In honor of my love for this great country - and not an obviously blatant attempt to draw in additional readers and revenue by wrapping myself around the red, white and blue - for this week, the Press Box column has been renamed America.
Sure, it will taste, I mean read, the same as it usually does. But you can be prouder of your country just by consuming it.
It was green - not the red, white and blue - that led to Lincoln University's decision last week for Lincoln University to shut down two of its sports programs.
A total of 29 athletes were effected in the decision to end baseball and women's tennis.
The easy answer as to why those were the two programs chosen could be their lack of success. The baseball team was 1-49 this season, the tennis team 0-12.
But what can't be overlooked are the student-athletes on those teams, with an emphasis on the student.
The baseball team featured 17 players from around the area, many of whom I saw play during their high school careers. Most of them still have college eligibility, but it will be difficult for many of them to find a new school this late in the recruiting process. I feel for them.
Then there are the high school seniors who signed to play baseball at Lincoln. Their dream of playing college baseball may have to be put on hold for at least a year, if not forever.
The tennis team had just six players on its roster, with the two local players being seniors.
For the baseball and tennis players with eligibility, the university will pay for one additional year of their education at Lincoln. But that is not enough for many of them to graduate. But remember, college scholarships are one-year deals. I'm not defending Lincoln, but the school really didn't have to offer anything.
Lincoln now offers 10 sports - the minimum required for continued status in NCAA Division II. The thinking is minimize the sports offered to maximize their potential for success.
When I heard the news, one of the first things I thought of was a line from the great movie, The Right Stuff - "No bucks, no Buck Rogers."
In the movie, it means without proper funding, there is no space program. In the world of Lincoln athletics, it means without proper funding, most of the school's programs would continue on the cycle of little to no success.
There are a couple of exceptions.
The women's and men's track and field programs have earned national attention in recent years. And with a little more cash coming their way, things could only get better for the Blue Tigers on the track.
And the men's basketball team came on throughout the season and started to draw fans from around the area to watch an entertaining brand of basketball.
But then there's the other side of the coin. If there's a sport at Lincoln that has to put up or else, it's football.
Things weren't working out so well in the MIAA for the football Blue Tigers.
Their last five years in the conference? 2013: 3-8. 2012: 1-10. 2011: 1-10. 2010: 2-9. 2009: 0-11.
So the program got out of the MIAA, arguably the nation's toughest Division II football league, two years ago for the Great Lakes Valley Conference. So how has that worked out?
2015: 1-10. 2014: 2-9.
OK, that didn't work.
To be fair, the program has been fighting a battle with both hands tied behind its back. The school was only able to offer about half of the scholarships of many of the teams it was playing.
So this should be a fresh start. More scholarship money, along with the upcoming "Student Athletic Fee" that has full-time students paying an additional $10 per credit hour, could get the program on more equal footing with its foes.
Plans for the money include artificial turf at Dwight T. Reed Stadium, an actual locker room, lights to play night games, and a new video scoreboard.
This infusion of cash isn't going to result in wins overnight for any of the remaining programs. But it should help put Lincoln on a more equal footing with its opponents.
I'm sure this wasn't an easy decision for those who made it. Lincoln has gone all-in for its sports programs and in the long run, if the resources are used intelligently and correctly, it was the right one.