My grandfather, Andy Chlebeck, fought for his country as a Marine in the Pacific during World War II.  He passed away in 2003.  Last year, I wrote the blog, Extraordinary Moments Often Include Everyday Men, that describes some of his military experiences, which included the battle on the island of Iwo Jima.

Around Memorial Day in 2001, I wrote the letter below to him.  A year or so later, I sent it to the TImes Reporter, as well as the Louisville Herald, as a Letter to the Editor.  My purpose in doing that was to extend my words of appreciation to all of the men and women that have served in our nation’s military.  I am sure that the feelings that I expressed to grandpa are very similar to what many others would like to expressed to their loved ones.

A decade or so later, I thought now was the right time to share this again:

Dear Grandpa,

As Memorial Day approaches this year, I have felt the need to write you this letter to try to thank you for risking your life to serve your country.  I have been studying  World War II a lot in the last couple of years, and the books I’ve read and the films I’ve watched gave me a much greater awareness of what you and many others had to go through to protect and defend what was right.  I thank God that I have not had to and hopefully never will go through the experiences of war that you courageously volunteered for.  I can’t even imagine how terrifying and difficult those times must have been.  But I do deeply thank you for enduring those times so that I could live in such a great country with such great freedoms.  I am trying to be more appreciative of those  freedoms (that I usually take for granted without thinking about all of the terrible sacrifices  that many have made to provide those freedoms).  I hope that I can do a better job of using the freedoms that I have been blessed with.

Thank you once again.  I truly admire you both for your courageous, selfless efforts of long ago, and for being a great, loving grandfather for these last 30 years.  You have been a great role model for me to watch and I hope that I can be at least half the man you are. I am truly honored to carry you name (though I’ve gotten tagged  with the ‘Mac’ thing somehow!).  I eagerly look forward to introducing my future son, Andrew, to you in the next couple of months, and sharing with him what a “Great” great-grandfather he has.

I love you.

Andrew John ‘Mac’ Aljancic

God bless our servicemen and women on this Memorial Day weekend, and God bless America!

Follow the author on twitter:  @macaljancic

You can also e-mail him:  macaljancic@yahoo.com

To see Part 1 of Happy Mudder’s Day, click here.

In the annals of sports history, a select few epic face offs have stood the test  of time:

Ali vs. Frazier

Lakers vs. Celtics

Borg vs. McEnroe

Ohio State vs. Michigan

THE TOUGH BRUDDERS VS. THE TOUGH MUDDER!!!!

In the challenger’s corner…

Don’t let this smiling young trio of Mac, Mike, and Jon Aljancic fool you.  These guys are finely tuned machines.  Their training regimen is on par with Olympic athletes, spending hours on end each day pushing their bodies to the limits while following a strict dietary program to maximize their peak performance.  And from the looks of the guy’s bicep on the left, allegations of steroid use are sure to arise.

Honesty Disclaimer:  the previous paragraph is not completely 100% true.   Journalistic integrity usually identifies the falsities.  Let me save time and point out the one truth.  I do eat alot of veggies.

In the champion’s corner…

A 10-mile course filled with obstacles that are TOUGH.  And full of MUD.

The youngest Aljancic, Mike (age 35), set the goal for the course.  Go the entire course without any walking between obstacles.  The middle brother, Jon (age 40), seconded that motion.  The eldest brother, Mac (age 44), remained mysteriously silent.

A Mudder event has thousands of participants, so they release groups of 100 or so about every 10 minutes.  The course started out easy enough.  About a mile jog on right on the same concrete Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course of famous drivers like Mario Andretti.  And the brothers were out near the front of the pack!  Then came the first obstacle.  The Birth Canal.  Is this some kind shout out to Mother’s Day?  Bring it on! (note that most pictures  do NOT have us in it).

Crawl under a tarp of water.  Easy Peezy Lemon Squeezy!

Run another mile, then obstacle 2…King of the Swingers.

Grab jump up to grab some handles, swing forward, and flop in water.  Even the old fart brother can do that!  And the water was refreshing!  Some Tough Mudder!  More like one of those mud spa things that I think people get.  I should have some soft, rejuvenated skin after this!

I am feeling so great, I sprint race my lil’ bro Mike the last 50 yards (he smokes me) to the next obstacle…  Skid Marked.  No, this is not in reference to any laundry land mines.  Had to climb an angled wall with tires involved.  I am not a great climber, but no biggie.

