This was supposed to be up for you to read the other day. No Idea what happened.

Let me first just explain for my newer readers the selection of person of the year is only to people in my immediate life. I will leave selecting public figures and the movers and shakers of the world up to Time Magazine. Perhaps I will agree or disagree with that. Sometime after Christmas I will also allow my readers to cast a vote for the story of the year, confined to friends and those in my little world.


****Tuckers World PERSON OF THE YEAR FOR 2003****

Mike Price. I have to admit I pretty much knew Price locked his one up early in the game. Although many will argue LIMA BEANZ since he got a lot more press time on this blog, but what Price went through this year certainly tops impregnating your girlfriend and prematurely starting a family.

The day that Price took as all to Starview (and for some reason treated us all) to announce his entering the Marines doesn’t seem all that long about, but it appears to be a life time ago. It was a time when all of my friends could get along and it was before bad blood had spilled between many of the members of the crew. Dan K ridiculed him and predicted Price being ousted from training camp. No one had any idea September 11th would come, and I remember thinking that the likelihood of him serving in a war during the next four years weren’t very good.

However Price did after sitting on his ass at Japan go to Iraq. He did go to war, and from what he has told us he was in the middle of heavy action. Many of us were a bit overwhelmed by his stories and I doubt his words could even do justice to the emotions and the actual test of human spirit that the transpired over there.

A kid I crew up with and became good friends with towards the end of High School with was out in the dessert being shot at as I slept in my nice warm bet last winter. I recall how continuously frustrating it was not having any idea where he was during the heavy combat. I recall the way I felt the day I saw the Shock and Awe on television. Making it a reality that my friend was putting his ass one the line, and I recall everyone’s fears that the US Soldiers would see more intense resistance this time around.

Price returned this summer to parades and free dinners. I forget at times where he has been because talking to him after not seeing him usually just like with most of my friends just picks up where it left off even if we don’t see each other for months. The first conversation I had with him when he was returning from war we just joked about Price’s love life which at the time as in the toilet. We laughed about some of our short comings which are fun for the crew to exaggerate. From broken condoms to a college educated man making peanuts in a job he hates they don’t cold a candle to the events Price went through. I don’t know if he feels different inside since his experience I can’t imagine he doesn’t. However on the surface he appears to be the same old Price. I am certainly not complaining because that is a quality you not only want but need in anyone in the armed forces for your country.

Prices hardships were rewarded seemingly this summer when he met his current girlfriend Ilene. Although he only has known her since July the last time I talked to him he appeared to be about as committed to her as he is his country. He drives 8 hours or so every week he can to spend a mere 48 hours or so with her. Price seems to be ready to close the book on his story of rocky relationships. This time he seems serious and without a doubt I am sure it will soon be proved. This is a year he will remember fondly for the rest of his life, and for all that he has done he is the Tuckers World Person of the Year.


Coming Soon: A film buff looks at Its A Wonderful Life and
How the Liberals a broad have sunk to a new low.