Not to sound cruel, but this is as good a time as any to remind all of us:

WEAR YOUR SEAT BELT.

May the soul of the departed rest in peace.

Cheers,
         Madiba.
----------------

> By MARK LONG
> .c The Associated Press
>
> MIAMI (Feb. 8) -- NFL star Derrick Thomas died Tuesday in a hospital where he
> was being treated for injuries from a car crash that left him paralyzed from
> the chest down.
>
> Doctors were expected to give details about the death later in the day,
> Jackson Memorial Hospital spokeswoman Lorraine Nelson said. Kansas City
> Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt told WDAF-TV in Kansas City that Thomas had an
> embolism, a blockage in a blood vessel.
>
> Hunt said team president Carl Peterson visited Thomas on Monday.
>
> "He said Derrick was very upbeat yesterday and felt so positive,'' Hunt said.
> "And Carl felt so positive.''
>
> The 33-year-old linebacker was injured Jan. 23 when the speeding car he was
> driving flipped on an icy road. A friend was killed in the crash.
>
> Thomas and two companions had been heading to the Kansas City airport to fly
> to St. Louis for the NFC title game.
>
> "It is a devastating tragedy to the Kansas City Chiefs family, the people of
> Kansas City, the fans of the National Football League, and also to me,
> personally,'' Peterson said.
>
> Thomas broke his spine and neck in the crash and wound up semiconscious with
> no feeling in his legs. He was flown to Miami, his hometown, for surgery and
> rehabilitation.
>
> Doctors decompressed his spinal cord and stabilized the spinal column with
> screws, rods and hooks and implant bone grafts from Thomas' hip.
>
> The hospital is the home of the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, the world's
> largest spinal cord injury research center, and its surgeons have operated on
> race car driver Emerson Fittipaldi and other athletes.
>
> Thomas and passenger Michael Tellis, 49, of Kansas City, Kan., were not
> wearing seat belts and were thrown from the car, police said. Tellis was
> killed instantly and a third passenger who was wearing his seat belt was
> treated and released.
>
> Thomas, a nine-time Pro Bowl player, was one of the game's most feared pass
> rushers and a popular athlete in Kansas City. Flags were lowered to half
> staff at Arrowhead Stadium.
>
> He holds the NFL one-game record of seven sacks and ranks ninth on the career
> list. His seven sacks against Seattle in 1990 came on Veterans Day. He
> dedicated his effort to his father, an Air Force pilot killed in Vietnam in
> Operation Linebacker II.
>
> "He has done so much for this team and our city during the time that he had
> with us,'' Peterson said. "He had so much love for the game, for his
> teammates and for our town. Our prayers go out to Derrick's family to his
> fellow teammates and to our fans who knew Derrick. A light has gone out.''
>
> AP-NY-02-08-00 1211EST

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