Free to Watch Football?
I have a confession, a dirty secret that only others suffering from the same affliction know about. You see, I am a New Englander living in DC and therefore am a huge, jersey wearing, trash talking, loud ass Patriots fan. Today being Sunday I was of course at the Patriots Fan Club bar watching the game against the Buffalo Bills. My team won and I was excited and shots were flowing. Then a conversation I had with another fan really saddened my and put the “victory” into perspective.
A guy at the bar was wearing the same number jersey as me, an unusual player I hadn’t seen anyone else wear, and we struck up a conversation. It turns out that he is a US Marine and was home briefly between tours of duty. This was going to be the last Patriots game he would see in a bar in the USA this season, and possibly next season as well.
And it just struck me as incredibly sad. He was stateside for such a short period of time and what he missed most was the freedom of screaming at the top of his lungs in a bar, drinking a beer and doing victory shots after touch downs. The rest of us were going home and on with out live yelling, “see you next week” as we left the bar. But we aren’t going to see him next week. I hope we see him next year.
It just made me want to remember and recognize that as normal as life seems back in this country thousands and thousands of men and women are over in the middle east fighting a battle some say can’t and wont be won. I am not going to get off into a political tangent about the war. I don’t think wanting to support the troops over there and wanting to remember not all Americans are living like we are (free to move around, mostly safe, able to go to the bar and catch a game).
So…love Bush or hate Bush, think this war is a way to spread democracy and find weapons of mass destruction or a way to distract the American public from the problems within the administration…it just doesn’t matter. We all hope that we see those men and women again.
That’s all….
First Year-
A guy at the bar was wearing the same number jersey as me, an unusual player I hadn’t seen anyone else wear, and we struck up a conversation. It turns out that he is a US Marine and was home briefly between tours of duty. This was going to be the last Patriots game he would see in a bar in the USA this season, and possibly next season as well.
And it just struck me as incredibly sad. He was stateside for such a short period of time and what he missed most was the freedom of screaming at the top of his lungs in a bar, drinking a beer and doing victory shots after touch downs. The rest of us were going home and on with out live yelling, “see you next week” as we left the bar. But we aren’t going to see him next week. I hope we see him next year.
It just made me want to remember and recognize that as normal as life seems back in this country thousands and thousands of men and women are over in the middle east fighting a battle some say can’t and wont be won. I am not going to get off into a political tangent about the war. I don’t think wanting to support the troops over there and wanting to remember not all Americans are living like we are (free to move around, mostly safe, able to go to the bar and catch a game).
So…love Bush or hate Bush, think this war is a way to spread democracy and find weapons of mass destruction or a way to distract the American public from the problems within the administration…it just doesn’t matter. We all hope that we see those men and women again.
That’s all….
First Year-
posted by First Year at 2:10 PM
2 Comments:
That is so true.
The troops are incredible!
Very well put.
In SF, you don't really run into many troops walking around in uniform, aside from the occasional sailor. I had to fly through Cleveland a couple of weeks ago, and I was amazed to see all of the kids in uniform waiting around for their flights in the airport. It put a face on those numbers.
Yes, well-put.
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