Almost Famous

When Bob was flying back to Afghanistan after R&R in February, he met a group of NFL people on their way to do a morale tour in Iraq. The coordinator of this group was a man named Ron Barr, who is the voice of Sports Byline, just one of his many accomplishments. Bob and Ron stayed in touch and in June, Ron brought Coach Mike Nolan from the 49ers and Eric Davis, a former superbowl defensive back to Afghanistan on a morale tour.

While there, they visited our troops in a variety of locations and broadcast live from Kabul and Kandahar. Their trip was long, dirty, and dangerous, and they were successful at lifting morale and making memories. They departed Afghanistan with full hearts, having received as much as they gave.

Ron and I started corresponding and I gave him my blog link. He asked me to write some sports related blogs for the Sports Byline website. I told him that I’m not a brilliant sports mind, just a spectator. He said he wanted something different, observations from a spectator’s perspective. So, lo and behold, I have a blog set up there. It’s called “View from the Cheap Seats.”

The link is http://sportsbyline.com/CheapSeats/blog.html

My sister Kim seems a bit jealous over all this and she tried to get this note to Ron:

Forget Jill, you need a real athlete for the column. I once rode an electric skateboard to deliver newspapers on my paper route – now that is a true sport. I was on pom-pom’s for one year, but quit because the only saddle shoes on sale were a size 11, whitest white I ever saw. I might be attempting to ride a cow with a crocked neck, if New Glarus doesn’t sign him on first. I also once ran a 5k in under 45 minutes!

Now that I’m practically famous, mom says I should get my brother Tommy and his girlfriend Sally involved as well. Mom reminds me they met at a “Try-A-Thon.” Tommy and Sally met at a triathlon.

This will be a Try-A-Thon, all right.