to see if he comes to,” Sharpstein said. He was shot in the groin/thigh area near the femoral artery and lost copious amounts of blood. He was airlifted to the trauma center and endured several hours of surgery, Sharpstein said.

Taylor is in intensive care, Sharpstein said, and his girlfriend and child were not injured in the attack. Sharpstein said Taylor was sleeping when he heard a noise in the living room. The intruders were at his bedroom and Taylor reached for a machete or other form of knife he keeps nearby in case of emergency, and two shots were fired, with one striking his leg.

“Right now he’s clinging to life and we’re all praying he makes it,” Sharpstein said.

Many fans who read the bad parts of his past are going to jump to conclusions that his dangerous past led to this current incident.

The following from WaPo’s Michael Wilbon during a chat rubbed me the wrong way:

McLean, Va.: Will your opinion of Taylor change if this does not turn out to be a random incident (e.g. home invasion)?

Michael Wilbon: No…People’s opinions are shaped by the way they’ve grown up, the way they see the world, what they know about the world the person in question grew up in, etc. Sean Taylor isn’t the only guy I know who fits his general profile. I’ve known guys like Taylor all my life, grew up with some. They still have shades of gray and shouldn’t be painted in black and white…I know how I feel about Taylor, and this latest news isn’t surprising in the least, not to me. Whether this incident is or isn’t random, Taylor grew up in a violent world, embraced it, claimed it, loved to run in it and refused to divorce himself from it. He ain’t the first and won’t be the last. We have no idea what happened, or if what we know now will be revised later. It’s sad, yes, but hardly surprising.

The comment that “this latest news isn’t surprising in the least, not to me” might be the main part that irks me. I guess Wilbon was never taught to hold premature thoughts and speculations before saying something he can’t take back.

If La Canfora’s information is correct, Taylor was simply trying to protect his family from a robbery attempt. In doing so, his family avoided injury and remain safe, while Taylor’s own life currently hangs in the balance. And all of this is “hardly surprising” to Wilbon? Maybe I am just going on emotions here but Wilbon seems pretty wrong for saying what he did.

At any rate, times like this should remind us of how inconsequential the outcome of a simple sporting event can be.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Taylor and his family during this difficult time.