That Day...And What's Coming Next

Copyright © 2025

by Ralph F. Couey

It's been a week and a day since Super Bowl LIX, and I think I'm finally in a good place to reflect on the disaster that day for the Kansas City Chiefs.

First off, All Hail the Eagles!  They played a great game and hit on all cylinders in all three areas, offense, defense, and special teams.  They did everything a champion is supposed to do, and they certainly deserve all the props that go their way.

Now.

I think many of us wearing red that day knew that the jig was up by halftime.  They were down by a bunch, and while the defense put up a courageous fight, the offense and special teams...didn't.  I have been a Chiefs fan as long as there has been a Kansas City Chiefs.  Across that span of 62 years, I've seen some spectacular games.  I've also seen a bunch of clunkers, which included most of the decade of the 1980s.  In the 6 seasons, Patrick Mahomes has been the starter, this team and this city have witnessed an unprecedented run of success.  They've been in 5 of 6 Super Bowls, winning three.  Their appearance in the AFC Championship game, most years hosting, became so frequent that people began to refer to the game as the "Arrowhead Invitational."  As fans, after years of epically bad football, we became used to winning.  Dangerous habit.

My feelings after the game were...confused.  Of course, I felt bad about them losing, especially the humiliating way it happened.  But, and it took a few days to get there, what I really felt was the strange sense of...losing.  After all that success, the air came out of the tire.

There were three important things that came to mind.  First, Andy Reid called a terrible offensive game plan.  After a perfunctory attempt at running, he went to a plan that would have worked well if Tyreek Hill was still running around downfield.  The offensive line, a band-aid project at left tackle in particular, melted before the ferocious Philly line, the biggest one in the NFL.  Now, Mahomes on the run is usually a very dangerous thing.  But this leads to number 2: Patrick Mahomes had the worst game anybody can ever remember.  He was tentative, indecisive, and showed very little judgment in how he read the field.  He missed open receivers and was blind to some choice opportunities with open guys down the field.  His best weapon, the scramble, was crushed.

The third thing is very sobering.  Except for the defense, the Chiefs were completely flat.  At one point this year, they played three games in eleven days.  I was expecting them to be flat by that third game.  Their performance in the Super Bowl reflected a team unprepared to play the game.  That charge is laid squarely in the laps and the consciences of the coaching staff.  You can have the most fabulous collection of talented players in history.  But if there aren't the coaches to teach and guide them, maintain discipline, and run the game plans, then the team is useless.  The Chiefs have had, in the recent past, some of the most effective coaches in the NFL.  I don't know what they did in the two weeks before the game, but it wasn't useful or even good. 

So.

Now I've got that off my chest, there are some hopeful things to consider.

We all worry about Travis Kelce.  We all heard his remarks on the New Heights podcast, and my heart ached for him.  Clearly a proud professional and a lock for first-round HOF.  But he looked and sounded crushed.  You could see in his eyes the daunting climb of next season already weighing on him.  Missouri is a horrible place to be outside in July and August.  The heat soars into triple digits, and the accompanying humidity has to be felt to be believed.  I stayed out of it most of the time.  When duty called (lawn mowing), I donned shorts and a t-shirt and did my task.  Afterward, I fled indoors for the AC and a cold drink.  For NFL players, those horrendous days involve strapping on pads and running full tilt around in that sauna for hours at a time.  It wasn't fun cutting the grass, and it can't be fun doing it in pads at a full sprint.  That's what Travis sees.  He also sees a regular season that is 17 games.  The Chiefs have always been in the postseason, so they are actually playing 20 games per year.  Do the math.  Over the past 6 seasons, that's an additional one and a half seasons.  That's a lot of bruises, strains, contusions, maybe cracked ribs, any one of which would put us on the couch for a couple days.  The players keep playing.  The human body, even a professional athlete can only take so much abuse.

The decision is supposed to be made by mid-March.  I know that he's considering his options, and he has many, perhaps becoming a new Avenger, among other things.  But one thing we feel, as fans, is we can't see Travis closing the door on his career after a clunker.  

If Travis decides to hang 'em up, we will miss him.  Terribly.  Patrick Mahomes will miss him even more.  But he has earned this and should take this route before suffering some serious, even debilitating, injury.  Go live your life, my man.  You deserve it.

So, now the question begs, what happens now?  The Chiefs have a good nucleus of young talent, particularly at wide receiver.  They do have some decisions to make, some of them painful, such as a now 30-year-old Chris Jones.  There will be a few opportunities in the draft.  The offensive line needs a long-term fix.  But one thing can be expected to be present in 2025.

