Excuse me?

Saw this article on the online Straits Times tonight.

"A Chinese footballer killed by lightning was on Thursday hailed as a sports martyr by Singapore League officials who say the player's unusual height may have spared the lives of his team mates."

Sports martyr?

There's nothing like platitudes like these to make someone's death really meaningless. Do we really need to label the poor victim a 'martyr'? I don't think he chose to be 1.88m tall. I certainly don't think he threw himself in the path of the lightning bolt in order to save everyone else on the field.

It's kinda like the 'martyrdom' of suicide bombers. Only worse.

Some people need to go for sensitivity training, methinks.