Anyone else tired of "lack of respect" quotes...

WaylonJennings...i guess the only way I can answer that question about the super sensitivity of military people is that a lot of 'em have been to the proverbial "hell and back." i am speaking again in reference to my dad and those from the greatest generation, those who went through a couple of wars. as my dad used to tell me, "you don't know how good you've got it until you've slept in a foxhole for weeks on end." so hell yes, i'd be sensitive, too, if i had gone through such stuff. they experienced it, not just read about it in a book or seen it on a TV documentary.
but as you said, I digress....smile

 

Oh, I definitely get that. I just don't know what I or other civilians can do to show we do respect and appreciate their service. In fact, I stand in awe of it.

My guess? Vietnam, and their treatment back home upon returning, put a permanent ship on miltary members' shoulders, and it's understandable.

Anyway ...

 

WaylonJennings...maybe when this mess in Iraq is over and our guys can come home, we can give them an endless number of tributes...at sporting events, etc...and erase the memories of the less than respectful reception those brave men from Viet Nam got when they came home. that's the least we can do...
not to get over dramatic, but one thing about having grown up under those miitary circumstances I mentioned, it has given me a greater appreciation for what i am able to do now. when I feel put out about some extremely minor obstacle or whatever with being a sportswriter, i think about what my dad and those of his kind went through. or there, by the grace of God, I might have gone. yep, I've got it dang good and i appreciate it and hope I always will.
again, maybe a little hoaky to say it in this manner, but you get where I'm coming from.

 

My dad, who saw combat in Korea, has always gotten a kick out of the blowhards who pushed a mop around the barracks at an obscure Canadian base for three months near the end of WWII, yet sat at the Legion for decades afterward and talked like they should have been awarded the Victoria Cross, while scoffing at guys like my dad because "Korea wasn't a REAL war."

Don't get me wrong, I always have and always will pay tribute to our veterans and what they did for us. I've just learned to take what some of them say with a grain of salt. It reminds me of, "I walked 10 miles to and from school every day, in my bare feet, and it was uphill both ways."

 

DoubleJ....that's kinda funny what you mentioned about some of the "blowards" sitting around at the Legion post and yakking about their "heroism."...my dad who was wounded twice and left for dead in Japan before a fellow soldier saved his life would oftentimes attend reunions in Chicago. he would tell me about some of the guys in his battalion who did chef work and never saw front line duty go on and on about how much "danger" they were in..like you, don't get me wrong, military is military, but it's sorta like playing linebacker and being a placekicker...duh, you see a lot more up front and dirty duty at LB than at PK. not to deman PK's, but you know what I mean...

 

I do, but I would equate it more to being a linebacker versus filling up the water bottles.

 

yep, you're right DoubleJ...to all the PK's I just pissed off, my error

 

I had some great advice from a sports editor almost 15 years ago - never write a story using a "respect" angle. He said players and coaches will always bring it up. Don't go with it. I thought it was great advice then and is great advice now. Of course, I also think he was one of the best - if not the best - bosses I ever had (and I was only a lowly stringer!).

 

I sure wasn't directing this at you, Waylon. I was just trying to reinforce your point. I'm not going to use one of those Colt McCoy quotes, but I don't know why so many people get so put out about it.

 

Was it in Ball Four where Bouton, talking about Lindy McDaniel and his "Pitching for the Master" Christian newsletter, said something to the effect that he would love to see an athlete say "God had absolutely nothing to do with this performance. I was great out there today, no thanks to Jesus" or something to that effect? I would enjoy that as well.

 

in our coverage area, there's an annually dominating prep football team who is a Christian academy. it has long been criticized for "recruiting" athletes, steering around academic requirments, etc..
after one game in which his team was whipped soundly by this very team, a coach gave us this quote: "They can talk religion and educdation all they want, but it's still all about winning on the football field."
he had said something that a lot of other coaches were hesitant in saying and the quote got wide-spread support from others who had gone through the same thing.