Even through all the angst after the game, there was also resolve.  This is a proud team; those who return will be steely-eyed in their determination.  This was a stain to be cleaned.  A dishonor to be righted.  And a humiliation to be expunged.  For those reasons...heaven help the rest of the AFC.

I fully expect the Chiefs to be back and winning. They will make the playoffs and be in a position to return to the Super Bowl.  Many are ready to bury this team.  That grave, however, will be for some other team.

The Cost That Must Be Paid for Freedom

 

Copyright © 2025

by Ralph F. Couey

Freedom is not free. 

This statement has become timeworn, perhaps even trite.  But its use, perhaps overuse, hasn’t diminished the fact that it is still fundamentally true.

In what was then colonial America, a group of restless idealists decided that after decades of mistreatment by Britain, enough was enough. After countless hours of fractious, even combative debate, they published their intent to break from the Crown and form a new country. 

This was an incredibly bold and courageous move against what was then the most powerful empire on Earth.  They were, in fact, committing treason, the punishment for which was death.  Also at risk were their families, homes, and everything they had earned and built.  The risk was enormous, but they did not hesitate. 

The war resulting from that Declaration of Independence was long, brutal, and costly.  The army suffered bitter cold, hunger, and sickness.  Desertions were common.  The war was almost lost on several occasions but for the dynamic presence of a Virginia planter, George Washington.  His inestimable leadership, strength, and tactical brilliance kept the army together and allowed him to execute a series of bold, brilliant attacks that eventually drove the British out of America.  

Even after such an improbable victory, the internal struggles continued.  What kind of government would it be?  A republic with a strong central government and subordinate states?  Or a confederacy characterized by a weak central authority and autonomous states? Some of these questions were addressed in the Constitution, which required 13 more years of arguing.  Other questions would take a costly Civil War to find the answers. 

What is most wonderful about this entity we call the United States of America is that we have not yet reached our final form.  It has been a continual experiment in freedom and liberty, constrained by responsibility and accountability.  This is why the Constitution was never intended to be a final product and would be amended repeatedly.  Many ideas have been tried and accepted.  Many others have been considered and cast aside.  We have made mistakes, yes.  But we have not, nor will we ever stop trying to get it right.  Today, we are still asking tough questions and seeking difficult answers.  Debates go on with the same passion as they did in that hot, humid summer of 1776.  We are still a young country compared to the history of this world, and we will always seek a better way, a better life.  We continue to challenge expectations, even accepted assumptions.  We remain convinced that no matter how magnificent our achievements are, we can always do better. 

As a tour guide aboard the USS Missouri Memorial, I talk to people from all over the world.  They have told me that what sets Americans apart is our absolute refusal to accept average.  As a culture, as a people, we are driven by excellence, and not just the hope but the expectation that we will not only succeed but even exceed the goal.  We compete to be the best.  We hate losing.  Even coming in second causes us to grumble and grind our teeth.  It has been that unrelenting drive for excellence that has resulted in our supremacy in so many fields: science, technology, engineering, math, bioscience, medicine, and the arts.  We won the race to the moon, to Mars, and the rest of the planets.  Today, Voyager I, Voyager II, and Pioneer X, three technological ambassadors built and launched by America, have left our solar system and started their journey into the galaxy.  There, they will travel for millennia, carrying a message from humanity to intelligence far beyond that we were here and that our restless, questing intelligence led us to the stars.  

It takes courage to challenge the unknown.  But America has never lacked that courage.  Our willingness as a country to accept that challenge does not come from government mandate.  It comes from us, from how our nation was formed:  Of the people, By the people, and for the people.  President John Kennedy once said, “For in a democracy, every citizen, regardless of his interest in politics, 'holds office.'  Every one of us is in a position of responsibility.”  We who are here today and those who will follow us will be the ones who determine if we will continue to reach beyond the stars or look only downward and dig our own graves.  We are a restless people.  Let us always be restless.  Our unwillingness to accept the present as permanent will always propel us upwards.  In that soaring journey, none of us can afford to sit quietly on the sidelines. 

We had a granddaughter named Zoe, who was born with a serious birth defect, missing a part of her fifth chromosome.  Now, there are 46 chromosomes in each human cell.  Cells are microscopic.  Chromosomes even tinier.  One might think that missing such an infinitesimally small thing might not be that big of a deal.  But in fact, it left her severely disabled. We lost her at the tender age of five months. 

