Listening to yesterday's game, one of the "fillers" was the fact that several Pirates would go SEAL watching in San Diego in the morning before the game. 

No, not this type of cute, cuddly, furry little seal.... 

But this type of cute, cuddly, furry little SEAL....

Here's a link to a fanpost about last year's visit; I didn't find any information about it on the team website.  As I understand it, one of the Pirates' trainers knows a senior SEAL and arranges the visit this year.  I hope that they got to visit this morning - it would be a great day for the team to meet some of the young men who repeatedly volunteer for the harshest duty to keep us safe.  (And, its really fun for military folks to meet professional athletes. 

Realizing that this is a sports blog, I'll just point out that the selection of a SEAL team for last night's mission was particularly appropo - in 2005, four SEALs were ambushed by a vastly larger group of Taliban.  Their leader, LT. Michael P. Murphy, USN, attended Penn State (graduate school, I believe).  During the ambush, LT Murphy basically walked into the middle of an open field, sacrificing his life, in an effort to make radio contact with his headquarters to call in air support for his team.  He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor and the PSU 2011 Class Gift is the Lt. Michael P. Murphy/Penn State Veterans Plaza. 

The only survivor of the SEAL team has since written a book, called "Lone Survivor," which I heartily recommend.