The Unspoken Us

Leave a reply

Image

“The Unspoken Us”  (By DANIELLE NIEMUTH)
 
It had been almost four years, and they’d both been through a lot. For him, the transition back to civilian life had been a rough one; it was something he was trying to figure out still. Every day was a struggle, and sometimes he wondered what the point was. For her, after years of being “the strong one”, it was difficult to remember she was still a young woman and even more difficult to admit that she needed others. Through it all, despite not seeing each other in person for two years, they had never stopped talking. At times his seemingly constant references to their sexual past frustrated her to no end. After all this time was that all he thought of her? That she had been a good fuck? Why then did he keep in contact with her? Sure, they’d made plans to see each other, but those plans always had a way of falling through, usually because he’d back out last minute. Maybe she was being naïve. Maybe the part of her that knew she needed someone, hell even wanted someone, had twisted his words into something they weren’t. But there were times when he would tell her the sweetest things – that she was beautiful, both physically and as a person, that she had changed his life for the better, that she had made him want to be a better man. Such emotionally charged conversations with him had been few and far between in the beginning, but as they became more frequent, they gave her what was, perhaps a false hope, but it was hope. That was more than she had had in a long time, and she was damned if she wasn’t going to hold onto that glimmer for all she was worth.
 
After years of them both dancing around the subject, they finally had a straight forward conversation about the unspoken “us” that had held them together for almost four years. As she got up the courage to ask him if he’d ever thought of them making a go at a real relationship, she prepared herself for the worst. After a short moment that in her mind seemed like forever, he responded that he had thought about it. In fact, he’d thought about it several times. There was that glimmer of hope again, but as she read further, the glimmer began fading in and out. Sure he’d thought about it, and sometimes he even thought they could make it work. But even after all this time, he didn’t know. His last statement was, “As a soldier, if I don’t know, I don’t do. I wait.” That was the line that hit her, and she saw hope come into full view. At his core, he was a soldier. So what would she have to do? She’d have to figure out a way to pull rank on him.
 
It didn’t take much planning, really; it just took a bit more daring than she was used to having. He had been foolish enough to give her his address months ago. That combined with the birthday present she had bought him and never been able to get to him made the perfect plan. After asking him when he would be home under the guise of wanting to video chat, she prepared for the day, regardless of its outcome. Her outfit and makeup were easy enough. Her hair, however, had a habit of not cooperating when she wanted it to, but by some stroke of luck, after years of trying and countless failed attempts, on that day she got her hair to hold a decent curl. Surely the universe must be on her side! With that, she set out for the day, gift bag in hand. Her first stop was to a local bakery to pick up a birthday cupcake. That was her “excuse” for going down there. She was going to make the most of it, even if he disliked celebrating his birthday. Plugging his address into her GPS and tuning the radio to a desirable station, she began the hour and a half drive. The closer she got to his hometown, the more she began second guessing herself, her hands occasionally shaking in hesitation. It took some time, but she eventually convinced herself that this was something she had to do, and no matter what the outcome was, she would be proud of having done this for herself. She arrived at 6pm, and drove past his house, noticed the lack of lights with mild disappointment and drove back to a convenience store she’d seen on her way. About twenty minutes went by before she drove past his house again, and still no one was home. As she sat in the parking lot waiting for the second time that evening she thought to herself, “Good. Now you’ve gone full stalker mode. Surely that’s an attractive trait.”
 
And then he messaged her saying that he was on his way home. She felt the disappointment quickly being replaced by excitement. A short while later he sent her a second message, and she responded by asking if he was home. Knowing that he was home or he wouldn’t have messaged her a second time, she slowly drove her car back to his place and parked outside. Taking a deep breath and gathering his present and cupcake, she exited her car and made her way to his front door. One more deep breath, and she had knocked. The seconds ticked by and she fidgeted nervously waiting for him to answer. Then the door swung open, and at the sight of him, she couldn’t stop smiling. Even as she saw a moment of shocked anger cross his face while he exclaimed, “What the hell are you doing down here?” she was too excited to feel the least bit concerned. He stepped out of the house, wrapping her in the tightest hug she’d felt in a long time. Internally she breathed a sigh of relief because in the moment before he stepped out, she realized that he might just close the door on her. As his 6’4” frame smothered her in his hug, she managed to mutter, “I brought your birthday present,” in response to his question. He laughed slightly and ushered her inside, apologizing for the mess.
 
After changing his shirt, and shaking his head at her several times, he asked what she wanted to do. She was at a loss. What did he mean, what did she want to do? She just looked at him for a moment before saying she hadn’t planned on doing anything. As she said it she realized how silly that sounded, and he again laughed, asking if she thought he was just going to take the present and then send her home. Well no, she hadn’t thought that, but then, she hadn’t really planned or even thought about what would happen after she showed up on his doorstep unannounced. She proclaimed this to him with a bit of exasperation in her voice. Did he think this was easy for her, taking such a risk? She was reassured by another glimmer of hope, this time in the way he was looking at her, almost like he was in awe. Several hugs later, he decided that he least he could do was take her to dinner.
 
So off to dinner they went, sitting in silence much of the drive, but neither could keep from glancing at the other and smiling. The first minutes of dinner were spent in hesitant silence. But then they fell back into conversation, laughing and teasing each other as if it hadn’t been three and a half years since they’d shared a meal. An hour of conversation after they’d finished eating, they finally left the restaurant. He decided to drive her around town, showing her where he had gone to school and the different places he spent weekends as a kid with his grandparents. Winding through the streets lit with holiday lights, they eventually made their way back to his driveway. 
 
