Oklahoma and Army West Point will battle on the gridiron for the first time since 1961 later this year, but fans who want to witness history on their televisions might need to find their wallets first. NewsOK.com reported Monday that despite the history brought to bear by both football programs into the Nov. 22 contest, the Sooners and Black Knights likely will end up as a pay-per-view game. It’s a rarity for most of college football, but OU has played on PPV once annually for the past few years; last year’s game against Tulane reportedly cost $55 to order. Oklahoman…
Browsing: Army
First-year expansion franchises rarely make headlines for anything outside of record-setting futility. The Las Vegas Golden Knights are the exception to beat all exceptions, but while the team has been the story of the NHL season, it’s been on the radar of Army officials for a bit longer. In late 2016, reports surfaced that team owner Bill Foley, a 1967 U.S. Military Academy graduate, had his heart set on “Black Knights” as the team nickname, echoing both his alma mater and a number of his other business interests. Foley told Army Times that the academy pushed back on the plan,…
The Army West Point record-holder for most rushing yards by a quarterback will attempt to make the Baltimore Ravens as a wide receiver. And if that seems like the strangest part of Trent Steelman’s path to an NFL roster, consider the following: Steelman, who signed with the Ravens over the weekend, reportedly received an offer from the Ravens in 2013, before he’d even graduated, but his service commitment trumped his football plans. While that commitment may have kept him from the NFL, Steelman attempted another high-level athletic pursuit, trying out for the U.S. Olympic bobsled team. After moving to the Army Reserve…
With less than a minute to play in Saturday’s game at Wake Forest, and with his team down by a field goal, senior Army linebacker Stephen Ricciardi may have gotten a bit desperate. First the video, then some background: [HTML1] The setup: The Black Knights led 21-14 going into the fourth quarter at Wake, but two late scoring drives gave the home team a 24-21 edge, and an Army fumble gave Wake the ball back with about four minutes to play. Army called its last timeout with 2:34 left, stopping the clock before a critical 3rd-and-8. But Wake Forest picked…
Aside from the typical midseason TV-directed time changes (more on them later), the 2014 service academy slate is just about set. And as sweltering summer temperatures signal the beginning of full-pad practices and traditional preseason speculation, here’s a few things for the more-than-casual academy football fan to take notice of: 1. A normal Saturday slate. Aside from a trio of games in late November, including two on the day after Thanksgiving, every service academy game will be played during a time typically reserved for college football. Last year, Air Force alone played four non-Saturday games. 2. Mids going big time:…
USA Today has updated its massive college football salary database and recently published a piece on the exploding cost of employing a major-college football coach, which has nearly doubled since 2006. The payouts for service-academy coaches haven’t seen that big of a surge, at least in recent years. Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo still leads the pack, earning a bit more than $1.5 million in 2013. That’s down from $1.6 million last year, but those figures likely all fall under the contract extension signed by the coach, terms undisclosed, in 2011. It’s good enough for 63rd on the overall list.…
The writer of this entry is a Red Sox fan, so he’s paying close attention to the World Series. He’s also been fascinated with the source of the helmet worn by outfielder Jonny Gomes during playoff-related celebrations, something about which Gomes has been elusive, other than mentioning it’s been “battle tested.” Well, Gomes is correct — it’s been battle tested, alright, and it’s also appeared in a war zone. Army Master Sgt. Miguel Chacon’s relationship with Gomes dates back to earlier this season, when Gomes saw the soldier in the crowd and tossed him a pair of batting gloves. Chacon,…
After the Naval Academy rescheduled a soccer game this week and the Air Force Academy announced it wouldn’t travel to Annapolis for this weekend’s big Navy-Air Force football game, it looked like the government shutdown had completely cast its shadow over service academy athletics. However, the Naval Academy announced late Wednesday that the game against Air Force and would go on. At the time, it was the only athletic contest that remained on Navy’s shutdown-shortened schedule, but the school announced Friday that some games were back on the docket. Even the women’s soccer game at American University, which had been…
Army’s angling for a big finish to its three-year slate of games at Yankee Stadium — a return match with Notre Dame. The Black Knights are booked to face Connecticut in the Bronx in 2014, then Rutgers in 2015 — a rematch of their 2011 Yankee Stadium showdown — according to Army football guru Sal Interdonato’s latest report. But the capper in 2016 is still in doubt — Army athletic director Boo Corrigan told Interdonato that talks with Notre Dame are in the works, but nothing’s been locked in. The Irish downed Army 27-3 on Nov. 12, 2011, in the…
Receiver. Running back. Quarterback. Kick returner. Long snapper? Trent Steelman was a dual threat for four seasons as Army’s starting quarterback, rushing his way to the most touchdowns in school history (45) while throwing for more than 2,700 career yards. He got a chance to show his rushing skills during the East-West Shrine Game on Saturday in St. Petersburg, Fla., scoring on a 7-yard dash in the third quarter to give the East team its only touchdown. Then, he lined up at long snapper for the extra point. There’s versatility, and then there’s football’s version of a Swiss Army knife.…
