Some Thoughts And Quotes Of The Week

It was almost exactly one week ago when we gathered in my hometown of Swampscott, Ma. for the funeral of Marine Capt. Jen Harris, 28, the third person we have lost in town overall, and the 4th counting the war and 9/11. Despite the fact I did not know Capt. Harris personally, just as I did not know Jarred Raymond, whom we lost last summer, I thought it would be appropriate to to attend the funeral and send Capt. Harris off properly with the dignity and respect that is deserved for giving the ultimate sacrifice.

In the interest of full disclosure I am very much against the war and have been from the very beginning. The purpose of our armed services is not to mediate a sectarian civil war and the fact that we are losing our best and brightest in this conflict is a tragedy, whether this is what they signed up for or not. ( It is a popular among many conservatives to justify these tragic losses in the war by simply stating "this is what they signed up for, that is their job,despite the fact that the bodies coming home seem to be getting younger and younger). That partisan rant aside, I braved the bone chilling cold to witness the military state funeral which is a sight to see, regardless of where one leans politcally.

As I stood there taking it all in with over a hundred others, I realized that despite the divisions in our community( and we have many in Swampscott that pre-date the war) and nationally, for one day all of the finger pointing and bickering was put aside and for one day we were what we always claim to be in Swampscott: a community with true small town ideals (togetherness, cooperation). It is a shame that it has to take a funeral to bring us all together, but that is just another exapmple of the times in which we live.

Quotes Of The Week:

"I feel like I have done all there is to do during my time in New England...I will miss the running back room, those guys will always be my boys."
- Patriots running back Corey Dillion announcing his "retirement."

"That's news to me..what did he say?"
- Red Sox owner John Henry reacting to Curt Schilling's statements on WEEI radio regarding the negotiations for a new contract

" I realize I cannot in good conscience ask the agencies to make these choices without being willing to make them myself."
- Mass. Govenor Deval Patrick reacting to the controversy surrounding the $27, 387 makeover of his state house office

Some Random Thoughts And the Return Of Quotes Of the Week

- Greetings from NFL afterlife of 2007. With the Football season done with, here in the Boston area we enter into the void before the Red Sox beging the 2007 season. Other than a brief diversion with March Madness our local sports landscape does not have much to offer these days, with the Celtics losing 17 straight, and the Bruins sliding into their usual mediocre habits (but still managing to attract the same 14,000 fans each night). True Story: A media sales person at the office in which I work came came in and offered my co-workers and I SIX FREE TICKETS to the Celtics/ Clippers game on Friday, March 2nd (the game in the with the Celtics set the franchise record for consecutive losses). Mind you these were very good seats (8th row Lodge), and came from an advertising account. No takers. I had an excuse in that I already had plans, but even if I didn't I probably would have passed, as did my other co-workers. Twenty years ago one had to practically inherit those tickets. How times have indeed changed.

- My off-season NFL prediction: It will be Colts/Patriots on opening night of the '07 season, in the dome, in a re-match of the AFC title game. If you don't think Bill Polian wants the Pats to be there and be forced to watch as the banner is raised, with all the pomp and circumstance, etc., then you are either crazy, of have not been following this rivalry very closely the last few years. If it does happen, Polian and everyone else will claim that it is just "the luck of the draw that it happened like that", but don't believe it. Just like when the Yankees had to watch the Red Sox raise their banner on Opening Day 2005, It will be the one moment other than actually getting the rings, that Manning, Polian, and Dungy have been looking forward to for a long time.

- Suggesed T.V Viewing (Provided you are a football junkie like I am): The NFL Network series "America's Game". The brilliant NFL Films production is a profile of some of the greatest Superbowl chmpionship teams of all time, with the story told through the eyes of various players and coaches from each team. Each team is also ranked 1 through 40 by a pannel of players, coaches, and members of the media. Of the episodes I have seen one of my favorite episodes is the story of the 1967 Green Bay Packers.

Bill Curry, a rookie in 66', and the center on that first Superbowl champion tells of how scared he was when he arrived for his first training camp being from Oklahoma, and with the civil rights movement dividing the entire country, the NFL included. "I really was very nervous," said Curry. " I must sadly admit, because of where I came from I did not have much exposure to people of other races, so here I am this guy from Oklahoma, and I am thinking, some of of these guys are going to hear my accent and say 'here comes nother racist hick from down south'," remembered Curry." What resulted was a life-long friendship between Curry and LB Willie Davis. "Willie came up to me during one of the first practices and said 'look, I know your're nervous, but just do your job, and everything will be okay,' "Curry remembers. I was what else Davis said that really made curry feel at ease, and is the reason the two remain good friendsto this day. "He told me 'Just stick with me, and the two of us will make this thing work...when Lombardi is screaming in your ear and you fell you can't take it anymore, I'll be there for you'"Curry reminisces.

Quotes Of The Week

"Very good."- Red Sox pitcher D.K. Matzuzaka in response to the question of how his English is coming along.

"She would fly so that others can live, and no she flies on the wings of angels." - Bishop Francis X. Irwin, speaking at the funeral of Swampscott resident Capt. Jennifer J. Harris, who died in Iraq.

"This is just the first step, and it is not the last that this body will say about the war in Iraq." - Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi commenting on last week's nonbinding resolution against the troop surge in Iraq