As they began walking up the pavement, he pulled her against him, her cheek resting against his chest, and he placed his lips against the top of her head, holding her for a long time before pulling her face up to his for the first kiss they’d shared in two years. Her lips curled into a smile against his. This was the feeling she remembered, the one she missed. The feeling of being home in his arms. As he pulled his lips away from hers, he cupped her face in both his hands, his thumbs gently rubbing her cheeks, and he just looked at her. She could see all of the emotions passing over his face, his smile almost bittersweet, and she couldn’t help but frown slightly. Unable to muster her joyful smile again, she asked him what he was thinking. He opened his mouth to speak but stopped. His eyes closed for a moment and she felt him take a deep breath before he whispered, “I love you.” She was caught off guard, but despite not expecting him to say those words, only one thing crossed her mind, one thing that she’d felt for quite a while. “I love you, too.” He pulled her against him once more, and said, “I’ve loved you for a long time.” She simply replied with, “I know.”

Wake Up, Smell The Gravy

Leave a reply

Image

By GORDON GLANTZ

Gordonglantz50@gmail.com

@Managing2Edit

GORDONVILLE — To know me is to know that I have been known to be a sore loser.

And having Blood Type G-negative – as in green, with a glass-half-empty view – I don’t take losses by the Philadelphia Eagles well.

Never have, never will.

The only salve in a gaping wound that began with a small-but-decisive cut in 1970, when I went to my first game at Franklin Field (a 34-20 loss to the then-St. Louis Cardinals), would be bearing witness to a Super Bowl title before my eyes develop cataracts and my ears go completely deaf.

Therefore, it should go without saying that I have been taking Sunday’s figurative failure to disembark from the team plane in Minnesota – and the subsequent 48-30 setback – pretty tough.

But I still slept tight Sunday night.

And awoke Monday morning to smell the gravy.

Because the rest of the season, as I see it, is just that.

Gravy.

While taking the post-game temperature of the Eagle Nation, I found myself at peace. My usual subjectivity on the Eagles was wrestled to the ground and forced to tap out by overwhelming objectivity.

Falling to Minnesota was, in a vacuum, a bad loss.

But as a bad losses go, I’m kind of enjoying it.

Some of it has to do with the Dallas Cowboys doing their December Dane and choking against Green Bay – falling, 37-36, to remain a game behind the Eagles in the NFC East.

The end of the game was more humorous than an old episode of “All In The Family.”

Quarterback Tony Romo remained a Santa figure for opposing defenses each holiday season, with his smirk transformed into a dazed gaze. Head coach Jason Garrett looked like he lost his best friend. Owner/emperor Jerry Jones was  mortified. Diva/receiver Dez Bryant left the sideline and walked up the tunnel – to cry, he claims, in the locker room – something that would have made Eagles’ fans go ape-sugar had DeSean Jackson done the same thing.

The reality is that the one-game edge on the Cowboys is just window dressing because it can be erased in the season finale, with the tie-breaker for the division going to Dallas.

Of the four scenarios, only one – a Dallas loss to Washington and an Eagles’ win over Chicago – would end the division battle a week earlier than expected.

That means there is a 75 percent chance it will come down to the finale.

Me? Nervous?

I am the good humor man for reasons beyond Dallas’ possible implosion that may make the Eagles the team to beat, even on the road, in that showdown.

It is because the Eagles, in head coach Chip Kelly’s first season, are even in this position.

My perception – forming my reality – is that the season is already a success. Anything that happens now is gravy.

Other than my ultra-optimistic older cousin Alan, who was more of an aware follower than a fan when the franchise plummeted off the radar after the 1960 title and didn’t reappear until Dick Vermeil turned it around nearly two decades later, no one thought a record of above .500 – and a division title – was realistic.

Most of us were braced for a transitional season.

In my season preview for PhillyPhanatics.com, I was Captain Hedge. I said that if everything went wrong, like in 2012, expect 4-12. I conceded that with some bounces and breaks, maybe a ceiling of 8-8. I added that if one or more NFC East rivals completely fell apart – like the Washington Redskins and the New York Giants ended up doing – maybe 9-7. But, given the Eagles’ nightmarish schedule – first three games under a new regime in 11 days and no bye until Week 11 – the most we could hope for was 6-10.

And 6-10, with a sense of direction, was going to feel a whole lot better than the 4-12 while wandering aimlessly through the desert like the previous season.

If and when the Eagles hoist the Lombardi Trophy, I can cross off the top item on my bucket list. Temple beating Penn State in football and the Flyers winning another cup after six straight losses in the finals can then move up.

I’ll think of my late father, who took me to my first game – and countless others – and excuse myself from the room and shed more than a tear.

And then I’ll take out a second mortgage and buy myself a replica Super Bowl ring and wear it every day on my right ring finger, just as I wear my wedding band every day on my left.

The Eagles are two good seasons away from being a serious contender. That’s when I will take losses like last Sunday a little more to heart again.

If the Minnesota game taught us anything, it is that the defense is not where it needs to be. The ongoing struggles on special teams show a lack of overall talent and depth.

And that’s fine. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but there was the confidence that it would be.

This season was more about a change of culture than wins and losses.

And the culture has changed, and beyond expectations.

Listen to sports-talk radio. It’s about all of this – the present – not who they might sign in free agency in February or draft in April.

Turn on the TV, to ESPN or the NFL Network. On a national level, the Eagles are intriguing. They are relevant. Back from the dead.

The Eagles are in the discussion again, and on the screen with their little playoff graphics.

Speaking of which, if the season ended now, the Eagles would host the San Francisco 49ers. That’s the same 49ers that were in the Super Bowl last season.

That doesn’t sound like a favorable matchup. It sounds like a loss.

It might be tough to swallow, at least for a night, but it’s all good.

They were somewhere no one – except my cousin Alan – thought they would be.

We were lamenting Sunday’s loss – as we should be, to a certain extent – but look at the calendar. It’s mid-December, and the Eagles were playing a meaningful game.

A year ago, we were either shrugging off late-season losses or hoping for more to get a higher pick in the first round. That’s a long way to come in a short period of time.

Change of culture might be a tame way to put it.

This has been a stone cold culture shock.

