My absence, if you were wondering, can be expained by a recent knee op I had. I spend most of the day on the couch writhing in pain, with little energy to do much of anything. It took me a week to put this post together for 1pkt.org and I figure it might have a little relevance here, and on this great day.
I have been trying for days to get up enough juice to answer SJDs dastardly accusation that I "idolized" Artie Bodendorfer. What a terrible thing to say to a 68 yr old, hard core bastard like me. Can there be anything more emasculating? Just when I thought Dick and I were starting to get along.
I have decided to look past it all however, and chalk it up to my suspicions of why some of his posts are so different, attitude-wise. I figure that that nasty, unfounded, unsolicited, accusation occurred at the bottom of the bottle. I believe when he has only had a few pulls, and is looking dead at a jug set on fullski, his attitude and disposition is at it's high point and his posts are warm and cuddly. Near the bottom he can only look forward to a headache and a hangover, so his testy attitude is understandable.
But right is right, he is partly correct, and there are people that I have idolized throughout my life. Fourth of July is a good day to talk about some of them. I idolized the boys of the 2nd Ranger Bn that scaled Pointe Du Hoc on D-day. I idolized the American Alamo Scouts that led the 6th Ranger Bn, commanded by Col. Mucci (no relation to the cue maker) 100 miles through the Philippine jungle to rescue the 500 American prisoners that the Japanese were about to execute. Yeah, they got 'em all, baby. I start bawling every time I think about those people. I idolized my older brother Jim, who along with 130 other Pathfinders, jumped at Normandy 6 hrs before the invasion in order to light the drop zones for the incoming paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st. I idoloized my old basic training drill sergeant, Sgt. 1st Class, Sally. The greatest soldier I ever seen. I would follow the old Sarge anywhere, even into downtown Detroit. I idolize the Navy Seal, Texan, Marcus Luttrell, the lone survivor of a patrol into the mountains of Afghanistan with a team of 3 other Seals. They were discovered by 3 goat herders -- Release the goat herders and allow them to give up their position to the Taliban, which they were certain the herders would do, or kill them and try to make their way out of the mountains? If they let them go, there was no way that they could navigate themselves out of the Taliban territory in time. They were too deep into the mountains. They voted to let them live and took their chances. On the way out they were attacked by hundreds of Taliban fighters. All the Seals were killed, Luttrel survived by literally being blown off the mountain by a grenade. Badly wounded, he crawled for miles and was saved by a good Samaritan Afghani. All our guys but Marcus got killed, but the bad guys paid a heavy price, it was estimated that those four helped about 200 Taliban shorten their journey to Paradise. Everybody on the team was awarded the Navy Cross, and team leader, Mike Murphy, a good New York Irishman, earned the Medal of Honor. A tearful George Bush presented Mike Murphy's medal to Marcus.
Sports figures? My idols were real heroes, Dick Butkus, Walter Payton and Michael Jordan. Those guys had no problem taking a bite out of the worst of it and spitting it back into your face. Pool players? Yeah, a few of those too. I got weak kneed around Eddie Taylor, Fatty, and Hubert Cokes. My secret idols were CornBread, and god forgive me,xxx xxxxxx . xxxxxxx was so special as to have a word coined just for him, "egregious." (idol's name deleted to discourage thread hijackers who might want to distract this dedication)
The Beard
When you get to feeling all disparaged about the world's situation, just keep in mind that we probably still got people like the above laying around somewhere.
I have been trying for days to get up enough juice to answer SJDs dastardly accusation that I "idolized" Artie Bodendorfer. What a terrible thing to say to a 68 yr old, hard core bastard like me. Can there be anything more emasculating? Just when I thought Dick and I were starting to get along.
I have decided to look past it all however, and chalk it up to my suspicions of why some of his posts are so different, attitude-wise. I figure that that nasty, unfounded, unsolicited, accusation occurred at the bottom of the bottle. I believe when he has only had a few pulls, and is looking dead at a jug set on fullski, his attitude and disposition is at it's high point and his posts are warm and cuddly. Near the bottom he can only look forward to a headache and a hangover, so his testy attitude is understandable.
But right is right, he is partly correct, and there are people that I have idolized throughout my life. Fourth of July is a good day to talk about some of them. I idolized the boys of the 2nd Ranger Bn that scaled Pointe Du Hoc on D-day. I idolized the American Alamo Scouts that led the 6th Ranger Bn, commanded by Col. Mucci (no relation to the cue maker) 100 miles through the Philippine jungle to rescue the 500 American prisoners that the Japanese were about to execute. Yeah, they got 'em all, baby. I start bawling every time I think about those people. I idolized my older brother Jim, who along with 130 other Pathfinders, jumped at Normandy 6 hrs before the invasion in order to light the drop zones for the incoming paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st. I idoloized my old basic training drill sergeant, Sgt. 1st Class, Sally. The greatest soldier I ever seen. I would follow the old Sarge anywhere, even into downtown Detroit. I idolize the Navy Seal, Texan, Marcus Luttrell, the lone survivor of a patrol into the mountains of Afghanistan with a team of 3 other Seals. They were discovered by 3 goat herders -- Release the goat herders and allow them to give up their position to the Taliban, which they were certain the herders would do, or kill them and try to make their way out of the mountains? If they let them go, there was no way that they could navigate themselves out of the Taliban territory in time. They were too deep into the mountains. They voted to let them live and took their chances. On the way out they were attacked by hundreds of Taliban fighters. All the Seals were killed, Luttrel survived by literally being blown off the mountain by a grenade. Badly wounded, he crawled for miles and was saved by a good Samaritan Afghani. All our guys but Marcus got killed, but the bad guys paid a heavy price, it was estimated that those four helped about 200 Taliban shorten their journey to Paradise. Everybody on the team was awarded the Navy Cross, and team leader, Mike Murphy, a good New York Irishman, earned the Medal of Honor. A tearful George Bush presented Mike Murphy's medal to Marcus.
Sports figures? My idols were real heroes, Dick Butkus, Walter Payton and Michael Jordan. Those guys had no problem taking a bite out of the worst of it and spitting it back into your face. Pool players? Yeah, a few of those too. I got weak kneed around Eddie Taylor, Fatty, and Hubert Cokes. My secret idols were CornBread, and god forgive me,xxx xxxxxx . xxxxxxx was so special as to have a word coined just for him, "egregious." (idol's name deleted to discourage thread hijackers who might want to distract this dedication)
The Beard
When you get to feeling all disparaged about the world's situation, just keep in mind that we probably still got people like the above laying around somewhere.