Obstacle 4.  Warrior Carry.  I had to carry a brother about 50 yards.  Who should pick?  Mike or Jon?  Look at our picture above and guess who my draft pick was.

That one was a little tough.  And we have over 3 miles of running in, so I am getting a bit worn, but doing alright.  I’ll let the little brothers in front of me to build their confidence.

Cry Baby is the next challenge.  Crawl 10 yards under stuff and through some mild tear gas. Being a Browns’ fan, my tear ducts are in top form.

Next was the Mud Mile.

A little dirty, but a good cool off overall.

Just past the half way mark, we encountered the Funky Monkey…

Now this one was kinda tough.  Well, unless you fall in the water after the bar 2.  I am proud to say that the baby brother carried the family name all the way across!

The course then veered into the woods.  SHADE!!!  This should refresh us!   Maybe.  But the woods have hills.  And the obstacle called ‘Hold Your Wood’…

I don’t have a picture of us doing this obstacle, but I am guessing I pretty much looked like the guy in the front.

Just as we broke out of the woods, we hit a 15-minute traffic jam at the next obstacle, The Berlin Walls…

See that guy in the middle?  That was pretty much me.  As I struggled futily to get myself over the wall, my mind flashed back to my junior high gym class when Mr. Rill would test us on the pull-up bar as well as the peg board…

Let’s just say I didn’t waste much time on those tests.  Thank goodness that a Tough Mudder motto is ‘Leave No Mudder Behind’.  I gave my brothers and a couple other guys a clearer meaning of the phrase, ‘dead weight’.

I had never run more than 5 miles before.   And after get pushed and pulled over two Berlin Walls, I hit my wall.  So for the last few miles, while the little brothers continued their ‘no walking’ pledge, I played my ‘old man’ card and incorporated a strategy of  ‘walk a little, then run and catch up’ to survive to the finish.  In my defense, a large majority of the competitors were walking by this point.

The obstacles continued.

Climb some tire mounds.  Pretty easy.

Crawl through mud under barbed wire.  Not bad.

About this time, our #1 fan, momma Joanie, snapped this pic…

I do have to explain my outfit.  Being the economical shopper that I am, I periodically frequent the store, Gabriel Brothers.  I saw these sweet running shorts for $2.  Couldn’t pass up that deal.  My only regret is not dropping $3 for the matching tank top so that I could enter a high school cross country meet!

We only had a few obstacles left.  Beached Whale and Mount Everest…

Played right into my world-class wall climbing  skills.  Thank goodness Mr. Rill never had us do that rope-climbing test back in gym class.  I might not have ever gotten out of 7th grade!

Artic Enema.  Climb up and down a ladder into an ice pool.  Should be a welcome relief for our tired bodies on a hot day.

NOT!!!

Last one.  Electroshock Therapy.

A few of these wires are hot to give you a little jolt.  Our wives weren’t real keen on us doing this one.  But the finish line was just ahead, so we threw caution to the wind and went for it.

I don’t know if I am thankful, or disappointed, but I didn’t get shocked once.

And finally…………

THE FINISH with our #1 fan!!!

Afterwards, the little brothers talked about getting a large group to do it again next year.

My feelings can be expressed in the words of this legendary fictional boxer…

AIN’T GONNA BE NO REMATCH!

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Follow the author on twitter:  @macaljancic

You can also e-mail him:  macaljancic@yahoo.com

 

Can you think of the sports movie character that this quote comes from?

“Look, mister, there’s… two kinds of dumb, uh… guy that gets naked and runs out in the snow and barks at the moon, and, uh, guy who does the same thing in my living room. First one don’t matter, the second one you’re kinda forced to deal with.”

And the answer is..

.

George, the townie interim coach that Coach Norman Dale (Gene Hackman) comes to replace at the beginning of that all-time classic film, Hoosiers.  George was played by the actor, Chelcie Ross.  Can you name the two other highly popular sports movies (also set in Big Ten country) that Mr. Ross performed in?

 

He played crafty Indians pitcher Eddie Harris in Major League.  He must have went on a strict training regiment to build his body up to pro athlete standards for this  role! He was 46 years old in this photo.  I am 44 and a half.  Do I look this old?  Answer soon to come.

And that other movie role???

