I wrote this for the magazine:

In 2002, he gave up a million-dollar career as a professional football player to join the Army. On April 22, Pat Tillman gave his life for his country.

After returning from his honeymoon nearly two years ago, Pat, 27, decided to walk away from his contract with the Arizona Cardinals to join the Army Rangers with his brother, Kevin, a minor league baseball player. The Rangers are an elite force often sent into the most dangerous situations. Pat died in a firefight in southeastern Afghanistan, where his unit was tracking al-Qaida and Taliban fighters.

On Monday, Kevin -- who was serving in the same unit with Pat -- accompanied his brother�s body on the flight home. A family friend said Pat will be buried in California, where he lived, and a memorial service will be scheduled next week in San Jose.

�He proudly walked away from a career in football to a greater calling, which was to protect and defend our country,� said Dave McGinnis, who was the Cardinals� coach when Tillman played. �Pat represents those who have and will make the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.�

Pat never spoke publicly about his decision. He didn�t want a big deal made about it just because he was a football player with a $3.6 million contract. Ultimately, his death is a reminder of the more than 700 soldiers who have died in Afghanistan and Iraq.

�When Pat made his choice to leave the NFL and became an Army Ranger,� said Arizona Senator John McCain, �he declined requests for interviews because he viewed his decision as no more patriotic than that of his less fortunate, less renowned countrymen who loved our country enough to volunteer to defend her in a time of peril.�

Because the news of Tillman's death broke just after 10 a.m. on Friday -- when the East Coast morning shows had just signed off -- this story has had an extended life in the news cycle. The fact that the NFL held its draft on Saturday and Sunday also kept the story fresh in minds through the weekend. As a result, Monday morning's news shows were still treating it like relatively new news, since it was the first time those programs had been on the air since hearing of his death. Sports call-in shows in particular continued to talk about it.

It's a touchy subject, to be sure. There's no doubt that Pat Tillman's death has lasted four days in the news cycle because he was an NFL football player who walked away froma $3 million dollar contract to go fight for our freedom. The events of 9/11 clearly affected him more than any other professional athlete.

But there are more than 700 or 800 other soldiers who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan, and none of them have gotten the national attention that Tillman has. It's why, I think, you have to look at Tillman's story as a reminder of everyone else who has died, of those who have fought alongside Tillman and continue to risk their lives in the Middle East. As dozens of columnists have said since Friday, it's what he would want. Just as he tried to avoid any publicity for his decision two years ago, he'd likely want this news to fall in line with the stories of every other fallen soldier.

That's why I tried to incorporate that sentiment into the 250 words I was given to tell his story. As an entertainment magazine, we're not going to write about the war casualties every week. But when a story from Afghanistan with this angle comes along, it's something we're going to mention.

While this war is a touchy subject -- I wasn't alive for Vietnam, so I'm more intrigued than alarmed by the comparisons that are starting to be voiced more, and it drives me to learn more about the past -- you can't ignore the people who actually deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan. It's one thing to disagree with the politicians who made the decisions to start the war and their methods and reasoning to do so. But then you have these soldiers who are simply doing what they're told by their bosses. Tillman died tracking down al-Qaida figures in Afghanistan, going after those who are a true threat to America, those who came after us.

One morning host today said he was annoyed at those who think Tillman's death should put sports in perspective, claiming sports always were in perspective. As he said, anyone who confused a bomb in football -- as in a long pass -- with a bomb on the battlefield had some priorities out of whack. An interesting sentiment, and while I don't think I'd ever use the term "suicide bomber" in a sports story, if I were still covering baseball today, I'm sure I wouldn't think twice about saying a catcher gunned down an opposing baserunner trying to steal. But I don't know if that would be right or wrong.

Overall, I don't have a problem with the coverage Tillman's death is getting on places like ESPN, Sports Illustrated and in magazines like the one I work for. For those outlets, he does indeed serve as a reminder of the wars we're fighting in the Middle East and that he's just one of many who won't make it home. On Friday, we had CNN on the TV near my desk, and they reported it regularly along with the other big stories of the day, including covering the Arizona Cardinals' news conference live. But they've also covered other major stories and deaths from the war, and since it hasn't carried through the weekend to today, I don't think they've overdone it.

The best we can hope for now is that Pat Tillman's death is one of the last ones.

Unfortunately, it just seems too difficult to believe something like that.