Saturday, March 13, 2010

Cpl. Blake Miller, Sgt. Mike McGuire & a very Happy Birthday to Chuck Norris




A friend of mine, knowing my affinity of New York Post headlines, pointed out a good one from last week to me.  I think it was about Tiger.  Shocker.  It got me thinking: Whatever became of my favorite NY Post cover person?  Cpl. Blake Miller.  You know the photo.  It was taken by L.A. Times reporter Luis Sinco.  It appeared on the cover of the NY Post in Nov. 2004 with the headline: "SMOKIN'  Marlboro Men kick butt in Fallujah".  Things have not been good for Cpl. Miller over the last six years.
But that picture of him just stays with me.  The same way Eddie Adams' picture in Saigon 1968 does.  Same with Joe Rosenthal's picture at Iwo Jima in 1945.  A slight segue here, I love the NFL and read Peter King's Monday Morning QB every week.  About five years ago he came across Sgt. Mike McGuire in his hometown of St. Louis, he's a IED hunter, real life "The Hurt Locker" guys.  In a strange way I feel like I know him a little bit.  He's served something like four tours in Iraq and this fall he's leading his platoon to Afghanistan.  He's the first thing I look for in Peter's column every week, and judging by the reader response I know I'm not alone (Just this week alone MMQB readers raised almost $200K to the USO for Sgt. McGuire's platoon and six others.  Peter King wants to raise enough money to outfit the other 194 platoons in Afghanistan & Iraq.  Check out USO.org or SI.com- Peter King's column for the link)  As for some lighter fare, it was Chuck Norris' birthday this week- March 10th.
I sent this sketch to Google hoping they'd use it for their logo on Mr. Norris' day.  They didn't.  So I'm sharing it with you.  What do you think?  Should I draw more Chuck Norris?  Let me know.