Intramural.

I have nothing at all against Martin Luther King Jr. (The Chicago Manual of Style no longer uses commas for Jr. or Sr., FYI) or celebrating his day. I'm sorry I am compelled to say that up front, but you have to nowadays, and even then you're accused of racism.

But you're waiting for the But, aren't you?

Of course there's a But, or this would be an extremely short entry.

But the But has little to do with Dr. King. It has more to do with the half of our nation that is incapable of loving their own country. You know who you are.

The reason I bring it up today is that this is a day popular with that hateful half, popular because they only admire Americans who fight other Americans. The Founding Fathers were ultimately united, so they don't count. Abe Lincoln gets a tepid thumbs-up because he fought other Americans, although those Americans considered themselves Confederates at the time. Heroes of the two World Wars? Didn't fight Americans. Forget them. In fact, American war heroes were always in the bad habit of fighting other people, so never mind.

You might bubble to the surface if you were a female or minority war hero, but not for your war accomplishments, which tend to get overlooked. White guys -- Alvin York, Audie Murphy, Omar Bradley, William Sherman, Ethan Allen, "Black Jack" Pershing, etc., etc., -- all meaningless. They fought other people.

I'm still rooting for the home team.

I'm deeply grateful for those who root out corruption and fight evil and injustice wherever it exists, because it's the right thing to do, and also because it makes the home team better and stronger. I like my Americans who fight the enemies of America, too.