And I’m enjoying every minute of it, even after the losses.

Originally appeared at http://www.phillyphanatics.com

The End of the ‘Silent Night’

1 Reply

Image

By GORDON GLANTZ

Gordonglantz50@gmail.com

@Managing2Edit

GORDONVILLE — Sofia is a playing an angel in her school’s Christmas pageant. Always the performer, she turned our home into a playhouse, and has used the pending occasion to practice the song and dance routine repeatedly.

But it wasn’t until the other night – as she was singing “Silent Night” and busting ballet moves in her angel outfit, complete with wings and halo – that a bitter irony struck me.

The pageant practically coincides with the one-year anniversary of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. that left 26 people dead.

Twenty of those victims were first-graders huddled together in a corner of their classroom.

Sofia is now in first grade herself.

Sorry if it hits home, but it hits home.

Just like the parents of those once-living angels who never saw 2013’s Christmas, or Hanukkah, I drive her to school each morning and make sure to say “I love you” and get a goodbye kiss before she exits. And my day isn’t complete until she is back in my car, safe and sound, and begins telling me about the happenings of her day with her teen-like verbiage oddly coupled with a baby voice.

And when Sofia and her fellow angels sing “Silent Night,” it will be hard not to think of those other angels from Newtown and the sentiment that they will “sleep in heavenly peace.”

There will be commemorations all across America on Saturday’s marking point of the nation’s 31st – yes, 31st – school shooting since Columbine in 1999, and many will include moments of silence for the victims.

But the silence on gun control – and the powerful stranglehold that the NRA maintains on our weapon-entranced culture – should have ended a year ago.

If that wasn’t the definitive line in the sand, a call to begin fighting back, then what is?

Yes, there had been mass shootings before that begged for change.

But Newtown – maybe because of the time, place and age of victims – seemed to have “last straw” stamped on its ugly face.

The clock had struck midnight in America.

The time seemed right to stay vigilant through the darkness and celebrate a new dawn.

The president, who had not done anything but “try to take your guns away” in his first term, laid down the gauntlet with 23 executive actions, including the CDC doing an about-face on a short-sighted act of Congress calling on the Centers for Disease Control to cease and desist putting the scourge of gun violence under its objective microscope.

The result? Nothing.

Once again – against the will of “we the people” (91 percent of voters support background checks on prospective gun owners, according to a Quinnipiac poll) – those inside the beltway, who are protected by secret service agents, decided to place it on the back-burner and dare to look parents in the eye.

What was a cursory baby step toward sane gun control was shot down by our leaders in Washington, D.C. in a cruel-and-calculated way that more or less exceeded what happened in Newtown, Conn.

People still can’t believe something like that can happen in an upscale New England town.

I still can’t believe something like what happened in response could happen in Congress.

The current year has been just as bloody. Lowlights include 13 being gunned down in a D.C. Navy Yard in September and six school employees at a Santa Monica Junior College in June.

What does or doesn’t make headlines and lead the nation news broadcasts on a given day is an inexact science. Let us not forget six killed in July in Hialeah, Fla. in July or five in Manchester, Ill. (by the nephew of the local mayor) in April or the spree in upstate New York by a 64-year-old who took six lives.

It would be safe to say that the full year since last Dec. 14 has been a silent night.

A long, cold and sleepless one.

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter,” said Martin Luther King., Jr.

To heed these words, we need to begin standing together and making a noise so loud that our elected leaders will realize that they will be out of work if they choose not to listen.

Newtown has jarred some modicum of progress. Individual states, some which previously had pathetic gun laws, have enacted measures. But without top-down legislation, it’s too shoddy. It’s no surprise that there is a correlation between higher rates of gun deaths and those assigned failing grades by the Law Center to Prevent Violence.

In a clash of titans, the NFL seems to be willing to butt heads with the NRA, as it has refused to accept pro-gun blood money to run ads promoting firearm ownership for the sake of self-protection.

The American Association of Pediatricians, in a recent survey, supported legislative action.

There has been the formation of grassroots groups, several of which I follow on Facebook and repost – much to the annoyance of my gun-toting friends – on my page.

This is a great first step, but these groups – with the exception of the NFL — remain mice fighting gorillas.

All the logical arguments to work toward gun control meet with responses ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous, and from the ignorant to the arrogant.

Common right-wing retort:  It is more about addressing mental health than guns.

OK, honestly – and I don’t mean to sound harsh — how do we police every person with issues who may have skipped his meds, let alone all those who go temporarily insane and act on impulse with a gun close at hand.

Here’s a classic: It is impossible to do anything about it.

So … that means do nothing?

That means Nelson Mandela, who said, “it’s always impossible until it’s done,” had it wrong but you “defenders of freedom” – in your infinite wisdom — have it right?

And they like this one: Cars kill more people than guns do, and you don’t want to ban all cars, do ya?

First of all, while my utopian world would be gun-free, no one is talking about banning guns. We are advocating dialing it down a notch from it being the Wild West of yore in the 21st century.

There are, as there should be, a litany of safeguards against the type of driving that takes lives. On top of that, measures are taken to keep safe vehicles on the road. Law enforcement is empowered to make the roads safer.

And, secondly, there are thousands upon thousands of vehicles on the road each day. A miniscule percentage of drivers are looking to do harm, as stupid as they are at times. It’s not apples to apples.

So how do you like them apples?

And they might counter: I am a responsible gun owner. Why should I be penalized?

If you are a responsible gun owner, you won’t be penalized under any of the proposed baby steps toward saving babies.

And there is this old standby: It’s the law. It’s in the Second Amendment. It’s what the founding fathers wanted.

The founding fathers came from a different place and time when they advocated gun ownership. If they could see what is going on in their name, they would be heartbroken.

If they wouldn’t be, they are no one I care to admire.

