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…
It’s not all about football here at After Action. We’ll give equal attention to the hard court. And unless no one has noticed, each one of the service academy basketball teams have already tipped off their seasons. This week we’ll take a look at each one and preview their upcoming seasons. We will start with Air Force. Last season the wheels fell off for Coach Jeff Reynold’s club. It ended the season on a 17-game losing streak before the Falcons shocked the entire Mountain West Conference by beating Colorado State in the first round of the conference tournament. This will…
This week was a let down. Last weekend featured the Army/Air Force showdown with ESPN Gameday on the sideline and Navy’s historic upset of Notre Dame. This weekend Army, Air Force and Navy all faced opponents they should have beaten. And yes I included Rich Ellerson’s improved West Point squad who faced the Keydets of the Virginia Military Institute. All three came through with a win, although Navy got a scare from the Delaware Blue Hens, who always seem to give the Midshipmen a hard time no matter how far Navy’s football program advances. I still can’t believe the Navy…
Look to the left. There sits the world’s sorest loser and the only man with worse PR instincts than Redskins owner Dan Snyder. Notre Dame associate head coach Corwin Brown decided that he’d spend his Veterans Day calling out Navy football coach Ken Niumatalolo and then complaining about Navy’s “malicious” illegal cut blocks. This, of course, comes four days after the Midshipmen marched into South Bend, Ind., and leveled Notre Dame 23-21 to further embarrass a Fighting Irish coaching staff swiftly putting together their resumes. I mean this is low and pathetic on all counts. Brown got agitated that Niumatalolo…
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…
Army threatened to make it a race. With a win last Saturday over Air Force, the Black Knights would have set up a winner take all matchup with Navy on Dec. 12 in Philadelphia. And after ending the first half knotted at seven, it looked like Army just might do it. Unfortunately for Army and anyone else who is tired of watching the Midshipmen accept a trophy at the White House, the lead didn’t hold up. Air Force left the locker room after a fiery speech from linebacker Andre Morris Jr. and rolled over the Black Knights with four unanswered…
Apparently $1 billion only buys a face for radio. Yes, three days after the Navy introduced it’s newest toy, ESPN radio personalities Mike and Mike will board the USS New York to do their morning show Tuesday. The two radio hosts, Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg, will broadcast their show 6-10 a.m. EST on ESPN radio. And yes, the amphibious transport dock will get some TV time on ESPN2 as the radio show is also broadcast on those airways. It is part of ESPN’s week long effort to honor veterans. The self-described worldwide leader in sports brought their College Gameday…
That, ladies and gentlemen, is a win worthy of crowing about. Navy eeked out its second win in three years over No. 22 Notre Dame on Saturday, beating the Fighting Irish 23-21 on the strength of Craig Schaefer’s sack for a safety on (onetime) Heisman Trophy hopeful Jimmy Clausen in the end zone with 60 seconds left in the game. The win had several effects. First, it kills any chance that Notre Dame will make a BCS bowl this year. Second, it serves as another probable nail in the coffin of Charlie Weis’ career in South Bend, Ind. Fun times!…
Here’s a question you probably had to answer back in your school days: When two white-hot freight trains are hurtling toward each other at top speed on the same stretch of track, what determines which one survives and which one is destroyed? That’s right — the rushing offense. The Naval Academy Midshipmen (6-2) are taking on the Temple University Owls (5-2) on Saturday in Annapolis. Each team has notched five straight wins this season and is gunning for a “W” this weekend to become eligible for a bowl game — although Navy will need seven victories this year because it’s…
A team of Naval Academy midshipmen will be presenting the colors at tonight’s game two of the World Series in New York, in which the New York Yankees, down a game, will try to equalize the series against the defending champion Philadelphia Phillies. Inspired by the service and patriotism of those midshipmen, After Action decided to take a look at the series so far and offers this preview of tonight’s game.
