Thinking ... Pearl Harbor’s not forgotten

Gerry Finn, who was once the sports columnist for the Springfield Union and later the Hartford Times, used to start some of his columns with the words, “I was thinking.. .’’

I’m certain Gerry, an old friend and rival, wouldn’t mind if today I‘m borrowing. Read on:

I was thinking . . . Pearl Harbor Day, Dec. 7, is still remembered vividly and commemorated in our troubled but ever-wonderful country. I was a kid of seven in 1941, when the news came via the radio. We were visiting the home of my Uncle Bub and Aunt Vee Parsons in Winsted. It was just before supper. The mood changed in a flash. The adults talked solemnly about what might lie ahead. We kids asked a question or two but, feeling the sudden darkness of the moment, remained mostly silent.

Aunt Vee, a marvelous cook, and my mother put the food on the table, but no one had much of an appetite. It was 76 years ago, but still fresh in the memories of every American who was 6 or 7 years old on that day.

My father, as patriotic a man as ever there was, was not called to the service because he was the father of four, had a vital defense job and was 38 years old. Still he wanted to go and for many years afterward lamented, “I was too young for World War One and too old for World War Two.”

Bill Dunn of Torrington is a highly skilled freelance writer whose column appears in some area newspapers. Humor is his usual thing, and his email address is MerryCatholic@gmail.com. But his column of Nov. 29 was anything but humorous. It appeared under the headline, “Have we become a nation of gropers?’’ Of the trillion and one words that have been written about the shocking number of powerful individuals who have preyed upon women victims of their sexual crimes, Bill’s was the best I’ve read. It ends, “There are a few concepts that are so old-fashioned, they are now radically countercultural. These concepts come right out of the Judeo-Christian tradition: modesty, morality and monogamy. Maybe if we try these once again, our culture can keep from groping itself to death.”

Sports Illustrated made two perfect choices – Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros and J.J. Watt of the Houston Texans as its “Sportsperson of the Year.” At the same time, Time Magazine named “The Silence Breakers” – all the women who have come forward with revelations of past sexual harassment incidents in their lives. Who can find fault with either choice?

About Altuve: Some people seem astonished that a man that small could be so strong and effective on the diamond. But there is precedent. The Yankees’ Phil Rizzuto was only 5-feet, 6-inches tall. He was AL MVP in 1950. Altuve, a second baseman, hits with power. The Scooter, a shortstop, seldom hit the long ball. He was a bunter of the first water and was the ideal leadoff man.

I’ve lost track of former UConn football head coach Tom Jackson, but I still follow one of his star players, John Dorsey. Dorsey was one of the best and toughest linebackers the Huskies ever had. Jackson, who had been an offensive lineman at Penn State, thought the world of him.

Jackson used to say, “Every defensive player has his specific assignment, but on every play, when John’s job was done, it was PFS, that is Play Football, Son. And oh my, could he do it.’’

Dorsey was drafted by the Green Bay Packers, later worked in the office for that franchise, then moved on to Kansas City as general manager. Thursday he was named GM of the Cleveland Browns. I never thought of Dorsey as a front-office guy, but he’s proven himself over and over in his post-player career.

I’m a guy who remembers the Browns as perennial champions with Otto Graham at quarterback; and later the glory days of matchless Jimmy Brown. So I’m going to pull for the pathetic Browns. And for Dorsey. PFS, John.