Dennis in NC

After Pat's Birthday By Kevin Tillman Editor’s note: Kevin Tillman joined the Army with his brother Pat in 2002, and they served together in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pat was killed in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004. Kevin, who was discharged in 2005, has written a powerful, must-read document. It is Pat’s birthday on November 6, and elections are the day after. It gets me thinking about a conversation I had with Pat before we joined the military. He spoke about the risks with signing the papers. How once we committed, we were at the mercy of the American leadership and the American people. How we could be thrown in a direction not of our volition. How fighting as a soldier would leave us without a voice… until we get out. Much has happened since we handed over our voice: Somehow we were sent to invade a nation because it was a direct threat to the American people, or to the world, or harbored terrorists, or was involved in the September 11 attacks, or received weapons-grade uranium from Niger, or had mobile weapons labs, or WMD, or had a need to be liberated, or we needed to establish a democracy, or stop an insurgency, or stop a civil war we created that can’t be called a civil war even though it is. Something like that. Somehow America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is. Somehow our elected leaders were subverting international law and humanity by setting up secret prisons around the world, secretly kidnapping people, secretly holding them indefinitely, secretly not charging them with anything, secretly torturing them. Somehow that overt policy of torture became the fault of a few “bad apples” in the military. Somehow back at home, support for the soldiers meant having a five-year-old kindergartener scribble a picture with crayons and send it overseas, or slapping stickers on cars, or lobbying Congress for an extra pad in a helmet. It’s interesting that a soldier on his third or fourth tour should care about a drawing from a five-year-old; or a faded sticker on a car as his friends die around him; or an extra pad in a helmet, as if it will protect him when an IED throws his vehicle 50 feet into the air as his body comes apart and his skin melts to the seat. Somehow the more soldiers that die, the more legitimate the illegal invasion becomes. Somehow American leadership, whose only credit is lying to its people and illegally invading a nation, has been allowed to steal the courage, virtue and honor of its soldiers on the ground. Somehow those afraid to fight an illegal invasion decades ago are allowed to send soldiers to die for an illegal invasion they started. Somehow faking character, virtue and strength is tolerated. Somehow profiting from tragedy and horror is tolerated. Somehow the death of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people is tolerated. Somehow subversion of the Bill of Rights and The Constitution is tolerated. Somehow suspension of Habeas Corpus is supposed to keep this country safe. Somehow torture is tolerated. Somehow lying is tolerated. Somehow reason is being discarded for faith, dogma, and nonsense. Somehow American leadership managed to create a more dangerous world. Somehow a narrative is more important than reality. Somehow America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is. Somehow the most reasonable, trusted and respected country in the world has become one of the most irrational, belligerent, feared, and distrusted countries in the world. Somehow being politically informed, diligent, and skeptical has been replaced by apathy through active ignorance. Somehow the same incompetent, narcissistic, virtueless, vacuous, malicious criminals are still in charge of this country. Somehow this is tolerated. Somehow nobody is accountable for this. In a democracy, the policy of the leaders is the policy of the people. So don’t be shocked when our grandkids bury much of this generation as traitors to the nation, to the world and to humanity. Most likely, they will come to know that “somehow” was nurtured by fear, insecurity and indifference, leaving the country vulnerable to unchecked, unchallenged parasites. Luckily this country is still a democracy. People still have a voice. People still can take action. It can start after Pat’s birthday. Brother and Friend of Pat Tillman, Kevin Tillman

Exactly! Did that play work only because Williams was running a diagonal route? I was wondering why not chuck this guy every play?

I think it was that extra tug Johnson gave his hair after Palomalu was down. But then again, that is not shiny smooth hair, quite kinky so maybe Johnson's gloved hand got stuck in it? I thought the penalty sucked until I saw that extra tug. Maybe we need a hair-pulling clause in the rule book --- sheesh.

CB Eric King was picked up by the Titans.

Steve, I took a look at that play (I love my Toshiba DVR!). The narrow TV view was from the defense's side, but I saw Preston head towards the RG spot. Watching the play, I could not see Gandy pulling, but he must have because at play's end, he was the farthest OL downfield.

Karma? Saban must watch "My Name is Earl"...

