PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Let’s consider three players of the week:

High School scout team award for player of the week

High School special team coordinator award for player of the week

Navy Seal reconnaissance team member awarded posthumous Congressional Medal of Honor

None of the three above recipients spoke English aloud. The first two mumbled unintelligibly in front of a radio mike; the third shouted eloquently from beyond his grave.

Only one of the three could inspire tears. What were once the admired adjectival qualities in a man by Yankees during the Civil War, direct, competent, courageous, devout and patriotic, have now become bifurcated in their meanings and applications. A football team on the battlefield trivializes such character traits; another military team represents their legitimate definitions.

A casualty rate of two- thirds is unacceptable and sad. Two insignificant players vs. one heroic one. Thank God a young man, Lieutenant P. Murphy, was recognized for his contribution to America’s traditional greatness even though he died heroically in Afghanistan in 2005.

Additionally I must factor in the politically correct and misguided wherever I shop or whenever I hear the ‘news.’ My quick rise yeast packet asked me to "Bake for the cure" with its pink ribbon. My local radio station announced that it was red ribbon week to ask high school students to "make healthy life-style choices."

Thank God one young man, Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy did in Afghanistan in 2005.