A half-dozen quick hits for a Friday morning: 1. Painting sports history. LeRoy Neiman, famous for his paintings of sports action and portraits of athletes, died Wednesday at age 91. His link to the military — according to his New York Times obituary, Neiman served in the Army during World War II as a cook in the European theater. His link to military sports comes here: A painting of the final play of the 1946 Army-Navy game entitled “Defending Victory — 1946.” Click that link for more on the painting itself, which was commissioned as part of the rivalry’s centennial…
Browsing: BCS
Three quick hits for a Wednesday morning, from Belgrade to Brian Stann to Big East football: 1. Pre-Olympic trip. Three Olympics-bound soldiers are among the seven elite U.S. Greco-Roman wrestlers headed to Europe later this week for the Gedza International tournament in Belgrade, Serbia, according to TheMat.com. Sgt. 1st Class Dremiel Byers (120 kilograms), Sgt. Spenser Mango (55 kg) and Spc. Justin Lester (66 kg), all members of the Army’s World Class Athlete Program, will make the trip; Mango and Lester will wrestle Friday, with Byers hitting the mat Saturday. At stake: A chance to fine-tune their mat game as…
Is it a move to remain relevant in the evolving world of big-time college football, or a descent into an “ethical cesspool of misplaced priorities”? A way to ensure a competitive schedule, or a repeat of Army’s disastrous Conference USA run? Navy has made it official: The Mids will join the Big East Conference as a football-only member beginning in 2015. That leaves three full years to argue whether it’s a good idea. Need some ammunition in either direction? You’ve come to the right place. Click below for both sides on some key issues.
Air Force ended its regular season with a 45-21 win at Colorado State, giving the Falcons a 7-5 record and a fifth-straight season of bowl eligibility. Which bowl? There’s at least three possibilities, and fans shouldn’t plan on booking any plane tickets until this weekend’s action wraps up. Frank Schwab of the Colorado Springs Gazette lays out a few of the scenarios here, with some words from the key players. Here are three key points for the Air Force faithful and armchair bowl projectors to consider. 1. Finish vs. value. The Mountain West Conference has agreements with four bowls –…
Air Force and Navy’s football rivalry could reach a new level as a result of the ongoing conference shake up — their annual meeting could have conference implications in the Big East race. The Associated Press and ESPN reporter Andy Katz are reporting the Big East is targeting the two service academies to join the conference after Pittsburgh and Syracuse announced they’d leave the Big East for the Atlantic Coast Conference. Each would receive a football-only invitation, saving their respective basketball teams the collective embarrassment of playing in the juggernaut hoops conference — not to mention saving the Air Force…
The TCU tennis and cross country coaches might be shaking their heads over their administration’s money grab decision to transfer all sports to the Big East starting in 2012, but the Air Force Academy doesn’t seem to mind too much. Air Force Academy Superintendent and a former assistant football coach Lt. Gen. Mike Gould issued a bland statement of support for TCU and the Mountain West Conference’s future. “We feel very confident about the long-term sustainability of the Mountain West Conference, especially with the upcoming additions of Boise State, Fresno State and University of Nevada-Reno to the membership of the…
Air Force’s road game at San Diego State this past weekend was supposed to be a warm-up before it faced two top-10 teams, No. 4 TCU and No. 9 Utah, in consecutive weekends. Instead, the trip turned into a debacle. Led by a freshman running back who rushed for 191 yards, San Diego State upset the then-No. 23 Falcons 27-25. To make matters worse, Air Force lost starting fullback Jared Tew for the rest of the regular season after possibly breaking his fibula in the first quarter. Outside of quarterback Tim Jefferson, Tew was probably the player the Falcons could…
The Air Force and Naval academies made a statement this New Year’s Eve: Don’t take service academy football lightly or you will get stomped. Both teams obliterated their respective bowl opponents Dec. 31 in front of a national audience. And we’re not talking about the Mid-American Conference champions. Houston and Missouri might not be on the levels of Texas or Florida in the college football landscape, but they are two respectable football programs; Houston with its fringe Heisman Trophy candidate at quarterback, and Missouri, winners of the Big 12 North in 2007 and 2008. So here is the question: How…