According to USA Today, there have been more than 200 mass killings (four or more victims) since 2006, which is an average of one every two weeks.  That is a conservative estimate, as the exact number is curiously underreported by the FBI (considered 61 percent accurate).

The same article revealed that a third of the victims are under the age of 18.

In the last year, since the unspeakable tragedy at Newtown, 194 children (defined as being under the age of 12) have been killed by guns, according to MotherJones.com.

And the average age per victim was 6, same as Sofia.

Our country leads the world with this dubious distinction, and that rate is four times that of Canada, which is second. It is a rate 65 times greater than Britain or Germany.

In keeping with the holiday season, let’s put it another way.

That’s a whole lot of angels prevented – via a silent night – from sleeping in heavenly peace.

Related articles

Hillary? Maybe, But Not Yet

Leave a reply

Image

By GORDON GLANTZ

Gordonglantz50@gmail.com

@Managing 2Edit

GORDONVILLE – Many of my liberal brethren are quickly lining up behind Hillary Rodham Clinton as their 2016 presidential candidate of choice, and they might be wondering why I have yet to join forces.

After all, I was firmly in her corner during the primary season of 2008, only switching allegiance to Barack Obama after she waved the white flag and endorsed him.

I have the columns from my past lifetime.

Heck, I even have the lawn sign out in my garage to prove it.

So why have you not seen me click “like” on pro-Hilary thread on Facebook, or pontificate on her behalf?

It certainly has nothing to do with gender, as nothing has convinced moi in the intervening years that the best person for the job as the alleged leader of the free world can’t be a woman.

I am the father to a daughter. It would be amazing for her to have such a monumental occurrence so early in her lifetime. I won’t even have to lower myself to say, “you can be anything you want to be, baby.”

It’ll be true.

Age?

Eh, maybe.

A little.

She just turned 66 in October. The math shows that two terms, if elected in 2016, would put her at 77 by 2024.

I had the same concerns about John McCain – until the point became moot when he picked at a scab when the sun doesn’t shine on his body and called it his running mate.

But Americans are living longer, and should continue on that path with more humane health care.

It also has zero to do with the irksome “Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi” battle cry of the right wing.

Instead, it goes to a more fundamental core belief about this country and royal families. It is why Jeb Bush, even if he is competent, should be stricken from consideration. It is why I am only lukewarm on the Kennedy clan.

It is why we fought the Revolutionary War, is it not?

Foibles aside, I like Bill Clinton. While it isn’t saying much, he is probably the best president of my lifetime (1965-present). Hillary, for all intents and purposes, is cut from the same ideological cloth.

But it is the same cloth with the same family crest.

And to quote Hall and Oates, “I can’t go for that … no can do.”

At least not yet.

At least not until we see who else is out there, and we do the liberal thing – keep an open mind – and evaluate them on their merits and not be in awe of their last name.

Related articles

Birds: Break Breakdown

Leave a reply

By GORDON GLANTZ

Gordonglantz50@gmail.com

@Managing2Edit

GORDONVILLE — Want a conspiracy theory? The NFL tried to sabotage to 2013 Philadelphia Eagles.

How and why the league would do this to one of its larger-market franchises makes far less sense than the plausible case for shots coming from the grassy knoll, but the evidence is there for those wishing to don tin-foil headgear.

The Eagles began the season with three games in 11 days, after which they found themselves at 1-2 and with more questions than answers about new coach Chip Kelly making the transition from his college fiefdom at Oregon to putting the Eagles back on the path to relevance.

The league wasn’t done with the Eagles, not giving them a breather in the schedule until Week No. 11. Such is life for a team that fell off the map after going 4-12.

But here they are, none the worse for wear.

If there was a force trying to keep them from being a storyline on ESPN or the NFL Network, it didn’t achieve its objective.

There were times, like a midseason skid in which the Eagles failed to score an offensive touchdown in two divisional home losses and fell to 3-5 at the midway point, when Kelly’s crew was left for dead.

But whatever didn’t kill them has made them stronger.

Here they sit at their long-awaited break with an opportunity to recharge their engines, dip in the healing waters of the whirlpool and enter the final five games of the season –  including three at home – controlling their own destiny in the NFC East with a 6-5 record and riding a three-game winning streak.

Now, at a rest stop on this journey, it’s the perfect time to take a breath and survey the landscape with an analysis of the team.

FRONT OFFICE

People like to mock general manager Howie Roseman, mainly because he isn’t a battle-scarred ex-player. Roseman is often the fall guy for assembling the nightmare “dream team” of 2011 that was the beginning of the end for former head coach Andy Reid. He has been blamed for horrid errors on draft day. With a clean slate to work with Kelly, Roseman has seemingly made the right moves. There has been impact from the rookie crop, and most of the no-frills free agent additions have contributed. It should also be noted that the draft class of 2012, which owner Jeffrey Lurie says was the first with Roseman’s true fingerprint, has come up huge this season. Grade: B+

COACHING

Chip Kelly has made some curious decisions in the heat of battle and seems red-flag challenged. The game plans in home losses to Kansas City, Dallas and the New York Giants seemed lacking in vision. Overall, though, we can’t argue. It’s hard to get a clean read on offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur because Kelly calls the plays that the quarterback has the freedom to alter, so Shurmer is twice removed from the process on game day. However, as a planner in the pre-game strategy and an eye-in-the-sky, it would seem this NFL lifer has been a positive force. He is allegedly in charge of notifying Kelly of when to challenge a call. If true, or partially true, we hope he has visited an eye doctor during the bye week.