Each of us is only one of over 330 million people.  Like a chromosome within a cell, that may seem small and inconsequential.  But in a representative republic governed by the will of her people, there are no small parts, no insignificant people.  

Nora Jones sang a song, “American Anthem,” in which were these words: 

For those who think they have nothing to share

Who fear in their hearts there is no hero there

Know each quiet act of dignity is that which fortifies

The soul of a nation that will never die. 

There’s no magic wand, no Jedi hand wave that can make that happen.  It is too easy to look in the mirror and decide we have nothing to contribute.  However, each individual American is a collection of unique gifts, talents, and abilities that can spring to life in the fire of passion and possibility.  The individual must open the door and choose to turn those gifts loose upon the world. 

However, for this nation to live, we must decide to live together.  We have differences, yes.  However, each individual has walked a separate path, a unique journey that has shaped their life and their feelings.  We don’t have to agree on everything.  But we must respect each other’s journey.  Instead, let us look at things we have in common that can unite rather than divide us.  Remember those remarkable days after 9/11 when we as a nation stood together, arm in arm, shoulder to shoulder.  And remember that an America thus united cannot be defeated.

There is no better example of this than the passengers and crew of Flight 93 on that terrible day.  If you had been in the airport that morning and encountered one of them and asked later for a description, you might have used the word “ordinary.”  As events unfolded, we know now that they were anything but ordinary.  In the face of grave danger, they decided together, stood together, and acted…together. 

John Wayne once said, “All battles are fought by scared men who’d rather be someplace else.”  The actions of those people on that day were called valorous, brave, and heroic.  Undoubtedly, they felt fear.  But that did not stop them.  The biggest difference, after all, between the courageous and the cowardly is how one reacts to that fear.  Fear can be allowed to collapse into mindless, paralyzing panic.  But at that moment, we must realize that something needs to be done; step up and act.  That defines courage, the willingness to push fear aside and do what must be done.  Once again, President Kennedy: “The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it.” 

We live in perilous times in a dangerous world.  Once distant and indistinct, the drumbeats of war are now beating loudly.  We hear them from the West, from China and North Korea.  We hear them from the East, from Russia and Iran, and in seemingly every direction from terrorist groups all over the world.  It is a time when our greatest courage and strength is needed.  But it is also a time when we face serious divisions from within.  After 9/11, we recognized and embraced that we were Americans first, last, and foremost.  We found that unity at a moment when we truly needed it.  And we can find it again.  It was an impassioned Patrick Henry who proclaimed, “United we stand, divided we fall!  Let us not split into factions which must destroy that union upon which our existence hangs."  

The future of The United States of America ultimately depends on what we choose to do today, how we choose to act, and if we choose to stand together.  This is our choice and our responsibility.  Abraham Lincoln was speaking to Congress, but his words should resonate with us during these divisive times: “Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation.  We, even we here, hold the power and bear the responsibility.” 

The freedoms we possess and the freedoms we desire completely depend upon our willingness to pay the price and endure the cost of those freedoms.  The world is watching us, and as long as we continue to ring that great bell of freedom, those clear, strong peals will be heard beyond our country, the sound of hope for those who have none.  A desperate world has thrust leadership upon us. Let us rise and face that challenge. Let us accept that responsibility.  And let us lead with intelligence, strength, and compassion. 

In our nearly 250 years, the United States of America has accomplished much.  But before us is a future fraught with peril, a steep, rocky, and treacherous path over which we must walk, a mountain we must climb.  

We must face that mountain in the same way we always have, with courage, strength, and unity.  This is truly what we are as a nation and who we truly are as a people.  This is America!  We are Americans!  Nobody else can do this. Nobody else will do this.  Let us rise together, work together, and succeed together.  And together, we will bring humanity into the light of freedom!

Learning the What, and the Why Behind It

 

Hubble Ultra Deep Field © NASA/Hubble

There are about 10,000 galaxies in this image.

There is still so much to learn...

Copyright © 2025

by Ralph F. Couey

Like most writers, I have a lot of curiosity.  Most of that occurs in the normal pace of life.  I'll notice something and ask myself, " Why is that there?" or "How does that work?" and especially, "How and why did that happen?"  Those questions trigger in my brain a restless little gnome that proceeds to run around wildly in its allotted space, shouting for attention.  That tiny imp won't sit down and shut up until I've at least tried to answer the questions.

