What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?  Friday, the WSJ carried an essay/book promo by Randy Roberts proclaiming the great social significance of yet another near-forgotten sporting event. This time the event is the Army-Navy game of 1944 and the book is  "A Team for America: The Army-Navy Game That Rallied a Nation"**   

However, reading the article failed to give me that warm, nostalgic glow.   During the war, as the essay acknowledges, college teams were gutted as manpower shortages caused the Army and Navy to turn college students into sailors and riflemen.  

Many of the stars of the Army team were actually transfers from other schools like Ole Miss or North Carolina; but instead of joining their teammates in Europe or the South Pacific, they went to West Point and continued playing football.  Of the Army players mentioned by Roberts only Doc Blanchard had a career in the military, including service in Viet Nam.   Instead of the warm glow, I kept thinking of the Army portrayed by From Here to Eternity that spent more time preparing for boxing matches than the Japanese.

**Authors, editors, and publishers are smart, college educated types--so what are they thinking when they put out still another book with a title like "Kale, the Leaf that Changed a Hemisphere"?  Do they give each other ironic winks at lunch or use funny emoticons when suggesting these titles in e-mails?  The people who write blurbs for DVD boxes, on the other hand, I think sincerely believe the crap they write is good.