By Mark David Blum

In numbers greater than the State Troopers and Dan’s O’Hara’s Secret Army, one could not help but notice the large numbers of soldiers moving about the fairgrounds. Identifying them was easy as most were in ‘work clothes’ and not dress uniforms. Part of me still wonders if a detachment was assigned to the Fair as some sort of high security measure against a mass casualty attack. Somewhere was an armory and I verily believe there is a plan in place for military action at the State Fair should some idiot decide it an important enough target. If uniformed soldiers are your thing, then the fairgrounds are the place to be.

Having passed military exhibits over and over, I stopped and did a final total yesterday. Each military exhibitor had either a pull-up bar or a push-up pad that fairgoers could use to test (or show off) their skills. As of 5:00 p.m. Sunday, here are the results.

The U.S. Army exhibit behind the Horse Barn was offering Buffalo Bills season tickets to the fairgoer who did the most push-ups. One hundred fifty two is the number to beat.

At the Marine Corps exhibit, they were keeping score of pull-ups. Their fair record is thirty two. (Mine was eight).

When I stopped near Gate 4 to talk to the Army National Guard recruiters who were doing both exercises, I was told they are not keeping scores. I should have expected that response from the weekend warriors.

The Air Force had no presence other than the 174th fighter wing. Bringing with them a supposed jet with its studly missles and weapons, there was no physical testing offered. Apparently the only skills and strength required by flyboys is how to push the EJECT button. Alas but Hon. William Walsh (aka ‘Crash’) was not present on scene to show us how it is done.

No navy or coast guard personnel were on site. There was no exhibit I saw nor any uniforms meandering about. Were they on station in the canals to watch for terrorists? Certainly the Coast Guard should have been active with all the new regulations and laws put in place for boating and riding wave runners. At least they could have had a lap pool and gave swimming tests.

But the ultimate macho man at the Fair was Kevin Kline. Coming out of Rinaldi’s gym here in Syracuse, Kline won not only took the gold medal in the Golden Gloves Boxing Tournament, but also took home the award for the best fighter of the tournament. By sheer stroke of luck, my standing spot for Kline’s title fight was right behind his family. His mother was having a heart attack and his sister and cousins were screaming like hell. Even I got into it beyond my normal levels and really turned on the cheering for Kline. His final bout was furious and heated and the decision in his favor was well deserved. (He could use a little more work on his right hand jab. By the second round, he forgot how to use it. Even his mother who was struggling to watch her son being beaten, said he was a right hander and could not understand why he had stopped throwing right hand jabs).