In the ancient, dusty past, that meant a trip to a library, sometimes at a university, to spend hours flipping through card catalogs, followed by repeated trips into the stacks to chase down sometimes obscure tomes containing the information I would be seeking, hoping that someone hadn't checked it out.  Then I had to sit down and read the book and take notes.  This is a process that would take hours, sometimes days. Younger folks these days, spoiled by the Internet have no clue about the sheer drudgery and frustration of research. 

The problem with books is that events move so fast these days that they're instantly obsolete once published.  Today, the world is literally available in our hands or even on our wrists.  I am constantly reminded and amazed that humans landed on the moon using a computer that was many times less powerful than my smartwatch.  The problem with such an avalanche of information is successfully judging the veracity of sources.  The 'Net is full of stupid people saying idiotic things, and care must be taken to ensure factual truth and not be taken in by an attractive stream of rhetoric.  That takes time, patience, and even courage, all of which seemingly are in short supply these days.

But I am careful, and my years as an Intelligence Analyst have given me the tools I need to separate truth from fiction, facts from wishful thinking, and what is truly right from what only feels right.  One of the adages from the Intelligence Community is once you know the "What" find out the "Why." Because the "Why" will explain the "What."

When we lived in Northern Virginia, I was taken in by the vast canvas of history that spans the area.  The Colonial Era, Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Civil War, the hard struggle from 13 colonies to a United States were all played out among those beautiful rolling hills.  I stood once on a battlefield at Yorktown, realizing that this piece of real estate had been fought over in three separate wars.

Deeply concerned about the widening divisions in my country, at one point I began to focus in on the Civil War.  What were the real issues that split the country?  Slavery is the easy answer, but I've learned the grim truth that the easy answer is a myth.  Human history is a complex interweaving of events, personalities, agendas, good and evil, and always the unhealthy lust for power and glory.  These kinds of chaotic non-linear influences always muddy the waters.

Gettysburg was a short 80 miles from where we lived, so I made numerous journeys, mostly by motorcycle (I was always looking for a reason to go riding).  In those early visits, I was pretty clueless.  I hadn't looked at the battle with any depth, but clarity arrived after I began reading and studying.  I knew that it was a, perhaps the pivotal battle of the Civil War, that with the Union victory, the South was on the defensive from that point on.  Now, I understood more about the flow of the battle, the tactics that worked, and those that failed.  I was clearer on the complex relationships between the senior commanders and their foibles and blind spots on both sides and how those relationships helped shape the battle's outcome.  

One beautiful autumn day, I climbed to the top of the hill known as Little Round Top and, with my eyes, traced the events as they unfolded across that battlefield during those terrible three days.  More importantly, I now understood not only the what but the why.  Why Confederate General Ewell did not attack the nearly undefended Culp's Hill in the waning hours of that first day.  Why the Union 11th Corps turned and ran like they did at Chancellorsville, allowing the Union troops to be outflanked. How thin the margin of survival was for the 20th Maine on the left end of the Union line on Little Round Top.  And why General Lee willingly sent his troops up Cemetary Hill into a meat grinder of artillery and rifle fire, a fight that cost him 60% of some of the bravest troops ever to carry a weapon into battle.

Gettysburg was a decisive victory that left the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in tatters.  But it still took two more bloody years before the war ended.

I discovered in this effort that there is a difference between knowing and understanding.

A few years ago, I read an article from the New Yorker magazine written by Katherine Schulz.  It was an amazing piece that brought to light some unnerving facts about what was then a generally unknown or understood tear in the Pacific Ocean floor called the Cascadia Subduction Zone.  It runs some 600 to 700 miles (depending on who you read) underwater from Cape Mendocino, California, to Northern Vancouver Island, British Columbia.  There, some 60 to 70 miles offshore, the Pacific Plate is pushing beneath or subducting under the North America Plate.  For some time, scientists thought it was sliding smoothly (aseismically), a belief based on the complete lack of earthquakes in recorded history.  Then, it was discovered that the coastal mountain ranges are rising and tilting to the east.  New shoreline is being lifted above the surface of the ocean.  These, and many other indicators, showed that the fault was not sliding smoothly but was, in fact, stuck.  As the Pacific Plate continued to try to move eastward, that force was humping and tilting the land above it.  What does that mean?

Cascadia is a type known as a thrust fault.  As the years passed and through data from monster earthquakes off Chile (9.5 in 1960), and Alaska (9.3 in 1964), scientists surmised that these thrust faults, or subduction zones, existed all across that part of the Pacific called the Ring of Fire.  This was clearly evident by the massive quakes off Tohoku, Japan (9.1 in 2011) and the  Sumatra-Andaman quake and tsunami (9.3 in 2004) that would kill close to a quarter-million human beings.  These thrust faults were responsible for not only the largest earthquakes in recorded history but also for the generation of trains of tsunami waves, which devastated huge amounts of land and would kill hundreds of thousands.  