Defensive coordinator Billy Davis was in line to be tied to the whipping post after his unit looked like a sieve early on, falling to the bottom of the league stats in almost every category. But they have either grown into his scheme or he has shaped it around the players’ strengths and weaknesses. Whatever the reason, it seems to be working well enough that they hold their own enough to complement the high-powered attack. When it all shakes out after 16 games, we could be looking at  a middle-of-the-pack unit that is ascending. The special teams, under Dave Fipp, have endured some ups and downs – namely in the blowout loss against Denver – but has generally been consistent in all phases. Grade: B+

OFFENSE

Quarterback: Kelly named Michael Vick the starter over Nick Foles heading into the season, possibly to keep the peace in a locker room of veterans loyal to Vick. Foles maintained a positive attitude and answered the bell when Vick went down with the inevitable injury. He has not only established himself as the short-term starter, but also the quarterback of, at least, the immediate future. He proved an atrocious outing against Dallas was the exception, not the norm, as he has been named the conference’s offensive player of the week twice and tied an NFL record with seven touchdown passes in a game against Oakland. He entered the bye with the best passer rating in the league (128.0), boasting 16 touchdown passes and zero interceptions. He is 4-1 as a starter and also helped secure victory in relief of Vick on the road in the Meadowlands. In the midst of the quarterback shuffle and injuries to both Vick (hamstring) and Foles (concussion), rookie Matt Barkley saw some time that could prove helpful to his evolution as a career backup. He looked ill-prepared to play meaningful snaps. Having Vick suiting up again after the bye will be a welcome sight.

Individual grades: Foles (A), Vick (B), Barkley (D). Overall grade: B-plus 

Running Back: Not much to say about LeSean McCoy (left), other than that he has taken the ball and run with it. Having more consistent chances under Kelly than Reid, who would often go whole quarters of game without calling McCoy’s number, McCoy has already eclipsed the 1,000-yard rushing mark. Add in yardage on 34 catches, and McCoy has more than 1,400 yards from scrimmage. A disappointment has been backup Bryce Brown, who has failed to pick up where he left off as a force carrying the ball. He has had some nice catches and runs on swing passes and has yet to fumble, but lacks the consistent carries a bigger back needs to find his groove. He would need another McCoy injury, like last year, to prove that he can get stronger as a game wears on. But nobody wants to see that. Third back Chris Polk has scored a touchdown and been solid, when healthy, on special teams. Matthew Tucker, an undrafted rookie out of TCU, was added to the roster from the practice squad but has yet to be on the field for any offensive plays.

Individual grades: McCoy (A), Brown (C), Polk (C), Tucker (I). Overall grade: B+

Wide Receiver: Give Kelly a gold star for making DeSean Jackson matter again. While Reid seemingly just told No. 10 to go deep and be a decoy, Kelly has made an effort to get the ball in the explosive receiver’s hands on short, medium and long passes. The result is that he is on a Pro Bowl track. Jackson entered the break with a team-high 58 catches and was 15 yards from 1,000.

When Jeremy Maclin went down early in training camp with a serious knee injury, Riley Cooper moved into the starting lineup. Perhaps because his head was not completely in the game because of his regrettable off-field controversy or because he just didn’t click with Vick, Cooper was a non-factor and ranked as the least productive starting receiver in the league. A free agent after this season, he was considered a sure bet not to be retained. And then, as fast as you can say Nick Foles, Cooper turned on the jets and took off. He is tied with Jackson for the team lead with seven touchdown catches and is averaging a team-high 19.1 yards on 31 catches. It is at the point now that if Foles is christened as the starter, Cooper has to be kept, meaning Maclin and/or Jason Avant, may not be back. Avant, still a reliable safety valve, has not been as much of a factor since Cooper and Foles developed their chemistry. Going further down the depth chart, Jeff Maehl has made some catches. Damaris Johnson, mainly a return man, has been a non-factor. Versatile veteran Brad Smith was signed recently and it will be interesting to watch how he is integrated after the bye week.

Individual grades: Jackson (A), Cooper (B+), Avant (C+), Maehl (C), Johnson (I), Smith (I). Overall grade: B

Tight End: The presumption was that since New England coach Bill Bellichick previously elicited Kelly as a consultant, the same heavy usage of tight ends there was going to be deployed here. That theory gained more validity when Zach Ertz was drafted in the second round and put in a stable with the tenured veteran Brent Celek (left) and free agent James Casey. While Celek and Ertz have made some key catches, there have also been some bad drops when the chains were crying out to be moved. The trio has combined for a modest 43 catches on 71 targets. Give Celek props for solid blocking, which has become a strength after it being a flaw in his game early in his career.

Individual grades: Celek (B-), Ertz (B-), Casey (D). Overall: C+

Offensive Line: With left tackle Jason Peters and center Jason Kelce returning from serious injuries, this unit was hyped as being one of the best in the business. It hasn’t been that seamless, as players don’t just regain form by fans wishing upon a star. Peters is still good, but not quite as dominant. Kelce is smart, but has been overwhelmed by 3-4 teams with powerful nose tackles. Left guard Evan Mathis has been solid. Right guard Todd Herremans, shuffled back inside after playing tackle and left guard in the past, seems to be improving after some early struggles. Right tackle Lane Johnson, drafted fourth overall, has played as expected. He has shown he has a high ceiling, but has made some mistakes. Johnson seemed to hit a midseason wall, but fought through it. The only sub to have played much is journeyman Allen Barbre, who has held his own when Peters has been dinged. If the Eagles have to go any deeper on their bench, beyond Barbre, it could spell doom. In the final analysis, when a team has the league’s leading rusher and top-rated passer, the line deserves credit.

Individual grades: Peters (B), Mathis (B+), Kelce (B), Herremans (B-), Johnson (B), Barbre (C+). Overall grade: B

DEFENSE

Defensive Line: After dealing away Isaac Sopoaga, one of the few free agents who pulled a Houdini, the unit was left with six young-but-hungry battlers. Defensive tackles Fletcher Cox (three sacks) and Cedric Thornton (team-leading four tackles for losses) come from opposite ends of the pedigree spectrum, as Cox was last year’s first-round pick and Thornton is a self-made undrafted guy. However, they are combining to be a formidable tandem. Rookie Bennie Logan moved into Sopoaga’s nose tackle spot and plays with a lot of hustle. Give him an offseason to add 10 more pounds and he could be a keeper. It is no coincidence that the line got a lift once second-year man Vinny Curry wasn’t inactive on game day. Curry, a pass-rushing specialist originally pigeon-holed as a bad fit for the new 3-4 alignment, shares the team lead with four sacks. Damion Square, an undrafted rookie out of Alabama, has worked his way into the rotation. Why Clifton Geathers is on the team remains a mystery. Aside from Geathers, who is simply as placeholder on the roster for now, all the others in this group are in their first or second seasons in the league.

