War is serious, sports are just games

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By Craig DeVrieze | Saturday, May 10, 2008 6:17 PM CDT | () comments

Life is serious business.

Sports is not.

We shouldn’t need to be reminded of this, but, often, it seems we must.

We tend to forget that whatever ills or heroics grace our fields of play, these matters unfailingly pale in importance next to real life events.

The sins of Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and their ilk may indeed defile a time-honored game, if not defy the law. But they don’t constitute real evil.

And, given his uncertain health, Brian Urlacher’s petulant pitch for extended contract may seem like ungrateful and unmitigated greed. But it’s not greed of the seven-deadly-sins variety.

Cubs win? Cubs lose? These outcomes shouldn’t change our day, our week, our year. Heck, our century.

It is a serious world out there, and sports are nothing more than high profile distractions, meant to be enjoyed not endured.

Sports occasionally can be magic. Very, very rarely — see Dale Earnhardt, see Eight Belles — can sports be tragic.

Real life can be either. It can be heartbreaking, frightening, moving and inspirational. And all of these things at the same time.

Trust me on this. A weekend at Walter Reed Army Medical Center can put the sports headlines in true perspective quicker than a fastball can find home plate.

There, on a quiet, sprawling campus secreted away in the middle of an urban neighborhood, far too many strapping, athletic young men in the prime of their youth lie bed-ridden from wounds of war. Others sit wheel-chair-bound, missing one or, more often, more limbs. Some walk around on prosthetics. All are adjusting to lives that never quite will be fully normal again.

Thanking them for their sacrifice hardly seems sufficient, yet they are grateful for the words and they clearly appreciate the appreciation willingly shown by those of us who never really will understand where they have been, what they have seen or the depth of their sacrifice.

As the husband of a mother whose son recently was injured in Afghanistan, it is heartening to see how the outside world responds and applauds these sacrifices made in wars so few of us understand.

Whatever the politics, the troops must be supported, and, by all appearances, the injured among them very much are — even, impressively, by citizens of a sporting world who seem to understand more readily than some the difference between the battlefield and the field of play.

My wife’s son — who is recovering nicely — has been visited by members of the New York Giants, including Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning, who stopped by after a trip to the White House.

He also received a generous package of gifts from his favorite team, the — uh, Bears fan/stepdad swallows hard here — Green Bay Packers, while soldiers who fought beside him, also injured, have been eagerly given gifts by the University of Texas, Moline-based PGA Tour caddie Tony Navarro, the John Deere Classic, and by Q-C MMA legend Pat Miletich.

Other visitors, also bearing gifts, have included musicians, actors and politicians. As welcome have been visits by school kids and by any number of current and former soldiers, all who consider the vow they took to leave no man behind a lifetime commitment.

This is gratifying, as is the incredible support provided to families of the injured by the military and by wonderful charitable organizations like the Fisher House Foundation.

These aren’t easy times for any of us as the business of life seems to get more and more serious, but it is never so serious for most of us as it is for sons who put themselves in harm’s way for our country.

They don’t need to be reminded that we appreciate what they do.

But — I have seen this — it means the world to them when they are.

Craig DeVrieze can be contacted at (563) 333-2610 or cdevrieze@qctimes.com.

Miles to give

The Fisher House Foundation provides family members of the injured free lodging at military medical centers across the country, as well as free transportation to family and soldiers through a program called Hero Miles.

Readers with more frequent flyer miles than they think they might use or miles that are about to expire can donate some of those by following instructions at www.fisherhouse.org.

(If you do donate, please e-mail Sherri DeVrieze at sjboffice@aol.com and let her know how many miles you have contributed. She is launching a program in support of fisherhouse.org as a means of saying thanks for the support that group has lent her.)