Who's Blue?

The greatest rivalry in college basketball history met in a game for the ages the other night. While I am usually agnostic when it comes to sports – or at least rooting for a particular team – this time our home was a House Divided as Duke and UNC faced off in the NCAA Final Four. 

This game was epic for so many reasons. The two schools are less than 15 miles apart and have been rivals for decades. The each had the same number of tournament wins heading into the game. Each had served the other a humiliating loss on the other’s home court during the regular season. The teams had never met in Tournament play before. One coach was in his first year as the Head Coach. The other coach, the winningest coach in men’s college basketball, was in his last year. The winner would go on to the Final Game and the loser would go back to North Carolina. 

Lisa is a Duke fan. She was even more of Duke fan this year because Coach Krzyzewski was retiring. She even had the audacity to say that UNC should have let Duke win in Coach K’s last home game in Cameron Stadium just because it would make everyone feel good.  I am a UNC fan if only because Samantha went there and it gives Lisa a rival in the household.  By the way, the boys are also UNC fans (for now).  While I do not advocate nor support the “I Hate” crowd, I do appreciate the true essence of the rivalry.  One is a private school while the other is a large public school. They are located literally one town over from each other. Incredible games have been played between them over the past decades. As rivalries go, this is one of the biggest, ranking up there with the New York Yankees versus the Boston Red Sox, or Dallas Cowboys versus Washington. And as a side note, Lisa and I have been fortunate enough to attend games at both the Smith Center and Cameron Stadium.     

All day on Saturday, I tried to get Lisa to go out during the game and watch the game somewhere. She made it clear that the only way she was watching the game was at home, on the couch, with no distractions.  And that’s how we did it. 

While it might not have been the greatest game ever played it certainly was a great game.  Eighteen lead changes, zero foul outs, exceptional play by both teams.  The outcome was never certain until about the last minute of play when UNC hit a three pointer that nothing short of a miracle was required for Duke to come back.  I think one of the commentators summed it up best that neither team lost that game, they just ran out of time. No one persons action or inaction contributed to a loss and each team could say that they left it all on the court.

Sometime, eleven months from now, March Madness will hit our house again. However, nothing will compare to that game the other night. 

We woke up on Sunday and took Lucie for a walk.  The sky was a beautiful shade of Carolina Blue. I didn't mention it to Lisa.  

Lucie

Best dog ever – no, wait – Best. Dog. Ever.

Lucie has been with us for almost seven years now. I can’t recall exactly when we brought her home but the first picture we have of her was around November 2015.  She was so skinny and skittish at first.  She cowered and did not like men, or men with hats.  Whoever had her before us clearly did not treat her well. It took a long time for her to come out of her shell but once she warmed up to us she turned around.

Lucie is intensely loyal. She will hang out on the back patio and ignore squirrels and the ducks in the pond.  If she is out front, she will lay down in the driveway and wait for Lisa to come home.  When we play fight in the house, Lucie always comes to the defense of the little guy(s).  She will walk with us, off leash, as long as she does not spot a deer. 

She rarely barks and is never a nuisance.  At dinner she will lay under the table because she knows that a scrap or two will eventually fall to the floor.  Despite our vet scolding us otherwise, she gets to lick the plates clean.  Lucie is always happy to greet us at the door and gets super excited when it is me or Lisa. Sometimes I need to only go out for a few minutes but she is excited when I return.

When she was younger she would run up to three miles with me. After a few years she gently let me know that she was only up for a mile.  These days she just likes a good walk. 

She has been to the beach and Camp, and has had play dates with other dogs. Everyone in the neighborhood knows Lucie. If they are lucky, she will let them pet her.  She is always a friend to (most) other dogs. 

On the days when you are not getting along with the humans in your life there is Lucie, always glad to have her ears scratched and belly rubbed.  

And that makes the whole day better..  

The War Toscin Sounds

It is March 2022. As you read this I can honestly put down in this journal that future of world affairs is cloudy. We seem to be on the brink of war. Not a war like we fought in Iraq and Afghanistan; a war against insurgents; tanks versus IEDs. This war could enflame the whole world. It is happening in real time. Our history teaches us the quick decline into previous wars because incidents occur in the narrative on one page. This descent into war seems slow and spiraling simply because we go on with our day to day lives in the forefront. 

In reality, they are the same. We are ramping up to something that many people still cannot fathom just as they couldn’t imagine it 83 and 108 years ago. 

It has been eight decades years since there has been a major land war in the world. Korea does not count, nor does Vietnam.  The first Gulf War and the two that followed following 9/11 do not count either. The reason is that those conflicts never really had a chance to grow outside of their borders and the enemy did not have the means to escalate to significant battles. Yes, those wars drained us of blood, treasure, and even resolve, but a global conflict was never a possibility.  No other country engaged in a conflict that could have resulted in superpowers getting directly involved against one another. 

And here we are. Russia continues to strangle Ukraine. China currently sides with Russia as they clearly look for a roadmap out of all of this to pull Taiwan into their fold once and for all. NATO still hems and haws about their involvement but clearly showing no desire for direct or indirect involvement for now. The current unpopular president of the U.S. is dealing with all of this as well as the second and third order effects of war in Europe; inflation, skyrocketing gas prices, and calls for No Fly Zones and more military support to Ukraine. Whether we know it or not, World War III has started. We just don’t recognize what war in the 21^st century looks like. 

In the 21^st century war involves weaponized social media, cyber-attacks, remote controlled vehicles, lawfare, and hurting private citizens by holding onto their billion dollar bank accounts and yachts.  The news still provides the visceral images of war; shelling of innocent civilians, refugees fleeing with whatever they can carry, burning tanks and buildings, not to mention the dead on both sides. With no end in sight and no clear off ramp for Putin, we should expect a long and protracted conflict.

I have been to Ukraine. I visited a joint training center there. At the time, Russia had already annexed Crimea and there was an active conflict to the far east of the country. I loved Lviv. You could not tell there was a war from where we were staying. On a warm fall evening the streets were alive with music and people enjoying their lives.  I admire the Ukrainian people for their resiliency. The will make the Russians pay for every inch of ground and that will further exacerbate the conflict.

At some point this will directly involve U.S. troops and NATO.  There will be an incident, with denied responsibility, on one side or the other. It will demand a response beyond diplomacy or sanctions and just like that we will be in a real shooting war.  It will make the casualties from Iraq and Afghanistan pale in comparison because this enemy has artillery and ICBMs. Russia’s allies are few. Those allies willing to get directly involved are even fewer. Backed into a corner, with his strategy failing, Putin could leave his legacy as a scorched earth policy, leaving Ukraine and parts of Eastern Europe glowing. 

The next few months will be bloody and show the very worst of humanity and very best of people. It will show the hypocrisy and lack of will in some political leaders and the blood thirsty resolve in others. It may unite some and divide others where those relationships never existed before.  Whatever happens, the long term outcome is uncertain.

I believe that if we ignore this conflict and allow Russia to occupy and annex Ukraine that it will only be a matter of time before Russia sets it eyes on another Eastern European nation. Swift decisive action is called for now because it will be much harder to remove them later.  I have a child in the service of the country.  I know the danger and do not wish it upon her. I worry about my oldest son who is only three years away from draft age. I know what I am writing might directly involve them and I worry. 

And yet I hear the drumbeats for war and I find myself called to them.