Individual grades:  Thornton (B+), Cox (B), Curry (B), Logan (B-), Square (C), Geathers (D+). Overall grade: B-

Linebacker: If not for San Francisco’s Patrick Willis and Carolina’s Luke Kuechly, DeMeco Ryans would be looking at a Pro Bowl nod. While emerging as a team leader in the locker room, Ryans has silenced doubters who said he was strictly a traditional 4-3 middle linebacker. His stats across the board – 96 tackles (76 solo), three tackles for losses, two sacks, two interceptions – speak for themselves. Not far behind is the other inside linebacker Mychal Kendricks. While he is not quite as disciplined as Ryans, Kendricks has been productive – 68 tackles (54 solo), three tackles for losses and three fumble recoveries – while also often drawing the short straw and having to “spy” on the more mobile opposing quarterbacks.

At outside linebacker, Connor Barwin may not have the name cache for Pro Bowl consideration, but he has been a model of consistency. He has four sacks, tying him with Curry, to go along with 10 passes defended and three tackles for losses. At the other outside spot, we have Trent Cole. The longest-tenured Eagle, switching from defensive end to linebacker, picked up two sacks against the Redskins to raise his total to three this season. It appears that Davis is starting to meet Cole halfway, asking him to do what he does well, which is go downhill. Cole, though, is a free agent at the end of the season and the addition of real dynamic force opposite Barwin would make this linebacking corps dangerous. A  name to watch, considering where the Eagles will likely be picking in the first round, is Kyle Van Noy out of BYU. Backups – Brandon Graham, Najee Goode, Casey Matthews and Emmanuel Acho – have held their own when called upon.

Individual grades: Ryans (A-), Kendricks (B+), Barwin (A-), Cole (B-), Graham (C+), Goode (C+), Matthews (C), Acho (C). Overall grade: B+

Cornerback: The Eagles are 31st in the league against the pass, so it’s difficult to hand out plaudits for those charged with covering receivers. However, we can respond to this bad report card with a note from home. There has been drastic improvement since being singed by the likes of Payton Manning and Philip Rivers earlier in the season. Cary Williams and Bradley Fletcher, each with two interceptions, are effort guys who play with attitude and hustle and take it personally when giving up a big play (a welcomed change from the past two seasons). Nickel corner Brandon Boykin, in his second year, leads the team with four interceptions and is a player on the rise. Roc Carmichael, who was signed off waivers from Houston, and started when Fletcher was out the last two weeks. For the most part, he held his own. Curtis Marsh has returned to the nest but has yet to play on defense.

Individual grades: Boykin (B+), Williams (C-), Fletcher (C+), Carmichael (C), Marsh (I). Overall grade: B-

Safety: A true impact player – via draft or free agency – remains a priority, but the improvement of this group has mirrored that of the defense. That is mostly true of Nate Allen (left). who has 46 solo tackles, good for third on the team behind Ryan and Kendricks. He has gone from target of the boo-birds to at least blending in with the scenery by following his assignments. Patrick Chung’s shoulder injuries allowed rookie Earl Wolff to emerge as a starter, at least until Wolff injured his knee. Kurt Coleman has almost played strictly on special teams. Last game, when Chung exited and Wolff was not in uniform, fans had to have scary flashbacks to last season when Coleman and Allen were oft-burned as the starting safeties. However, the Redskins were kept in check until Chung was hurried back. Colt Anderson, an ace on special teams, has barely played on defense. Only Wolff – out of the entire group – has an interception, and that came on a Hail Mary pass.

Individual grades: Wolff (B-), Allen (C+), Chung (C), Coleman (C-), Anderson (I). Overall grade: C+

SPECIAL TEAMS

Kicking: One disappointment has been Alex Henery, who is a pedestrian17-for-22 with a long of 48 yards. While not abysmal, he is not inspiring the confidence that a kicker that was drafted in the fourth round a few years back should. Grade: C-

Punting: The signing of veteran Donnie Jones is proving to be a stroke of genius. He is averaging 45.4 yards per punt with a net of 40.9. On top of that, he has put 22 punts instead the 20, as compared to a mere five touchbacks. Grade: A

Coverage: There have been a few breakdowns, but coverage has largely been a non-issue. Grade: B+

Return Game: Damaris Johnson has seemingly been relieved of his duties after being pedestrian, at best, as the primary kickoff and punt returner. He has a decent average on kickoffs – 25.9 per return – but has used poor judgment by brining many out from deep in the end zone. While Brandon Boykin almost broke a kick while filling in when Johnson was hurt, Brad Smith could be the long-term answer. He has four kickoff returns for touchdowns in his career, although only one since 2010. DeSean Jackson, who established himself as a lethal punt returner in a previous life, has been handling the job lately with mixed results. His average of 9.0 per punt return (pretty much what Johnson had) is largely due to 32-yard gainer in Oakland (he was flagged 15 yards for grabbing the tackler’s facemask). Grade: C-

CRYSTAL BALL

Let’s say the Eagles win three of the next five, making them 9-7, which should be good enough for first place in the NFC “Least.” That would mean a home playoff game, and a likely loss to a team like, say, the Carolina Panthers. No one should or could complain, even if the score is 49-10, but they will anyway. It goes along with the territory.

