Saturday, July 4, 2009. A relatively quiet Independence Day for the US. The Statue of Liberty crown reopened after being closed for 8 years due to the attacks on the World Trade Center. North Korea tested ballistic missiles of their own to rattle the saber of their military at the United States, but nothing extraordinary. Seemed like it would be just another quiet celebration of America's Independence. At 1:35 p.m., a man named Robert Gaddy called 911 and reported finding two bodies in a residence at 105 Lea Avenue near downtown Nashville, TN. A 300-plus pound lineman for the Nashville Kats Arena Football Team, Gaddy was known around town as "Big Daddy Gaddy." He is perhaps most well-known for being a friend and teammate to NFL legend and local hero, Steve McNair. The first officer appeared just four minutes later, at 1:39 p.m, and found that one of the victims was the former football star. The other appeared to be a woman, whose dead body lay at his feet on the floor of the living room. The man turned out to be Steve McNair and the woman his girlfriend, Sahel Kazemi. McNair sat on his couch, Kazemi on the ground at his feet. The officers found two bullets in the walls almost immediately; one was attributed to McNair, the other to his girlfriend. The 9mm used in the murder-suicide was then found underneath Kazemi's head during the investigation. Here is a brief synopsis of what the officers found upon entering McNair's place: McNair had a gunshot wound (contact) to his right temple, and an exit gunshot wound to his right temple. McNair also had a gunshot wound (non-contact) to his left temple and two gunshot wounds to his chest that both exited through his back. Kazemi had a contact gunshot wound to the right side of her head and an exit wound on the left side of her head. Due to a lack of any defensive wounds or defensive posturing from McNair, police believe McNair was asleep on his couch when he was shot and killed early in the hours of July 4th, 2009. According to the case summary, McNair's Blood Alcohol Level was 0.15%, nearly twice the legal limit at the time, which may have contributed to his drowsiness. A few more details on what police believed happened the night of McNair's death (from the case summary): The totality of the evidence leads to the conclusion that Kazemi shot McNair in the left side of his head (non-contact), shot him twice in the chest, and then put the gun to the right side of his head and shot him again (contact wound). It is concluded that Kazemi sat on the sofa to McNair's left in such a way that she would fall into McNair's lap upon committing suicide by shooting herself in the head. The blood stains show that Kazemi's upper body was in McNair's lap before she slid down his leg and onto the floor. 105 Lea Avenue, Nashville, TN The Life of Steve McNair This isn't a sports blog, so I won't spend a whole lot of time writing about Steve McNair's career, but here are the highlights: he won the Walter Payton Award in 1994 and was drafted by the Houston Oilers the next year. He didn't really become a superstar player in the NFL until the Oilers migrated to Nashville and became the Tennessee Titans. He participated in the Titans' lone Super Bowl, losing that game by about a foot-and-a-half. (Sorry if this is triggering you, the long-suffering Titans fan.) He took the Titans to a few more playoff appearances before being traded to the Ravens in 2005. He played a few more seasons and then retired in 2007. I remember intensely respecting his on-the-field heroics. He was tougher than most quarterbacks, and he put a nice touch on his passes. Being a Falcons fan, though, I never followed 'Air' McNair's career with the fervor that I would now. His personal life plays much more of a role in his ultimate death than his football career. First of all, he was married, and many of his frien