The word “ironic” gets thrown around a lot these days, usually in places it has no business being used. The word actually describes something happening that is the opposite of what one might reasonably expect. Rain on your wedding day is not ironic, unless your wedding date was moved to a desert specifically to avoid rain. 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife is not ironic, merely an annoying pain in the ass.

(No matter what, this is how we choose to remember McNair.)

Internet grammarians can argue back and forth about this one until the cows come home, but it won’t make it any less haunting and sad: only weeks before the murder-suicide that took Steve McNair’s life, the former Titans QB filmed a suicide-prevention ad for the Tennessee Department of Mental Health. Ye Gods.

The haunting details were unearthed by the NASHVILLE CITY PAPER (via USA TODAY):

Steve McNair recorded a suicide prevention commercial in the weeks prior to his death in a murder-suicide committed, police say, by Sahel Kazemi.

The Nashville City Paper reported that McNair had filmed the public service announcement for the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities.

The ad, which was still being edited, never aired.

The human brain is wired to search for patterns whenever possible. It’s an evolutionary mechanism. At its best, it allows us to survive in a crazy world by keeping things in order. At worst, you end up with lunatic conspiracy theorists who think that any coincidences are indicative of some larger plan. Sometimes, a sad coincidence is just a sad coincidence, and a reminder that the world is a chaotic, random, and violent place.