While Pro Bowl bids – along with All-Pro nods and being named to post-season teams by other publications – come with grains of salt, the Eagles will be well-represented. Earlier in the season, it looked like McCoy, maybe Jackson, would be it. Now, we also have Mathis and maybe Peters (on reputation). Foles would at least be in line for being a Pro Bowl alternate, which would be quite an achievement for a guy who didn’t even begin his second season as the starter. Defensively, Ryans and Barwin will be in the conversation. Ditto for Jones as the punter. Johnson, Ertz, Logan and Wolff could be in All-Rookie consideration.  Kelly? Coach of the Year? Probably second to Reid, proving that fact is stranger than fiction.

This column is also available at http://www.phillyphanatics.com

JFK Assassination: Looking Back In Anger

3 Replies

Image

By GORDON GLANTZ

Gordonglantz50@gmail.com

@Managing2Edit

GORDONVILLE – With the coming of the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, it is a natural time to look back.

To look back in sorrow –sorrow about a bright light, even if more a figment of pop culture imagination than reality, being burned out before its time.

To look back with nostalgia – nostalgia loaded down with all that self-absorbed, I-remember-where-I-was stuff.

Me? I’m just looking back in anger.

A lot of it.

There are too many questions than answers to have a more mellow reaction and mourn for Camelot and all that jazz designed to take our eye of the ball.

It has been 50 years, and I am among the large percentage of “we the people” who don’t believe the fairy tale that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in gunning down JFK from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.

The fourth estate – my chosen profession of journalism — became
the first to be duped.

Fifty years later, it is an entity not even worthy of tackling this one.  The best they can do is stay in the wheelhouse of discrediting anyone who beats them to the punch.

Since I am not really in the business anymore, I can say that it’s now personal.

When I walked into a movie theatre to see Oliver Stone’s “JFK” in 1991, I was already well-versed on the topic. I had read books, and seen documentaries and feature films, namely the 1973 movie “Executive Action,” starring Burt Lancaster.

I was already convinced that one of the more vile works of modern fiction ever injected into the bloodstream of our culture – like heroin in the veins of a junkie — was the Warren Report that hastily ignored any evidence pointing to a conspiracy and followed a predestined path to lay the guilt solely with Oswald.

Prior to the release of “JFK,” the average person was passé on the topic. They accepted the “official” story about Oswald but post-Watergate cynicism made them say they wouldn’t be surprised if there was an alternate theory that was swept under the rug.

Sitting in the theatre that night, I almost got chills when I could feel an awakening as viewers around me laughed aloud at that utter silliness of the incongruent Warren Report.

There were some liberties taken by Stone in “JFK,” lest a three-hour movie last three days without composite characters and supposition about meetings that took place, but the hatchet job done on him by the supposed left-leaning press told us all we need to know about the ability to tell a story in the light of day in America.

Stone’s legacy, in lieu of breaking the case, is putting the question marks back into public consciousness, which he now says was his primary objective.

Pretty much every network – from NBC, ABC, CBS and PBS to CNN, FOX and all the others – has run its own specials, using tantalizing advertising, only to lead viewers down the same dead end street and conclude that Oswald acted alone.

Like climate change naysayers, they ignore an abundance of evidence and pass it off as saying there is “no real proof” of a conspiracy.

Back at you.

There is “no real proof” that Oswald acted alone – or at all (ballistic tests showed he likely did not even fire a rifle that day).

There is more concrete evidence that he killed a Dallas cop, J.D. Tippit, than that he killed the president, and even that case is circumstantial (witness descriptions of Tippit’s killer vary).

The American public never knew his side of the story – and there are always two sides to every story – because there was no trial.

Jack Ruby was somehow able to enter the armed fortress that was the police station where Oswald was being held and shoot him while being transported to a high-security jail where he would have been an untouchable for anyone to silence before he spilled whatever beans he had to spill.

Perhaps the ante was ratcheted up when he blurted out that he was a “patsy.” There was a panic that he needed to be shut up, and Ruby had the connections to get close.

This tells me Oswald was not without some guilt, at some level, in the assassination.

Ruby was not just some random goofball. He had ties to the mob, the FBI, the Dallas Police Department (his strip club was a popular hangout for cops, possibly even Tippit) and with the district attorney.

The argument that he was never a hit man does not hurt the theory that he was silencing Oswald on someone’s order. It actually furthers it, as the killing of Oswald by a known hit man would have created obvious questions about a conspiracy.

There are many fantastical scenarios, a lot more ridiculous than the one of Oswald acting alone – which the American public at the time was conditioned to believe, as lone nuts killing presidents (i.e. Lincoln) are written into history books in indelible ink.

It would be A-OK with me if Oswald’s guilt could be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, but too many loose ends remain.

In “JFK,” Stone really didn’t lay out one alternate scenario, but rather a litany of “what-ifs,” some of which are easier to dismiss than others.

Because of this, he was discredited – most vociferously by some media icons that made their names on the day of Kennedy’s assassination – instead of lauded for systematically dismantling the ludicrous Warren Report (ordered to be wrapped up quickly by JFK’s successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, for his own political gain).

LBJ wanted to sell the American people a cover story they could almost be comforted by – one that assured them that the Cubans or the Russians were not behind the JFK murder – and move forward with the escalation of the war in Vietnam while appeasing the Kennedy people to his left with civil rights reform.

Kennedy, on the other hand, was never sold on Vietnam and it likely had the establishment of the Military Industrial Complex more than a little rattled that this president, still in his 40s, was not down with sticking with the script of rich old men who
were anxious to profit on more war.

Did that get him killed? Makes as much sense as Oswald acting alone, maybe more.

I was 26 years old in 1991. The movie sparked more research, to the point where it became an obsession.

Life experience in the intervening 22 years has taught me a lot, including the fact that the truth – which is really a stew made up of all of our perceptions of our realities and
realities of our perceptions – is a moving part.

The truth here, as in most cases, is that what really happened 50 years ago is likely somewhere between the Warren Report and Oliver Stone’s version.

