It stinks for his family that the ignominious details of his autopsy had to be broadcast.
I might be swayed by the argument that it usefully serves as a “cautionary tale” to others in his situation. But even that rings hollow. And dubious.
To be honest, young elite athletes who could benefit the most from such a lesson likely aren’t watching or reading the news. And if they did, it’s at least 50/50 that they’d hear these details and come away impressed, rather than sobered by it… that he went out in an “epic way” … the whole “live hard and leave a good looking corpse” thing.
Dude must’ve have been partying dam hardy (in an exotic location) to still be that heavily intoxicated the next morning, in a hot sports car, and with a presumably hot woman. Sadly that’s what many who could learn the most from this are likely to extrapolate. As far as dying part, “that’s him, that would never happen to me.”
And his existence and his passing CERTAINLY was very big news in Pittsburgh. It dominated for a solid week, and as witnessed by this thread, deets of his death weeks later still made top story. Yinzers absolutely worship the Steelers, even depth chart nobodies.