Sort of odd, I thought, was Willis (heading back to the huddle) raising and waving his arms, as if to say "Let's make some noise!". But, hey Buster, you guys are on offense, so now is not the time to get crowd noise going. Sometimes I wonder about ol' Willis...

Thanks, AKC, for your fine analysis! Especially about the TEs, who are hard for some of us to analyze when they are not seen in the passing game. And was it just one series when Preston played for CV? I saw him in there, but had not noticed when it started.

Exactly! This is a great article about why Volek had to go... Titans' Volek cost himself starting QB jobTitans' Volek cost himself starting QB job Volek seemed like a good idea when the Bills (fans) were considering him a while back. But then Drew Henson looked like a good choice then, too...

I pointed out to my wife that the "sea of orange" was just empty seats (3rd Qtr). As the announcers said, "the Dolphin fans are rising to their feet! ... and heading for the EXITS." HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Dolphins suck. Let's go to the beach.

That's the way I felt, too! It's still painful to watch him try to play safety. Has anyone keyed on Coy in their film study to see if he is actually an "ace" on ST? Or is it just the one thing he does OK at? It must have been Bobby April's influence in keeping on the roster IMO. Stevewin, any thoughts on Coy's ST abilities. I know you're a big Coy fan ;-)

Absolutely! Would you prefer your QB to have Culpepper's day with 250 yds, but a big INT? OTOH, didn't Tom Brady have 3 yds passing in the 1st half last week? There's only one set of numbers which mean very much each week... 16-6!

Don't sit home and wish, use haiku as your weapon to bitchslap stinkin' fish ---------------------------------------- Fresh-cut Dolphin meat with Tartar and or Hot sauce tastes so very sweet. ---------------------------------------- Too much fun to stop, late start joining haiku thread, now can't go to bed.

Lee Evans gellin' Dolphin D leaves fly open pee pee park smellin'

That's what I was thinking... Gallery really sucks. But he is facing Merriman, who is simply unstoppable. Maybe against mere mortals, Gallery would be good, but this guy was the #2 overall pick in the draft, wasn't he? They took OC Jake Grove that draft, too, who lots of Bills fans coveted. Hard to tell how good Grove was tonight.

Actually, I would expect the better blocker Reed to be the slot man in 3 WR groupings, with Peerless (or Roscoe) on the outside.

Well, regarding my response to damj (24 hour period, etc), ... never mind! What the hell do I know?!

I am sort of pulling this information out of my, umm, memory, but I think there is a 24-hour period after the hundreds of players have been put on waivers. During that time, the lower teams (2006 draft order) can put in claims on players, then it all has to be sorted out. After a player clears waivers, he can be signed to a practice squad. So, perhaps 24 hours after yesterday's 6 PM (?) deadline, PS signings may start to happen. Or is it 48 hours? I'm not sure how the "waived" vs "released" business affects this process, but that's the nutshell version IMO.

Hey Kiwi! Someone posted a while back that Willis always carries the ball in his right hand, so the stiff arm was only effective on runs around the right side. But Mularkey's runs did not feature that route much. Ahh, something like that! Keeping Willis in on 3rd downs (brilliant!) should help an awful lot this year, IMO. But I have not seen/heard the stiff arm in this pre-season... Cheers.

Post-draft, I remember clips of Fat Mike line dancing, and oh boy, he must be pretty agile to do that, eh? And he was the life of the party when he got a microphone in his hand. What a slug...

Phat Pat Williams was a UDFA as well, although I'm not sure there was a practice squad when he was starting out with the Bills.

Actually, very early in the game, Tasker mentioned that the group of WRs behind Lee Evans, was "stellar" or "exceptional" or a similar description, which nearly caused me to do a "spit take"... Bills have great DBs? Yes. Bills have great WRs? That's just being Homer-like.

Must be Troy's tired hammy flaring up again. Reports are Troy has been yawning all week at practice...

That is very encouraging to hear about Peerless hustling to help the play. Many of us will remember him for his lack of hustle (or heart, perhaps) when that DB picked off the pass, and PP did not pursue him. I think that play defined the old Peerless attitude for many fans. Hopefully, there is a "new" Peerless in town, willing to work hard.

I was recently converting old VHSs to DVDs and came across an old VHS from 1986 which featured Kelly coming to town. It was very cool. The ESPN announcements and all.