Oswald was likely involved, at some level, but was a link in a chain. My gut feeling is that those on the ground had no idea who was pulling their strings and passing along envelopes of cash.

I try to let it go and move on, but then I go against my better judgment and watch a “special” like the one on CNN the other night that left out more facts than it put in
just to disprove conspiracy theories.

Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in.

To me, the mechanics of how it went down that day are not hard to recreate.

Just like Oswald’s transfer time from the police station to the jail was mysteriously changed from night to day, so was Kennedy’s parade route. It put him, in an open car, in an area – Dealy Plaza – where the open vehicle would have to slow down to a speed that made him an easy target.

Shots came from three directions – the Texas School Book Depository from JFK right rear, the Dal-Tex Building from the left rear and from behind the fence from the grassy knoll to his right front.

Each location likely had a team that included an advance person to set up the sniper’s nest and have a weapon waiting there. The lead man would assist the shooter and spotter as they moved into place.

There were also some operatives on the street – like the man who had a seizure to create a distraction around the time the shooters set up shot – that never turned up at any local hospital.

And we have the man who curiously pumped an umbrella as Kennedy’s car came into prime position.

This could have been a signal to the shooters that car was in position. It could have been an ominous dig at Kennedy, letting him know that he was being killed for the lack of the “umbrella” of air protection during the botched Bay of Pigs invasion. It has even been suggested that the CIA had developed a device where a small projectile could be fired from an umbrella, which could explain the wound in Kennedy’s neck that doctors at Parkland Hospital recorded as an entrance wound (the Warren Report later changed it to an exit wound to fit the story of a single shooter).

One thing for sure is that it was not raining, and there was no need to open an umbrella at such a suspicious time.

While panic ensued in the aftermath of the shooting, the man with the umbrella was seen calmly sitting on the curb with another man, possibly the same one who had the “seizure.”

There were also pictures of Jack Ruby on the street, suggesting he was part of the operation.

Witnesses reported a man matching Ruby’s description running with a sense of purpose, while everyone else was on the ground, seconds after the shooting.

Oswald’s role?

He was probably the advance person inside the Texas School Book Depository, where the planners expected the kill shot would come from (even though it likely ended up being the grassy knoll). He set up the nest, left the rifle (not the same feeble one attributed to him) and waited inside the building before helping the shooters leave.

At some point, he probably deduced that he was being set up. This led to panic, and the possible shooting of Tippit, who could have been involved the plot – at least to the extent that he was told when and where to arrest the predetermined patsy or to shoot him dead and make it look like self-defense.

Who were these other shooters and operatives? Probably just hired hands, maybe ex-military marksmen for hire, who went through layers of middle men.

Those involved in the killing likely had little to zero knowledge of the breadth of the plan.

Who was behind it?

We can make logical guesses, based on who had the most to gain, but the trail goes cold after 50 years of treating us like we’re children.

We will probably never know the truth.

For all my research, your guess – 50 years later — is as good as mine.

And that is what leaves me angry.

That secret died, not only with Lee Harvey Oswald but with a lot of other people.

Lee Bowers. David Ferrie. Guy Bannister. Dorothy Kilgallen. George de Mohrenschildt.

And that’s to name just a few, whose coincidental deaths are also peculiar.

All of them are – or were — vital pieces to the puzzle.

None of them – and their mysterious deaths – received a passing mention in the CNN mockery of a farce of a sham.  Instead, the special spent more time on discrediting former New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison than the ludicrous magic bullet theory concocted by Arlen Specter or the litany of witness who were positive the kill shot came from the grassy knoll (consistent with the way Kennedy’s head violently snapped, according to the famed Zapruder film, where frames were deliberately flipped to deceive the public).

The Dal-Tex Building, much like the grassy knoll, is the location where nearby witnesses claimed to have heard gunfire. It was actually locked down before the Texas School Book Depository.

A man in a leather jacket and gloves was taken into custody, questioned and released. His name was stricken from officials records. Also in the building at the time of the lockdown was career criminal from California, Eugene Hale Brading (aka James Braden and James Lee), who just happened to be passing through Dallas.

The day before the assassination, he and another man – Morgan Brown – checked into the Cabana Motel. He then visited with oil man Haroldson L. Hunt.

After the shooting, he was questioned for “acting suspiciously” but released after he said he was inside the building – while everyone else was outside to watch the motorcade – to make a phone call.

Ruby, who was believed to have met with Hunt the same time as Brading/Braden/Lee, reportedly visited the Cabana Motel near midnight.

When Tippit was killed by Oswald, instead of the opposite, they had a problem to discuss that night at the motel.

Were all these men, including the dude in the leather jacket on a warm day, were part of the team on the ground that included those taken into custody – and promptly released – from behind the fence beyond the grassy knoll?

We don’t, and won’t, ever know.

We do have the best living example of more than three shots being fired, a man named James Tague. He was struck in the face with a bullet fragment, which is proof that there had to be at least a fourth shot.

Did CNN mention Tague, whose position in Dealey Plaza, would have been directly in the line of fire from the Dal-Tex Building?

Was he interviewed?

No.

There needed to be the conclusion to the two-hour waste of time.

The brilliant deduction was that we, as a culture, don’t embrace the truth about Oswald because we can’t handle the truth.

What we can’t handle is being deceived by lies and half-truths.

If it makes you nostalgic and/or sad, fine.

It makes me angry.

Related articles

Blood Brothers

Leave a reply

Image

“We busted out of class had to get away from those fools
We learned more from a three minute record than we ever learned in school
Tonight I hear the neighborhood drummer sound
I can feel my heart begin to pound
You say you’re tired and you just want to close your eyes and follow your dreams down

We made a promise we swore we’d always remember
No retreat no surrender
Like soldiers in the winter’s night with a vow to defend
No retreat no surrender”

-Bruce Springsteen

No Surrender