In 1996, a group of scientists from several different disciplines announced that not only was the Cascadia fault active, but it had ruptured in January 1700 along its entire length in an estimated 9.2 magnitude quake.  Tribal lore from the native peoples who populated the northwest coast told of a massive event, in some cases described as a fight between two gods, Thunderbird and Whale, that shook the land and then sent the ocean streaming inland.  Other researchers uncovered meticulous Japanese records that told of an "orphan tsunami" (not accompanied by a local earthquake) that sent a 16-foot wall of water ashore across 650 miles of central and northern  Japan.  That, plus tree ring records, mud cores pulled from the ocean shore, and good detective work, pinned the source at Cascadia.  

I was working for the Hawai'i Emergency Management Agency then, and one of the hazards they plan for is tsunamis. Hawai'i sits in the middle of the Pacific, surrounded on three sides by subduction zones arcing from Tonga through the Marianas, up the coasts of Japan and Russia, across the Aleutian Islands chain, and down the coasts of North America, Central America, and South America. When these faults rupture, it's almost always in the range of Magnitude 8.5 to at least 9.5, unleashing a trans-Pacific train of waves that could devastate the 50th state.  We had access to a system that monitored earthquakes from all over the world.  One disquieting thing I noted was that there was constant movement in all the thrust faults across the entire arc, with earthquakes ranging from the undetectable to the barely noticeable.  But Cascadia was utterly quiet.  Not even a hint of rumble.  Knowing what's going on down below, I found the silence ominous.  I still do. 

 I began to read everything I could about thrust faults and tsunamis.  I found a website that gave me free access to academic research papers.  I dove into those (with a thesaurus close at hand) and, over time, gained a better understanding of the magnitude of the possible threat.

I also understood better that earthquake prediction is, at this time, impossible.  There are some events that follow a comprehensible sequence of events.  A causes B, which results in C.  These are termed Linear.  But what goes on deep beneath the earth's surface is not linear but chaotic.  Scientists know the plates are stuck, and pressure is building, as evidenced by the changing landscapes at the surface.  But deep down, where the sticking point, or asperity, is located, they don't really know the makeup of the two surfaces, the temperature, or the elasticity and frictional coefficient of the rocks that are jammed together.  Without that information, any kind of accurate prediction just isn't possible.  To find out, you'd have to find a way to burrow about 20 miles below the surface of sea and land.  Oh yes, and find someone willing to pay for such an expensive venture.

The point at which the fault ruptures is unknown. As one scientist said, "All I know for sure is that today we're one day closer to that happening than yesterday."  Despite the uncertainty, a lot of good work has been done in those affected areas.  Schools, hospitals, and other critical infrastructure have been moved above the anticipated inundation line.  There are good evacuation routes, and local people know that when the earth stops moving after five to six interminable minutes, they need to get to high ground within about 20 minutes.  At least one community is building what's called a vertical evacuation shelter, firmly planted in the earth, which will allow people to evacuate upwards above the height of the wave.  These and other mitigation efforts will undoubtedly save a lot of lives.  Still, a good many of those quaint shoreline villages are likely to be swept clear by the waves.  Inland, the shaking will affect major metropolitan areas like Sacramento, Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver.  There are a lot of unreinforced masonry structures in all those cities, mostly bricks that will come apart like kicked Legos.  The high rises in those cities were built before all this was known about the monster offshore, so nobody really knows if they can withstand severe shaking of that magnitude.  The quake and tsunami will happen someday, and the resulting devastation may require a recovery time measured in decades.

I've also explored other subjects, such as the chain of events leading to the Chernobyl disaster, what happens inside a hydrogen bomb when it is detonated, the structure of supercell thunderstorms and tornadoes, how a massive star can explode in a supernova, how a galaxy 34 billion light-years distant was discovered even though the visible universe should only be 13.8 billion light years across, and even how DNA and RNA do their thing deep inside our cells.  I'll never understand the nuts and bolts of these things, but I have a general understanding.  And that's good enough for now

When I look at this world and the universe, I feel awe at how big everything is, what we've discovered, and especially what we still have yet to discover.  Perhaps when I've shuffled off this mortal coil, I'll be in a place where I can know and understand it all, and my curiosity will finally be sated.

But then again...maybe not!