One degree of separation: Bob Griese and the Navy SEAL Osama bin Laden mission?

So Bob Griese is on a morale-boosting trip to Iraq and Afghanistan, and one of the other “celebrities” on the trip with him is Mike Mullen, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. Soon Griese noticed that often when he was talking with the troops, Mullen would go off on his own to perform various tasks. When he would return, the two would often compare notes.

“One day we were on a C-30, a cargo plane, and (Mullen) was the last one to get on,” Griese said. “He’d always come over and say, ‘How was your day?’ and ‘Who’d you talk to?’ and he couldn’t have been nicer.

“So this one day I told him where we were and what we’d done, and I said, ‘How was your day?’ He said, ‘I was in Pakistan. Didn’t go very good.’ ”

When bin Laden was killed in Pakistan by U.S. Navy Seals, Mullen watched from the control room in Washington with President Obama and White House officials. Griese thought back to the day when Mullen visited Pakistan and figured that was part of the run-up to the mission.

“I’m sure it was,” he said.

Probably should have taken Griese along. Couldn’t hurt to have the only undefeated quarterback in the history of the NFL in case you need an audible.

Fun fact: Griese said former Miami Heat star Alonzo Mourning was scheduled to go on the trip, but canceled. Somehow, just the thought of ‘Zo so close to our most important military mission in years makes me nervous.

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Did Bob Griese see run-up to bin Laden mission? [Sun Sentinel]