I drove by Steve McNair’s house tonight.

Not the downtown Nashville 2nd-and-Lea Avenue condo he was found gunned down in, along with the 20-year-old Sahel Kazemi, but the Green Hills home he lived in with his wife of 12 years, Mechelle McNair.

The $3-million (for sale) fenced-in brick building on a corner lot is hidden in plain sight, just like McNair was during his 13-year NFL career. But tonight, there were 20-to-30 cars outside “Air” McNair’s fortress on fittingly named Bear Road.

I’m pretty sure the car ahead of mine was also driving by just to see the estate of a true Nashville legend and easily the greatest Tennessee Titan of all-time.

People knew where Steve lived. He was a man of the people.

Steve LaTreal McNair was born on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 1973 in Mount Olive, Miss., as the fourth of five brothers.

Steve stole his nickname, “Air”, from oldest brother Fred while he and older brother Tim won a state championship on a miraculous, desperation “tight end throwback” play during Steve’s junior season at Mount Olive HS.

The 6’2”, 230-pounder was recruited not as a quarterback, but as a safety, by programs such as Miami, LSU, FSU and local Southern Miss — where Brett Favre was playing at the time of McNair’s official visit. In fairness, the three-sport star did own the Mississippi state records for interceptions in a single season (15) and career (30).

Instead, McNair followed in the Division I-AA, historically black university footsteps of Mississippi Valley State’s Jerry Rice and Jackson State’s Walter Payton, by signing with Alcorn State in nearby Lorman, Miss.

McNair’s decision was the right one, as the un-televised tall tale finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting in 1994 after setting an NCAA record for total offense per game, averaging a video-game-gaudy 527.2 combined passing and rushing yards on Saturdays.

Following an impressive collegiate career, McNair was selected by the Houston Oilers with the No. 3 overall pick in the 1995 NFL Draft.

Undeniably a bold pick, head coach Jeff Fisher and general manager Floyd Reese took McNair ahead of current Titans quarterback Kerry Collins (No. 5, Panthers), a more traditional pocket passer who was coming off an undefeated season at Penn State.

After two seasons as an understudy to veteran Chris Chandler in Houston, McNair became the starting quarterback of a franchise on the move from Texas to Tennessee — first as the Tennessee Oilers (in Memphis’ Liberty Bowl in 1997 before relocating to Nashville’s Vanderbilt Stadium in 1998) and ultimately as the Tennessee Titans.

McNair was truly a dual threat and his career path followed that of his first franchise — first on the run, scrambling from city to city; then firmly rooted, stationary in the pocket.

Early in his career, “Dare” McNair doubters questioned his ability to read defenses and criticized him as an overeager scrambler. Nothing to be ashamed of, McNair set the Super Bowl record for rushing yards by a quarterback (64) at Super Bowl XXXIV following the 1999 season, producing one of the greatest endings in history — an epic 87-yard “one-yard short” drive in the final 1:48 of a 23–16 loss — thanks in large part to his ability to buy time or move the chains with his legs.

Later on, “Air” McNair shared NFL co-MVP honors with AFC South division rival Colts quarterback Peyton Manning in 2003, leading the league with a 100.4 passer rating while throwing a career-high 24 touchdown passes and just seven interceptions.

In 161 regular season games, McNair completed 2,733-of-4,544 (60.1 percent) passes for 31,304 yards, 174 touchdowns, 119 interceptions and an 82.8 passer rating. He also ran 669 times for 3,590 yards (5.4 ypc) and 37 touchdowns on the ground, joining Steve Young and Fran Tarkenton as the only quarterbacks in NFL history to pass for 30,000 yards and rush for 3,500 yards.

Statistics don’t tell the whole story of McNair, whose legacy has been rightly defined by his late-game heroics, toughness and ability to play through pain. But history and circumstance make it hard to ignore McNair’s deeper impact.

Historically, it can be argued that McNair was the first black “franchise” quarterback. Although the mid-90’s seems a little late for that type of trailblazing, the Oilers-Titans drafted McNair with the intentions of building around him for the next decade. The same cannot be said for Super Bowl XXII MVP Doug Williams, Randall Cunningham, Warren Moon or any other black quarterback before McNair.