I wonder how College Hall of Fame football coach Dan Devine felt about Mr. Ross portraying him in Rudy?  Chelcie’s trifecta of movie roles just might edge out Harrison Ford’s trio of Star Wars/Indiana Jones/The Fugitive.  

Anyhow, that Hoosiers movie quote came to mind Saturday afternoon as I was just past the half way point of a ‘journey’ that I CHOSE to do.  Let me add my own personal spin to that Hoosiers monologue:

“There’s also two more kinds of dumb…A guy that decides to run an obstacle course ten miles long in 90-degree weather.  And a guy that pays 100 dollars to run an obstacle course ten miles long in 90-degree weather.” 

What I am referring to is a recent phenomenon known as The Tough Mudder.  For the past five years, these events have been held across America and the world, with over 1.3 million participants.  It was held this weekend at the MId-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, near Mansfield. According to this Richland Source article, over 6,000 others made the same questionable choice as me to put their bodies to a challenge that most sane individuals would doubt.

Why would a somewhat intelligent, economical (a.k.a tight wad) individual fork over a ‘Benjamin’ (for you non-cool people, Ben Franklin is on the $100 bill) to torture myself?

The first reason is obvious.  On my driver’s license, beside the word ‘SEX’, it has this letter:  ‘M‘.  And all of you nurturers that have an ‘F‘ in that box know that when it comes to self-preservation, us ‘M‘s don’t always think things through.  But when it comes to the Tough Mudder, you ladies don’t quite get a free pass:  30% of the participants are women.

The bigger reason for my choice to partipate is a bit more noble:  brotherhood.  When women want to bond, they get together and do this thing called talking.   For men, it’s not always quite that easy.  Sometimes, we just need to DO.  And other times, we just need to DON’T  (it’s called laying on the couch).  Well, being the oldest of three brothers, I thought the Tough Mudder would be a great bonding opportunity for us involving one of our greatest common passions:  COMPETITION.  We all were multi-sport athletes in high school, and each of us played four years of college football.   I am four years older than Jon, and he is almost 5 years older than Mike.  Due to our age difference, we never really got play any sports together, other than the occasional open gym.

A few years back, Jon, who worked in Chicago at the time,  told me about this obstacle course thing he did in Wisconsin called a Tough Mudder.  In the fall of 2013, I talked the lil’ brothers into signing up for the May 2014 Tough Mudder Ohio.  The old, wise, and thrifty brother knew that signing up early meant a lower fee.  The problem with signing up early, though, is that things can happen.  And, in this case, that ‘thing’ was Jon’s sprained knee prior to the event.  Thankfully, we were able to transfer the tickets to the May 2015 event.

Well, soon enough, the calendar quickly flipped to May of 2015, and our day of reckoning was at hand.  Ready or not, here we come…

Some full disclosures to this photo of me, Mike, and Jon.

1.  My sincere apology to Chelcie Ross.  Man, I look old!  And short!

2.  I do admit guilt to flexing one of my ‘guns’ for this pic.  Unfortunately, I forgot to use my other go-to ‘airbrushing’ techniques:  tippy toes, gut in, and chest out!

3.  Speaking of old, I look like I should be getting the Senior Citizen Early Bird Special meal with my shirt tucked in and my shorts hiked up.  In all honesty, I was caught up in the pre-game hype.  Some people were in wild outfits and costumes, so I decided to show off my sweet new retro-running shorts.  More about those later.

Time to get muddy!!!

To read Part 2 of Happy Mudder’s Day, click here.

Follow the author on twitter:  @macaljancic

You can also e-mail him:  macaljancic@yahoo.com

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This writing marks my first-year anniversary of my blogging career.  I don’t remember the exact date, but I know it has been a year, because my first blog topic was about the drafting of this guy…

Remember the energy that the drafting of ‘Johnny Football’ brought that nigh?  And remember how the football gods quickly brought Browns’ fans back to Earth with the news of Josh Gordon being suspended for a failed drug test the VERY NEXT DAY?

Well in the 12 months since, Johnny sold a ton of jerseys, partied a ton of nights, stood a ton on NFL sidelines, played 7 humiliating quarters of pro football, and then rehabbed for two months in hoping of cleaning up his life and salvaging his once-electric career hopes.

