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Ask the Coach

4 min read

War in Iraq Hey, Coach! I think we’ve had our troops in Iraq long enough, and I think it’s time to bring everyone home. There were no weapons of mass destruction, and we continue to spend billions upon billions of dollars that could help take care of our own right here in good old USA. What’s the Coach’s opinion?

Signed…Uncle Sam

Dear Uncle Sam: You certainly make some valid points. In a perfect world, there would be no war. But as we all know, there always has been, and probably always will be, war going on somewhere in the world. When a war involves us, many “are up in arms,” and this is understood. Many extremely difficult decisions have to be made when going to war, and in this case, it appears we went to war under somewhat false pretenses, because we have not found any WMD. It has recently been suggested that when the decision was made to go to war, we should have done so with more troops and with a much more aggressive plan of attack. Perhaps that also could have been said more than four decades ago when we went to Vietnam in the early 1960s and stayed there about 13 years. The Coach believes it correct to say that most Americans understand that it is sometimes necessary to be involved in a war, but the Coach also believes that most Americans would opt for trying to “win” any war with as few casualties as possible, and in the shortest amount of time possible. Of course, it’s easy for us to sit here and offer different thoughts and criticisms, but we’re not in a position to fully understand what goes into these types of decisions and how they are made. If it is accurate that we have approximately 45 million Americans without health insurance, of which 8 million are said to be children, those billions and billions of dollars to which you refer could definitely address helping the less fortunate, to include some type of medical assistance, plus making food and shelter more available to those in need right here at home. This war is a sensitive issue, and we hope our “mission” is completed very soon. This is probably an appropriate time to thank all of our troops and support staff that have, and continue to, put their lives on the line everyday. To the families and friends that have lost loved ones in any war, our hearts go out to you.

Duke scandal

Hey, Coach! The lacrosse team at Duke University has been under a microscope for their alleged party gone bad, and certain names have been in the news on a nightly basis for several weeks. Both sides are trying their cases in the media. As a retired attorney, I believe this is improper. We are being fed story after story that may or may not be accurate, while many good, potential jurors are being poisoned. If by chance the accused turn out to be innocent, their lives will probably never be the same. I really don’t have any questions to ask, but rather I just wanted to express my opinion. Thank you. You do a fine job, sir.

Signed….Perry Mason

Dear Perry Mason: You also make some very valid points. This case is out of control, with both sides continuing to inundate the media with propaganda, and this will probably continue until a “gag order” is issued. The Coach will ask our readers to think back 10 years ago to the Richard Jewell case. Mr. Jewell was accused over and over by national media outlets of being the one that planted the bomb at the Atlanta Summer Olympics. We found out later that he had absolutely nothing to do with the bombing. While the Duke case is very sad, if by chance these young men are innocent, extreme damage has already been done. Thanks for writing and for your kind compliment.

Coach’s Comment: It is the nature of most of us to rise to greatness if greatness is expected of us. Let’s all rise up and be great today.

You can contact the Coach via email at askthecoach2003@yahoo.com.

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