This is one of the two days each year we honor the men and women who provide services in the military, but if you’re not yet in your 40s, you probably don’t know that so many vets also happened to be sportsmen.
Your grandparents could tell you the service records of some by rote. Perhaps the earliest was Christy Mathewson, who served in World War 1, and ultimately died of the poison gas he accidentally inhaled during a training. Hank Gowdy, another star of the deadball era, was one of the first to enlist in WWI, then enlisted again for WWII at age 53. Bob Feller, the first major-leaguer to enlist after Pearl Harbor, was a gun captain on the USS Alabama. Gino Marchetti was in the Battle of the Bulge. Warren Spahn won the Bronze Star, as did Gil Hodges.
Ted Williams, who may have the greatest combat pilot in history, fight in two wars. Hank Greenberg served throughout Asia for his 45 months in the Air Force. Ralph Houk, whose nickname was “Major,” won every conceivable medal.
Night Train Lane, Ollie Matson, Roger Staubach, Rocky Bleier, Pat Tillman — the list goes on and on, a veritable parade of venerable patriots.
Maybe you noted that we write about the military a lot around here, even if this is the place where you usually come to read about sports.
We do it because some sportsmen are soldiers, and we remain in bewildered awe of anyone who makes this kind of commitment — particularly those Lincoln sanctified for their last true measure of devotion. Some of us could do what they select to do. Most of them are kids.
We do not bring them to your attention because there’s a correlation between athletes and soldiers, even if the leagues (notably the NFL) and their networks and sponsorship partners want to convince us otherwise.
We do not bring them to your attention because some chirpy guy on TV made us pound our chests with pride by calling Ray Lewis “a gladiator,” or Kevin Garnett “a warrior,” or Bob Knight “the general.”
We do not bring them to your attention because we approve of the ongoing militarization of sports — the depiction of athletes as soldiers, the nicknames they carry, the jargon they share, the wildly misplaced analogies that equate a game of skill with something as profound and life-altering as war itself.
A Jersey guy we know, Aaron Raymar — he’s an army lieutenant from Watchung, stationed in Basrah — generously observes that “the quotes are similar, speeches are similar, technique and leadership can be considered similar,” before result, with some amusement, “but what is at stake is dramatically different.”
Geoff Millard, who is with Iraq Vets Against the War, put it this way: “We love sports,” he said, “but hate the way it’s used and hate the way the soldiers are used to sell war.”
Especially they’re exploited at football games, he meant — even though the NFL lends legitimately strong support of vets.
Actually, we surprised why we got offended when force-fed these images, even if those F-18s look swell flying over the Papajohns.com Bowl.
So we rang up an old friend, Steve Goldman, a psychiatrist, writer and military historian from Morris Plains who has take a good part of his career treating and studying combat veterans, including for the VA.
He’s also a huge sports fan, but that’s not pertinent to the present discussion.
After a half-hour, it occurred to us that much of the problem is the ease with which TV types juxtapose the images and compare the personalities.
“Think about men who have truly been to war — have you found any of them to be braggarts?” Doc suggested. “Or having machismo oozing out of their pores? Never — not with veterans. They’ve been under fire. They’ve answered the age-old question that all men ask themselves: ‘How will I stand up under fire?’
“I’ve rarely heard veterans use the word ‘hero,’ and never in relation to themselves. Veterans don’t really talk about their combat experiences much — they talk about it with each other, or perhaps during therapy, but it’s not something they often speak of. And in a way I wish they would.”
Athletes, meanwhile, are portrayed as heroes almost daily. Sometimes they even cross-market themselves without thinking about it: You remember that foot-in-mouth moment from Antrel Rolle last December, when he responded to some fan disapproval with the observation that “When soldiers come back from Iraq, you don’t boo them — I look at it the same way.”
He apologized for that, and while his analogy was inane, it wasn’t surprising. It was the result of years of conditioning that made him deduce that he has something in common with guys who live with risk and fear and death every day.
It’s hard to blame him. Nowadays we all have that sports-military connection pounded into our skulls by the likes of Nike, which has a “combat line” of apparel.
(Actually, if you hate marketing as much as we do, it makes you scream at your TV, Can your camouflage boxers stop a discharge from an AK-47? No? Then shut up.)
Anyway, it’s Veterans Day. A day when we honor the real warriors, whether they’re sportsman or not. Maybe we can’t take the salute off the playing field entirely, but it would be nice if we could see to it that the 100,000 kids on their way home are given more than bread and circuses.
“Frankly, most of the veterans I know are not only uncomfortable with militaristic celebrations, they hate the sound of cannons going off,” Goldman said.
“But the veterans with whom I’ve had the privilege to work aren’t asking that we salute them at every football game. That’s not what they’re about. They did a work they signed up for, and did it well. Soon they would be coming home from Iraq. How should we honor them? If you’re in the role of hiring, look carefully at what vets can offer. If you’re in education, respect them to return to our universities and listen to what they have to say.
“They appreciate those two days a year we mention their service. But to me, it’s more value-able what we do in the other 363.”
