I’m back from my family holiday and I’m way behind on blogging about the news. I’d like to get started with President Obama firing Stanley McChrystal, his top commander in Afganistan.

No, I’m not getting into policy. I’m getting into something McChrsytal did not do.

He never blamed the Rolling Stone writer who caused all this furor. I bring this up because I deal with athletes all the time who do blame. If they take heat for something they said, they almost always claim they were misquoted or taken out of context. It’s a cowardly route to take.

For all his flaws, McChrystal went down with dignity. He blamed himself for using bad judgment when he talked to the reporter. But he never blamed the reporter — it would have been so easy to do that. For this act of courage and decency, McChrystal has my deep admiration.