Cowboys Off To A Bad Start

I had high hopes as the Cowboys opened their training camp this week, but I'm starting to wonder if those hopes were misplaced. Last year the Cowboys were plagued by injuries, and I had hoped that was now behind them. But with the team only a couple of days into training camp, it seems like the injuries are already starting to pile up.

The offensive line was one of the areas that need to improve this year, but the camp opened with both starting guards (Nate Livings and Mackenzy Bernadeau) sitting out due to minor injuries -- and they were joined by guard Ronald Leary (who was expected to compete for a starting position). While the Cowboys say all three just have minor problems and will soon be back, it certainly doesn't inspire confidence that our offensive line will be improved when the top three guards aren't ready to go on opening day of training camp.

Then, on the first day of camp two other Cowboys who are expected to contribute heavily this year (defensive lineman Jay Ratliff and tight end James Hanna) injured their hamstrings and are now sitting out practices. Both are supposed to just be "sprained" hamstrings, and word is they will be back soon -- but once again, it doesn't inspire confidence to have them injured on the first day of camp.

Then we have two more players with much more serious injuries -- defensive ends Anthony Spencer and Tyrone Crawford. Both were expected to be an integral part of the new and improved defense this year. Spencer injured his knee and will need minor surgery -- surgery that will keep him out from 2 to 4 weeks. Crawford's injury is much more serious -- having torn his Achilles tendon. He will be out for the entire season.

And all of this happened before the pads were put on and any real hitting started. I must admit, I'm getting a little worried. What's going to happen once the hitting starts? Is this just some bad luck? Or is it the result of a poor training program? If it's bad luck, it could change. But if it's the result of a poor training program, then we're in for another long injury-plagued season (and that's a depressing thought to be having this early).

Maybe I'm wrong, and there's nothing to worry about. I certainly hope so. But I'm going to be crossing my fingers and holding my breath for the next few days. It's just too much, too soon.

The Human Costs Of Unnecessary Wars

Tomorrow will mark the 11th anniversary of the start of the United States invasion of Afghanistan -- one of two unnecessary wars started by the Bush administration (the other being the ridiculous invasion of Iraq, which posed no danger to this country). Supposedly, the reason for invading Afghanistan was to get Osama bin Laden, but it quickly devolved into a nation-building effort (showing we had learned nothing from our ill-fated incursion into Vietnam). Osama is now dead (and could have been brought to justice without any war), but we are still spinning our wheels in our effort to build a "democracy" there through military power.

The invasion of Iraq resulted in the deaths of 4,486 American soldiers, and the invasion of Afghanistan has cost the lives of 2,132 American soldiers (and that death toll is still growing). And that is just the beginning of the suffering these unnecessary wars have inflicted on our soldiers and their families. Hundreds of thousands of American soldiers have been injured -- either physically or psychologically, or both. Here is how the Associated Press puts it:

A staggering 45 percent of the 1.6 million veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are now seeking compensation for injuries they say are service-related. That is more than double the estimate of 21 percent who filed such claims after the Gulf War in the early 1990s, top government officials told The Associated Press. . .

Of those who have sought VA care:

_More than 1,600 of them lost a limb; many others lost fingers or toes.

_At least 156 are blind, and thousands of others have impaired vision.

_More than 177,000 have hearing loss, and more than 350,000 report tinnitus – noise or ringing in the ears.

_Thousands are disfigured, as many as 200 of them so badly that they may need face transplants. One-quarter of battlefield injuries requiring evacuation included wounds to the face or jaw, one study found.

"The numbers are pretty staggering," said Dr. Bohdan Pomahac, a surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston who has done four face transplants on non-military patients and expects to start doing them soon on veterans.

Others have invisible wounds. More than 400,000 of these new veterans have been treated by the VA for a mental health problem, most commonly, PTSD.

Tens of thousands of veterans suffered traumatic brain injury, or TBI – mostly mild concussions from bomb blasts – and doctors don't know what's in store for them long-term. Cifu, of the VA, said that roughly 20 percent of active duty troops suffered concussions, but only one-third of them have symptoms lasting beyond a few months.

That's still a big number, and "it's very rare that someone has just a single concussion," said David Hovda, director of the UCLA Brain Injury Research Center. Suffering multiple concussions, or one soon after another, raises the risk of long-term problems. A brain injury also makes the brain more susceptible to PTSD, he said.

On a more mundane level, many new veterans have back, shoulder and knee problems, aggravated by carrying heavy packs and wearing the body armor that helped keep them alive. One recent study found that 19 percent required orthopedic surgery consultations and 4 percent needed surgery after returning from combat.

When he was campaigning for office in 2008, Barack Obama promised to end both of these wars -- and yet the war in Afghanistan drags on. As was the case in Vietnam, it has become readily apparent that our mission in Afghanistan is a failure -- and yet we continue it because our national pride (or at least the pride of our national politicians) won't let us admit it was a mistake and withdraw. A tentative date for withdrawal has been set at the end of 2014 (another two years), but no one will guarantee that date won't be set back again and the war extended.

