In my 37 years on God’s green earth, I can count the marvels that I have personally witnessed on a single hand. One of these was Bert Blyleven’s curveball. Today he was passed over for induction into the Baseball Hall Of Fame (for the 13th time). Therefore I am canceling all planned posts this week in place of crafting a lengthy and well deserved tribute on his behalf. Days like today make me miss being a baseball writer. I never received voting privileges, but results like these lead me to believe that anyone can be a HOF voter. Stay tuned for my argument on behalf of the Dutchman.

Welcome back friends. I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season. I just returned from a family trip up to Pittsburgh where we spent several days celebrating Christmas with relatives on both sides of our family. Most importantly, I got to spend a week with my eldest son who has been away at college since August. I also managed to find time to visit my favorite used bookstore where I picked up some second-hand titles to expand the Revolutionary War-side of my library. This included “General George Washington” by Edward G. Lengel (which I am beginning to read on the train tomorrow) and “The Battle for New York” by Barnet Schecter.

An unexpected New Year’s blessing came in the form of an invitation to perform the wedding ceremony for my wife’s cousin and her fiancée. I am an ordained (non-denominational) minister (completely separate from my own Presbyterian affiliation) and I cannot think of a bigger honor to be asked. I am humbled and excited as this June I will be speaking at a banquet on Jackson’s 1862 Valley Campaign in Lexington and then the following weekend, performing a wedding ceremony at the Mountaineer in West Virginia. I have been asked to do a lot of great things, but this is by far the greatest.

BTW: My New Year's resolution... getting this gem published.

I find it incredibly ironic that the very week we debut our website for our upcoming film, "The Angel of Marye’s Heights" (see post below), our favorite critic breaks his own self-induced sabbatical to post an entire week's worth of posts debating the validity of the story. Thank you for the discussion and free publicity. Here’s wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

It is with a tremendous sense of pride that I can now present the official movie website of “The Angel of Marye’s Heights” and a 6-minute rough-cut preview. (Due to copyright issues, this sample uses a temporary narration in place of our professional actor’s voiceover.) Stay tuned for upcoming press coverage and find out how you can play a pivotal role in the final production of this film.

UPDATE: Within 12 hours of releasing the website, we have already been contacted by producers at The 700 Club who are interested in discussing a segment on the film. We also have a tentative invitation for a Q&A/screening at a major university in addition to the big premiere opening here in Fredericksburg. This project has certainly been blessed and we are grateful for everyone’s support.