March-ons are complete (check back soon for more photos). Cadets and mids are in their respective corners. The predicted “wintry mix” hasn’t shown up, replaced instead by on-again, off-again light snow. The hype is over. Well, almost — here’s the Navy’s top officer, Adm. Jon Greenert, offering his perspective from Philadelphia. OK, now the hype is over. Three quick hits as Army and Navy fans settle in: 1. In case of pass, break glass: The Mids and Black Knights finished near the top of major-college football when it comes to the ground game thanks to their use of run-heavy triple…
Browsing: Army-Navy game
If you’re only going to read one Army-Navy preview this year … read this one, from our good friends at USA Today. But if you’ve got the bandwidth for a second preview, or you prefer your service-academy football with a side of spirit spots, read on for a few things you need to know as kickoff comes ever closer. The basics: 114th Army-Navy game, Saturday, 3 p.m. Eastern, Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia. TV: CBS (Verne Lundquist and Gary Danielson have the call). Pregame: Live pregame fare begins at 11 a.m. on CBS Sports Network (Do you get it? Find out here)…
Three years ago, Katie McHugh — daughter of one soldier, sister of another — got a text from her younger sister. “Kelly,” it said, “you need to come home now.” Let McHugh tell you the rest of the story from that day in May 2010 — how she feared the worst for her brother, who’d deployed to Iraq, only to find out her father, Col. John M. McHugh, 46, had died in a suicide-bomb attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, on what was supposed to be a two-week visit. He left behind a wife, five children and, at the time, one grandchild.…
The Army’s top general and the Navy’s top admiral took their turns in front of the cameras for the traditional Army-Navy game spirit spots. One officer played it straight, the other wore a foam warship on his head. Judge for yourself: Army [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42shRnCMPN4[/youtube] Pro: It’s safe to say Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno’s straightforward, heartfelt delivery is the best public-speaking performance given by a four-star general while flanked by a mule and a guy in a knight outfit so far this year. Con: The general has comedy chops — maybe not a performance pedigree at the level of…
If you missed our first batch of Army-Navy spirit spots — inspired by Justin Timberlake, phone and insurance commercials, and David Hasselhoff, in rough order of artistic reputation — click here. Last week’s quartet did not include the winners of the game’s official contest, which were named Monday on the game’s official blog. Here’s the Army winner, sent in by Maj. Randall Stillinger of the 36th Combat Aviation Brigade, featuring a joint operation gone horribly, humorously wrong: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1eiKDGu6J8[/youtube] The Navy winner, sent in by James Smith, plays on the Mids’ win streak and incorporates a children’s TV callback: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vW16jqRsq0Y[/youtube] Both…
When the Midshipmen take the field for the 2013 Army-Navy football game, their uniforms will showcase a history as storied as the Annapolis-West Point rivalry itself. The Nike Pro Combat uniform starts with a burlap-patterned base layer emblazoned with “Don’t Give Up the Ship.” The saying was the last command of Capt. James Lawrence, commander of the frigate Chesapeake, who died of wounds from small arms fire during the War of 1812. Unfortunately, Chesapeake ended up falling to the British. But not long after Lawrence’s death, Commodore Oliver Perry would fly a flag reading “Don’t give up the ship.” This…
Now that Army football has completed what was a less-than-rewarding trip to Hawaii, focus for both the Black Knights and the Navy Midshipmen moves to where fans of both schools have been focused most of the season — onto the Dec. 14 showdown in Philadelphia, where Navy (7-4) will attempt to win its 12th straight over Army (3-8). That leaves about two weeks for hype. And aspiring video producers are already off and running. Here are four early spirit spots — two from each side — and a few notes on each. Also, it’s not too late to enter the…
First, the traditional warning: Wagering on sports is illegal in nearly every state, can result in a career-destroying (or worse) compulsion, and is never as glamorous as even a poorly reviewed Hollywood movie would have you believe. Still, some sports fans like to know how Las Vegas sees things, and the Golden Nugget has released an early version of that insight, listing the lines of 10 key college football matchups late last week before following up with more than 200 other big games. One of those games is the last one on the Football Bowl Subdivision regular-season schedule: Dec. 14…
Watch this video from our good friends at the Cincinnati Enquirer, then head back for a bit more backstory: [brightcove video=”2288934925001″ /] Gerry Motl, former Navy football player, Annapolis Class of ’68 and star of the above video, sat down with the Enquirer’s Rachel Richardson for this interview outlining some of the highlights of a football memorabilia collection that pretty much covers the history of Army, Navy and Notre Dame football. How far back does it go? The first of 20 photos highlighted on that Enquirer page should give you some idea — the one with the newspaper headlines reading…
Navy freshman Keenan Reynolds entered the fourth quarter of Saturday’s Army-Navy game in Philadephia with 13 rushing yards on 12 carries. He’d completed six of 10 passes for a little more than 60 yards. With seven minutes to play, down 13-10, Reynolds’ day went from underwhelming to the verge of unbelievable. “Before the drive started, I told the guys, ‘This is the one,'” Reynolds told reporters at Lincoln Financial Field after he’d completed a seven play, 80-yard drive that earned him the game’s most valuable player award and a place in Army-Navy history. How he and the Mids did it:…