Haven't our soldiers and their families suffered enough? How many more deaths and physical & psychological injuries must occur before we say enough and end this madness? Are we going to make this a truly endless war?

NFL Players Paid To Injure Opponents

I am a big fan of American football -- at all levels. The epitome of football in this country is the National Football League. It has millions of fans, and it's championship (the Super Bowl) is virtually an unofficial holiday. True fans live for the day that their favorite team wins the Super Bowl (and I'll admit there are few things that can make me as happy as a Super Bowl win by my beloved Cowboys).

But like most people, I understand that football is just a sport. And for any sport to have value, there must be rules that are followed by all players and coaches. Breaking those rules, commonly called cheating, devalues the game and disgraces those who engage in it. I am not talking about minor infractions (like being "offsides" or "holding"), but an intentional cheating to give one team an unfair advantage over another. I believe most players and coaches do their best to follow the rules, but there are a few for whom winning is the only important thing -- even if it must be done by cheating.

And that cheating becomes even more vile and distasteful when it involves the intentional hurting or maiming of a player on an opposing team. Unfortunately, it has recently come to light that this is exactly what has been going on with one or more NFL teams. An NFL coach, Gregg Williams, has admitted that while he coached for the New Orleans Saints he offered his defensive players a "bounty" for intentionally injuring a player on another team. He said the team kept a fund of $50,000 to pay the bounties -- which were $1000 for "cart-offs" and $1500 for "knock-outs".

Williams has also coached for NFL teams in Tennessee, Washington, Jacksonville, and Buffalo (and was recently hired by St. Louis). At least one Washington player has said Williams did the same thing when he coached for the Redskins. One would have to believe it is likely he also did that at his other coaching stops. And some NFL players are now saying the same thing was done by other coaches and at other teams.

This is a shocking revelation, and it could turn out to be a black mark against the entire league. Football is a violent sport, and even when the game is played by the rules there are going to be some players hurt -- some of them seriously. But to pay players a bonus for intentionally hurting an opposing player is way beyond the pale. It is a sick and perverted practice (and if done off the field would be a felony criminal offense).

The NFL has launched an investigation into this. I hope it is a thorough investigation involving all NFL teams. This kind of thing must be stopped -- for the health of the players and the good of the league. Any team found to have engaged in this practice should be very heavily fined and probably even lose some draft choices. The penalties should be severe enough to discourage anyone from ever doing this again.

Williams said offering the bounties was a "terrible mistake" and "we knew it was wrong while we were doing it." Of course they did, and so did anyone else doing it. I'm glad Williams has finally seen the light, but I think he should be banned from ever coaching in the NFL again -- and so should any other coach found guilty of the same thing. This kind of intentional brutality must be stopped.

Let me add one final thought. There is no honor in winning if it was done by cheating. That is true of sports, politics, or any other endeavor.

Green Plastic Soldiers - But Not Toys

These little pieces of art are powerful. They may look like the little green plastic soldiers that many of us played with as children, but they're not. These are not for sale, but are meant to remind us that the horrors of war don't necessarily stop when soldiers are brought back home. Far too often that just marks the beginning of new problems -- problems that are a result of their wartime experiences. These pictures are from the website wearedorothy.com.

Here's what the website has to say:

The hell of war comes home. In July 2009 Colorado Springs Gazettea published a two-part series entitled “Casualties of War”. The articles focused on a single battalion based at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, who since returning from duty in Iraq had been involved in brawls, beatings, rapes, drunk driving, drug deals, domestic violence, shootings, stabbings, kidnapping and suicides. Returning soldiers were committing murder at a rate 20 times greater than other young American males. A seperate investiagtion into the high suicide rate among veterans published in the New York Times in October 2010 revealed that three times as many California veterans and active service members were dying soon after returning home than those being killed in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. We hear little about the personal hell soldiers live through after returning home.

Cowboys Have Problems

They say when it rains, it pours. That seems to be true for the Dallas Cowboys this season. It was bad enough that after entering the season with Super Bowl hopes, they lose two of the first six games. But now they've been hit with the injury bug, or rather a whole swarm of injury bugs.

We find out yesterday that on the first play of the overtime period on Sunday, quarterback Tony Romo broke the pinkie finger of his throwing hand. That means the team will be without their starting quarterback for at least the next four weeks (maybe longer, if it doesn't heal quickly).

That would have been bad enough by itself, but that was just one of several injuries the Cowboys suffered last Sunday. Cowboys punter Mat McBriar broke his foot in the overtime period. He will be out for 6 to 8 weeks. And there's more.

Wide receiver Sam Hurd re-injured his left ankle and will need to have surgery. He will probably be put on injured reserve.

Then we have rookie running back Felix Jones. Jones strained his left hamstring in the second half of the game. Hopefully, he will only miss a couple of weeks.

Linebacker Anthony Spencer also strained his hamstring. Coach Phillips says he will be out on a week-to-week basis.

I don't know what to say. For a season that started with so much hope, it seems to be going downhill in a hurry.