Day by day we march along....

Cody continues push ahead and do all he can do to battle the beast. He is getting his radiation treatments everyday and trying to keep up his spirits. Tonight is the first in quite some time that his temper has got the best of him. I tried to get him to eat and he made it clear we were not going to force our will on him. I guess he is starting to feel down from the chemo. Now we will have to walk the fine line.

Thanks again to all of you who have donated to both BOP and Relay for Life. Every penny helps...

Now, on another note... If I may get on my soap box. I know that many of you out there are football fans. Some of you may have watched the NFL draft that took place over the weekend. Well, in the 7th round I guess things were getting slow and ESPN had to try and liven things up a bit only the way ESPN can. At pick #218 the Detroit Lions selected Galeb Campbell of Army. Let me say right off the bat that I am very happy for the young man and I wish him nothing but the best. Now this is my point of view on this subject and some of you may not agree with my point of view but this is my blog so it gives me the stage to speak my mind. ESPN created such a spectacle over the Lions selection that it was hard for me to stomach. They went on and on about "how they should be saluting Mr. Campbell and the Lions for selecting him." They thanked him for his service to his country and how proud they were of him. Now again I will say, "I don't blame this young man." He is getting a chance of a life time and he deserves it all. But I do blame the ESPN anchors for going way overboard. I'm not sure but I don't think any of them are veterans. If they are, "shame on them!" Here is why I say this. This young man, "Galeb Campbell" is a student who happens to go to the Army Academy. As far as I am concerned he is no different than any other Division I or II student athlete that got a his tuition paid for by the school. Some of things that does set Mr. Campbell apart from the non military student athletes are as follows:
1. He was able to collect a pay check while going to school without being fined by the NCAA.
2. He had to keep his hair cut in a neat and tidy manner while attending school.
3. And up until this year he would have had to full fill his contract with the military before he
play professional sports.

Now what has my shorts in a bunch is this. If Mr. Campbell goes to the NFL and makes the cut and becomes part of the team then I say "congratulation's." But please don't go telling him "thank you for serving his country." He has done nothing of the sort. He went to school and was paid to do it. Nothing more, nothing less. I'm not sure what is required of him from the Army at this point. I think his is the first athlete to do this. I believe I heard the announcers mention that he will have to do recruiting duty at the local Army recruiting office. I know what his fellow class mates will be doing, they will be in Baghdad or Afghanistan. I salute those people. They are the ones I am proud of. If the ESPN announcers wanted to thank a veteran athlete they should start with those young folks or the likes of Roger Staubach, David Robertson or Rocky Bleier. I'm sure there are many more that could be mentioned but those 3 came to mind first. They are service veterans who full filled their obligation to their country and then played professional sports.

Do you think a service academy student would be praised as much if he or she were allowed to go to work for IBM, Microsoft, Children's Hospital or any other big corporation as soon as they finished school and be permitted to get out of their contract? "I think not."

Good luck Mr. Campbell and God Bless your teammates and fellow cadets that are heading to a less favorable destination...