To define McNair’s achievements conditionally, by race, is an insult. He was much more. Impeccable timing and undeniable charisma transformed McNair into an icon in Nashville. A “Music City Miracle” Super Bowl run during the team’s first year as the Titans — with new logo and stadium — won over fair-weather fans. But it was McNair’s southern drawl, warrior toughness and ice-water cool under pressure that made owner Bud Adams’ team more relevant in its relocated reincarnation than it had been since joining the AFL as one of the original eight in 1960.

McNair was not just a member of the Titans, he was everything fans in football-obsessed Nashville wanted their franchise to be — more so even than running back Eddie George and tight end Frank Wycheck. Universally respected by teammates and opponents, McNair had a down-to-earth farmer’s sensibility and an other-worldly champion’s aura of invincibility.

After leading the Titans to the playoffs four times — losing to three eventual Super Bowl champions (1999 Rams, 2000 Ravens, 2003 Patriots) and to the 2002 Raiders in the AFC Championship Game — McNair left Nashville to play for the Ravens in 2006. During his first year in Baltimore, the team went 13–3 before losing to the Colts in the playoffs. McNair played one more season before retiring after an injury-riddled 2007 season.

Despite leaving town, McNair remained one Nashville’s favorite sons. The city boiled over with anger when his name was linked to a “Purple Pep Rally” for the Ravens prior to a Divisional Playoff game earlier this year. He also recently opened a restaurant — Gridiron9 — near Tennessee State University, to provide “good, affordable meals” to students and residents.

Along with appearances, charities and investments, McNair was a man about town in Nashville — leaving Frank Sinatra sized tips after dining out with his wife and kids, shooting pool with friends and random coeds at sports bars, or just driving around in his silver truck.

McNair was a Hank Williams Sr. country cliché. He drank, chased women and had a pistol in his pickup. Ultimately, the song was a sad one, as the 36-year-old McNair was found dead on July 4, 2009.

It was a beautiful day in Nashville — mid-80s, no humidity, a breeze — until the news of McNair’s death exploded on Independence Day. After, whether it was in the forecast or not, dark clouds gathered and rain washed away the city’s fireworks display as rumors and details of the tragic event leaked out.

In the hours after, speculation ran wild. A murder-suicide involving his wife morphed into a double-homicide involving his girlfriend. I got a call from a friend of mine with “first-hand” information — “ugly” crime scene, Steve shot “more” than the one headshot being reported, whoever did this went “overboard,” the bodies had been there “longer” than people think (maybe as early as just after midnight) and “hadn’t been moved” as of six o’clock or later.

The identity of the girl found dead next to McNair was finally revealed as recently-turned 20-year-old Sahel Kazemi. She reportedly met McNair several months ago as a waitress at the sports bar Dave and Buster’s, in the Opryland Hotel area. The two had been dating since then.

A plot twist came with the news that Kazemi had been charged with DUI early Thursday (July 2) with McNair in the passenger seat of the black 2007 Cadillac Escalade. Turns out, the car was registered to both she and McNair. Although I’ve also heard that has been blown out of proportion and it was a company car write-off and not a gift befitting a millionaire’s mistress. Who knows? A dead man tells no tales.

The usual suspects have since been brought before the court of public opinion. Kazemi’s ex-boyfriend, Keith Norfleet, and his friend, Jett Jackson, are guilty of terribly-timed MySpace posts, if nothing else. Norfleet says, “Never let anyone or anything come in between you and the one you love because when you do you lose everything.” Jackson says “F- - - a quarterback. Who is McNair in ’09? RIP Sahel Kazemi.”

News that the semi-automatic weapon of choice was found under Kazemi’s body — on the floor next to McNair, who was reportedly on the couch — makes this terrible turn of events look like anything but an open-and-closed murder-suicide case.

In my humble opinion, the "how" is meaningless compared to the "what." Steve McNair is dead at 36 and his family, friends and fans are left to ask "why?"

McNair is survived by his wife, Mechelle, and his four sons — Tyler, Trenton, Steven and Steve Jr., who is a 2010 wide receiver prospect out of Oak Grove HS in Hattiesburg, Miss.

(All photos of Steve McNair were taken by Athlon Sports photo editor Tim Clark; the photo of Sahel Kazemi was on her Facebook page prior to her untimely death.)