Well this year’s Browns’ draft lacked the thrills of acquiring Manziel or Trent Richardson, as well as the 1st round draft day trades of recent years.  But the Browns earned a pat on the back from their momma for resisting the urge to gorge themselves on the sugary temptations of a Marcus Mariotta QB trade.  Instead they were sure to ‘eat their vegatables’ this draft day and take care of their offensive and defensive lines.  Far from sexy, but sure to solidify the shaky front-line foundation that has haunted this franchise for years.

With their #12 pick, they acquired a much needed run-stuffer in the form of this massive defensive tackle…

Gotta respect a guy that not only dresses to honor his Samoan heritage, but also coordinates his attire with his mom!

I was especially impressed with Danny Shelton in post-draft interviews.   He seems like a classy, hard-working man that can be a great leader.  Kinda reminded me of another Samoan who recently hung up his football spikes…

Mr. Palamalu, the biggest compliment I can give you is that I hated seeing you and flowing hair on the opposite side of the field.  You owned the Browns.  But you are truly a Hall of Famer on and off the field.  Glad to see you go!

The Browns then spent their #19 pick on offensive lineman Cameron Erving.   With center Alex Mack and tackle Mitchell Schwartz possibly leaving after this year, this was a boring, but smart decision.  For their 2nd round pick, they chose a pass-rushing defensive end.  Smart moves by the Browns’s brain trust to bring more muscle to the ever-physical AFC North.

Now about that quarterback position.  Like  it or not, Brian Hoyer and his 10-6 record as a Browns’ starting QB are off to Houston.  No use looking in the rear-view mirror over that.  But the main dish set before us now is soon-to-be 36-year-old Josh McCown and his underwhelming 1-10 record from last year.  That sparkling resume got him $6.25 million in guaranteed money from Cleveland.  WOW.  He must have wrote an amazing cover letter or scented his resume paper for the Browns to employ him at that cost

So I would understand the Browns’ decision to go with this new version of an old Jake Delhomme if they felt he was keeping the QB seat warm as their quarterback of the future was getting broken in.   But surely the Browns’ decision makers are not counting on Manziel to take over the reins.   I say this not because of his partying  and subsequent stint in rehab.  That’s about 10% of  my doubt.  90% of it is Johnny’s physical tools (very small frame, average arm) and his playing mind set.  I believe he is simply wired to run around the pocket ad-libbing plays while  waiting for a receiver to break open down field.  That works in college football, and it worked in the NFL days of Fran Tarkenton, Roger Staubach, and even Doug Flutie to an extent.  But in today’s super fast NFL,  defensive linemen are much tougher to outrun, and defensive backs leave little room for floating footballs to find their destination.  I think Johnny will have a hard time changing his playing instincts, and his lack of size makes it even harder to transition from a scrambling ad-lib play-maker to a pocket passer who extends plays with his feet as needed.  I give him maybe a 10% chance of becoming a solid NFL QB.

That being said, I think they are wasting this seaon with McCown.  He obviously has no future, and Manziel is likely not being counted on to be the future.  I would love to see them pick up a middle of the road NFL QB with 2-5 years under his belt and some good physical tools to take a chance on.  The one that is on the top of my wish list was McCown’s Tampa teammate last year…

Mike Glennon is not gonna bump Tom  Brady off the cover of Sport Illustrated, or GQ magazine for that matter.  Actually, he kinda looks like this former Browns’ heart throb signal caller…

Ooops, wrong guy (Brady  Quinn is on the top of my wife’s ‘hottie athlete’ list).  Maybe more like this striking figure…

Captain America!!!

Unlike Brandon Weeden, Glennon is young (he is only 25).  Unlike Manziel, he is big (6’6″, 232 pounds).  And in two years with the lowly Buccaneers, he has thrown for 4,025 yards, 29 TDs, and 15 interceptions.  With Tampa drafting Jamais Winston #1, Glennon is now an after-thought, why get him for a 4th or 5th round draft pick?  Instead of wasting a year on Old Man McCown, let he and Manziel battle it out.  Best case, you come away with a young QB to build around for the future.  Worst case, you waste a year, just like you would have with McCown, and hopefully stink just enough to win the ‘Fail for Cardale’ 2016 NFL draft sweepstakes.

Brownies, you did a good job of eating your Draft day veggies.  Now how about tossing that month old left over McCown turkey casserole and try a bite of some Glennon meatloaf.  You just might like it!

And don’t forget our biggest off-season acquisition…

 

NEW UNIFORMS!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Follow the author on twitter:  @macaljancic

You can also e-mail him:  macaljancic@yahoo.com