Little Weekend Break

We had our first real weekend this past weekend, and we took advantage of it. Most of the guys flew home a few of us went to KC.  I went to KC for two days - - The big events were a KC Royals baseball game against the Boston Red Sox and a visit to the National WW I museum.

There were 5 guys from the New England area that really wanted to go see the Red Sox play, so I tagged along. To be honest, I can watch baseball games live, it is fun to be part of the crowd and all, but on TV, no joy. As far as the game went, I was pulling for the Royals, my brother in law Wade is a fan, I think that rubbed off on me. My favorite American League baseball teams in order are: The Texas Rangers (used to live down there), the NY Yankees (gotta love Derek Jeter going headfirst into the seats for a foul ball), the KC Royals and the Red Sox (from my Boston Marathon adventure). Tim Wakefield was pitching against the Royals, so there was a bonus for me. Wakefield is the same age as me (43) and is one of the last knuckleballers in the game. He was on, and the Royals couldn't get a bat on his pitches. The Royals went down, but they tried hard and hustled. We were sitting on the 3d base side, so there were a lot of Red Sox fans there and the guys from New England got to hang out with folks from where they were from. Pretty cool.

I started the next day off with a nice run through Memorial Park in KC and back into some of the neighborhoods behind the Crown Center, about 7 miles worth. When you think of KC, you don't really think of hills, but there were some good ones there, they didn't really rival the Sisters on FT Bragg, but they did a number on me. I have been running at FT Riley, but the only course that we have is pancake flat, down by the Kansas river. The hills woke me up. I ran by a bust of GEN Pershing and through Memorial Park, pretty cool. Lots of folks don't know this but GEN Pershing was a military instructor at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, my Alma mater, so it was a extra special for me.

The highlight of the day I was the National WW I museum (admission is free for active duty and retired military) http://www.libertymemorialmuseum.org/ and spent the whole day there. What an awesome museum! The folks in KC have a great resource and memorial of a very important time in the world's history. The museum is an underground museum, you go through some huge, heavy bronze doors into the museum. I thought that added to the environment of the museum, most of WW I was fought in trenches and the underground effect created by the museum reminded me of that. There is some very good architecture above the museum, the tower gives a good view of KC and there are two halls that flank the tower, one is a exhibit of the artwork that came from the soldiers in WW I and the other holds a very impressive mural painted to commemorate the end of the war.

If you really sit down and think about it. this was the war that woke up several of the conflicts we are still dealing with today. I read a column by Thomas Friedman a few years back that postulated that the end of the Cold War was really the end of WW II. I think he missed it by a war, and it is not quite over yet. A lot of the conflicts that the world is facing today are a result of the colonial practices or from the artificial borders that were established in the Mid East and Africa. In my opinion, WW I also marked the beginning of Arab Nationalism. There were a lot of things to think about as I went through the museum.

After the museum, we had pizza at Minsky's Pizza, a KC original pizza then headed back to FT Riley. This week we are getting ready for our trip to Germany where we will take part in a Joint Readiness Maneuver Center rotation, working with an Army Brigade Combat Team (BCT) that is getting ready to go to Iraq. They aren't the BCT we will be working with, but I am sure it will be a good training experience for everyone involved.

G Family note:  Fantasy Football season has started.  For those of you that aren't G family members, this is the beginning of the competition between me and my brother in law Wade (I think my other brother in law Mark may join us this year).  Wade did extensive research into our Fantasy Football history and reminded me that he has beaten me a couple more years than I have beaten him (7-5 or 8-6 I think?).  

BUT, I have won the league one time (got the check to prove it), came in second one time, and finished in the top 7 (in the money) another year.  He has a sixth place finish or something un-impressive like that to his credit.  Whenever he starts barking about him beating me in a few years, I point out I have the Lombardi trophy on my shelf, along with a couple of good playoff victories to my credit.  Kind of like a team that has never been to the Super Bowl or won the Super Bowl claiming that their regular season record is more important than hauling in the hardware.  Not sure how the deployment will affect my performance this year, but I am feeling pretty confident.  If anyone is interested in joining the Fantasy Football league we are in drop me a note on here or send me an email at FRGOTT2@yahoo.com  or contact our league commissioner Tim at:  Tslippin@cox.net.