FAO Quotables

"But being right, even morally right, isn't everything. It is also important to be competent, to be consistent, and to be knowledgeable. It's important for your soldiers and diplomats to speak the language of the people you want to influence. It's important to understand the ethnic and tribal divisions of the place you hope to assist."
-Anne Applebaum

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

OBL killed and the Academy goes soft--Richie Meade "resigns"--Gladchuk is an *******

DISCLAIMER:  This has nothing to do with Africa or the Pentagon, but if there's one thing I will deviate for in this blog, it's Navy Lacrosse.  While I only played (and pretty poorly at that) on the Pub Club Lacrosse Team while at USNA, I have a great appreciation for the sport.  I don't think there's any sport I enjoy watching more than lacrosse.












Head Navy Lacrosse Coach Richie Meade "resigned" yesterday, but all middle fingers point to AD Gladchuk as the one who actually fired the Naval Academy fixture of the last 17 years.  It's been commonly said that the only thing wider than Meade's ox-like noulder (neck-shoulders) was his dedication and love for the Naval Academy and the midshipmen who passed through under him.  I won't pretend to have the insider knowledge to delve into the "lacrolitics" behind his firing, but some have said the Academy is going soft now that Osama Bin Laden has been eliminated.  Those people are wrong of course: the Academy has been going soft since the fall of 1997, after the last real plebe summer.  All jokes aside (but seriously, the class of 2001 did have the last Plebe Summer) Coach Meade (and his "unique" voice) will be missed.  The only upside is that his influence will continue as he remains on the USNA faculty as a tenured professor for the Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership and as a martial arts and boxing teacher (until he gets hired as a head coach elsewhere). 

I think the remarks from an exclusive FUUO interview with a former Navy Lacrosse standout (who spoke with me only on the condition of ambiguity, but then realized he meant anonymity) best sums up widespread sentiment regarding Meade's firing: "It's bullshit man.  Gladchuk is an asshole."

No comments:

Post a Comment