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To me, Pat Tillman did so much more than make the ultimate sacrifice.

The former Arizona Cardinals and Arizona State star did more than just turn down a three-year, $3.6 million NFL contract without fanfare to train to become an Army Ranger following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

That’s because when Tillman was killed during an ambush on his patrol by enemy attackers in Afghanistan last Thursday, he gave the entire United States some much-needed perspective on things.

News of Tillman’s death at age 27, after all, broke on the day before the start of the NFL draft – a time when the dreams of hundreds of young men were realized.

At that very moment, Miami’s Kellen Winslow Jr. must have wanted to crawl into a spider hole.

Winslow was the draft’s top-rated tight end and could very well become one of the best the game has ever seen. Instead, it is the statements he made last November in the heat of a postgame locker room following a loss to Tennessee that will now follow him.

“It’s war,” Winslow told reporters then. “They’re out there to kill you, so I’m out there to kill them. They’re going after my legs. I’m going to come right back at them. I’m a f---ing soldier.”

Winslow later apologized, and after being taken with the sixth overall selection by the Cleveland Browns on Saturday, he brushed off questions about his statements.

But the media and public piled on and pointed out the obvious.

“A lot of times in football, analogies of war are thrown around freely,” Tillman’s former Cardinals teammate Pete Kendall told The Associated Press. “On a day like this, you see how hollow those ring.”

But when you think about it, the analogies are there for a reason. The game of football is romanticized a lot like war is, and football does have its brave and courageous heroes, albeit on a much lesser scale.

The question is, would all this talk of war rooms, field generals and flankers be so insensitive had it not been for Tillman? Heck, they call the thing a draft.

Let us rejoice when the only wars being fought are the relatively harmless ones taking place on football fields.

In the meantime, Tillman fought to uphold the freedom to say what we want, to do what we want. He fought for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – irregardless of how ridiculous those pursuits might be.

Even squabbling over millions of dollars to play a game must count.

So why “boo” Ole Miss quarterback Eli Manning, the No. 1 overall pick, if he didn’t want to play for a failed regime in the San Diego Chargers and forced a trade to the New York Giants?

Why frown upon Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett for going all the way to the Supreme Court to challenge an un-American NFL rule?

They’re only exercising the American freedoms that people like Tillman fought for.

So please, at ease on sullying the reputations of these supposedly spoiled sportsmen.

Even legendary Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi was known to use a war analogy or two.

“I firmly believe that man’s finest hour – his greatest fulfillment to all he holds dear – is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle – victorious,” he once said.

Mission accomplished, Pat Tillman.

Leung was a football beat writer in 2002. E-mail him at dleung@media.ucla.edu.