The Band of Brothers Takes to the Gridiron

[Valin]

WSJ:

As they prepare for war, cadets and midshipmen mark the 112th year of the Army-Navy football tradition.
LUCAS Y. TOMLINSON
12/10/11

Forward Operating Base, Pasab, Afghanistan:
For the 112th time in their illustrious history, Army and Navy—the cadets of West Point and the midshipmen of Annapolis—face off on the football field Saturday. For the 11th straight year, those on both sides know they are preparing for military service in a time of war.

Players on the field today represent a special breed of men. Where else will you find athletes who turned down college scholarships to attend institutions in which the first order of business is to endure "beast barracks" or "plebe summers," periods of basic training for incoming cadets and midshipmen that are so physically and psychologically demanding that big linemen have been known to lose 25 pounds in a couple of months? At service academies, football practice can be the least stressful part of an athlete's day.

The first Army-Navy game was played in 1890 on the parade field at West Point. As midshipmen traveled by train from Annapolis to West Point that late November day, they decided their team needed a mascot. The midshipmen chose the goat, the milk-producing animal of ships at sea—unlike cows, goats can withstand the sea's heavy rolls—and they acquired one from a farm in Highland Falls, just south of West Point. When they won that first game 24-0, the goat became the Naval Academy's permanent mascot. It took until 1899 for the Army to adopt the mule as its mascot.

(Snip)

Mr. Tomlinson, a 2001 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, is serving on a Human Terrain Team with the 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the Army's 10th Mountain Division in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan.

[Valin]

I have but one small comment to make....

 

 

 

 

 

[nickydog]

I have but one small comment to make....

 

 

 

 

 

 

That was nice, Valin. And the USAFA Falcons will keep the Commander In Chief's Trophy for the second year in a row. (Unfortunately they have to go to the White House to receive it. ) But today's game was good to watch, and I have to say there is a long tradition in that contest that USAFA will never bridge.

[Valin]

I have but one small comment to make....

 

 

 

 

 

 

That was nice, Valin. And the USAFA Falcons will keep the Commander In Chief's Trophy for the second year in a row. (Unfortunately they have to go to the White House to receive it. ) But today's game was good to watch, and I have to say there is a long tradition in that contest that USAFA will never bridge.

 

True, but we have those nifty bus driver uniforms!

 

And we provide excellent urban renewal services

 

 

AIR FORCE when you absolutely have to bounce the rubble.

 

Army-Navy game: Midshipmen hang on for 10th consecutive win over Black Knights

Gene Wang

December 10

 

As the clock expired on the Navy football team’s 27-21 victory over Army on Saturday afternoon, the brigade of Midshipmen chanted in unison: “Ten more years, ten more years!” The revelry reflected Navy’s decade of supremacy in one of college football’s fiercest rivalries and closed a season of excruciating near misses in the most satisfying way possible.

(Snip)

 

Slideshow Here