Some fans attending the service wore their Tennessee Titans to view the closed silvery-gray casket topped with white lilies next to a portrait of the former Titans star. A helicopter provided live TV footage as McNair's body was taken by hearse to his church for a memorial service Thursday night.



Titans owner Bud Adams, Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen, and many of McNair's current and former teammates attended the memorial service. Derrick Mason, who played with McNair in both Tennessee and Baltimore spoke along with Titans coach Jeff Fisher.

Also present was McNair's wife, Mechelle, who later left wearing sunglasses. Bishop Joseph W. Walker III, McNair's pastor and close friend called her an amazing woman.

"You have inspired us all to endure hardship as a good soldier," he said.

It was her first public appearance since her husband died, and press photographers were asked not to take pictures of her or other family members.

Earlier at the visitation, many people were disappointed that McNair's casket was closed. Among them was Jackie Smith.

"I wanted to view him -- I didn't want to view a casket. I think everybody expected to see him," said Smith, who stopped by before going to work at the U.S. Postal Service.

Smith described herself as a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, "but I enjoyed that Air McNair." She said the reality of McNair's death finally kicked in yesterday when she saw his obituary in the newspaper, "but still I'd prefer to view the body to have some closure."

Approximately 4,500 filled the church sanctuary for the memorial service, and church officials had overflow areas with a handful of people there.

The Titans estimated approximately 9,000 people had visited LP Field, where fans could reminisce about his career, between Wednesday and midday Thursday. A couple of radio stations were broadcasting from the stadium where the shop had sold out all of its McNair merchandise except for a few children's shirts.

*Meanwhile, the police dashboard camera footage of McNair's mistress Sahel Kazemi during her DUI bust two days before the murder has hit YouTube.

Sahel was initially pulled over for speeding on July 2, then forced to take field sobriety tests -- which she failed. Cops allowed McNair and another man in the Escalade to leave in a taxi -- but the former NFL star showed up at the jail later on to bail out Sahel. [View below.]

The DUI is one of a handful of circumstances -- including Sahel's belief Steve had another lover -- that cops believe led to the shootings.



Source: EURweb.com