The Barry Switzer-led “Team Freedom” beat Tommy Bowden’s “Team Liberty” 36-8 in the first-ever Tostitos “Salute the Troops” flag football bowl game held at Camp Liberty, Iraq, New Year’s day. Tostitos partnered with the USO to bring college football legends down range for a head-to-head match with U.S. military members. “These brave men and women weren’t able to experience the excitement of the bowl season, so we brought the thrill to them, complete with some of their favorite college football legends,” former University of Oklahoma Coach Barry Switzer said. “It was something I know I won’t forget and I hope…
Browsing: Marine Corps
Former Marine officer Brian Stann has been added to the card of UFC 109: Relentless on Feb. 6. Stann, who earned a Silver Star for his actions while a platoon leader in Iraq, will face former NCAA wrestling champion Phil “Mr. Wonderful” Davis in a light heavyweight fight. Stann, 29, goes into the bout 8-2 as a pro fighter, including two straight wins in the UFC. Davis was a four-time NCAA All-American at Penn State, and won the 197-pound championship his senior year. He is 4-0 as a professional, and this will be his first UFC fight. A non-title light…
There’s a great read in today’s Wall Street Journal about Navy’s 2004 Emerald Bowl win over New Mexico. Yes, the 2004 Emerald Bowl. In the Wall Street Journal. Why, you wonder, would the Wall Street Journal (the Wall Street Journal!) devote space to a bowl game from five years ago? A bowl game of little consequence played before a crowd of less than 29,000? Here’s why: This game contained the longest drive in college football history. Navy held the ball for 14 minutes and 26 seconds as they drove 26 plays over the course of the end of the third…
All in all, 2009 was a pretty darn good year for Brian Stann. The former Marine officer and professional mixed martial artist made the jump from the WEC to the elite UFC, where he began fighting in the ultra competitve light heavyweight division. After a rocky start in the UFC, he ended up going 2-1 in 2009, and he’s put himself in position to start taking on some of the division’s top contenders. Two of Stann’s fights were memorable enough for him to make a pair of UFC Best of 2009 lists — one good, the other not so good.…
Marines will participate in a Red Sox-Yankees game in May as part of Marine Week Boston.
No running back in the NFL has been more explosive this season than Tennessee’s Chris Johnson. He leads the NFL in rushing with 1,396 yards and is on pace for a 2,000 yard season and a shot at Eric Dickerson’s NFL record for rushing yards in a season. A former Marine is a one of the keys to Johnson’s success. Titans fullback Ahmard Hall, who served four years in the Corps, is quietly earning a reputation as one of the top blocking backs in the NFL, as ESPN’s Len Pasquarelli writes. Hall, like most fullbacks, rarely carries the ball and…
The New Orleans Saints take on the New England Patriots tonight in Monday Night Football, which is as good of a reason as any to share the following: Drew Brees loves him some Marines. At least that appears to be the case, since he not only visited troops overseas with the USO in June, but found motivation in a Marine Corps running cadence. Jeff Duncan of the Times-Picayune has details: Brees will address the team with a quick intro, then repeat the team’s 2009 mission statements: “Be special,” “Finish strong” and “Smell greatness.” Then the team will break into a…
Three months after disposing of nemesis Steve Cantwell to earn his first UFC victory, former Marine Brian Stann will fight again in the Ultimate Fighter 10 finale on Dec. 5. Stann, 7-2 overall in mixed martial arts, faces Rodney Wallace, who will be making his UFC debut. A powerful puncher who thrives on his standup game, Stann fights in the 205 pound light heavyweight division, by far the UFC’s most competitive and star-studded. Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans, Forrest Griffin, Chuck Lidell and Rampage Jackson have all held the 205 title in recent years, and challengers like Mauricio Rua add to…
Sure, you learn to fly the space shuttle and all of a sudden no vehicle is off limits to you — let’s say, for example, you wanted to drive a pace car down the ramp of a CH-47 Chinook helicopter onto the course at the Texas Motor Speedway. Yep. You can do that, apparently. Marine Col. Doug Hurley, who has flown the space shuttle Endeavor, was himself flown onto the track in Fort Worth by Maj. Tank Sherman and his Army Reserve crewmates from Bravo Company, 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment. Sherman told After Action the approach and landing on…
Todays is Veterans Day, and that means plenty of publications that rarely write about military life are giving thanks to the U.S. military. Take Sports Illustrated scribe Joe Posnanski and the blog Baseball Think Factory, which salute the troops by posting a 2006-era photo of Marines playing baseball in Iraq. Or Yahoo! Sports, which makes a valiant attempt to name some of the greatest athlete-veterans in U.S. history. Or NFL.com, which shares a feature on Tennessee Titans fullback Ahmard Hall, who served in the Marine Corps for four years before walking onto the University of Texas football team. These are…
