yes, it was a fantastic game. First shutout in 30 years. Our sixth straight Commander in Chief's trophy--which is an especially sweet fact to trot out on you Air Force types. After losing 20 of 23 games against AF from 1980-2002, we've won six straight... and 13 straight against Air Force and Army combined

Jeez, rub it in much? Eh I didn't go to the AF Academy so I'm cool with the loss. I know the Army here felt the pain though since I hear West Point was wearing ACU pattern uniforms,

I'm just glad that you have football and normalcy at times where you are ;0)

yeah, those Army uniforms were a tragedy. The idea was perhaps a good one, but they looked terrible on t.v. Plus, you're not supposed to get skunked when you break out the special unis.

Of course, our guys wore the USMC "blood stripe" special uniform so a 34-0 drubbing was to be expected.

I detested Army/Navy and Navy football in general while at USNA. Attendance was mandatory at home games and at the grudge match. On top of losing a precious month of liberty to football over four years, the bastards had the temerity to charge me for tickets. Of course, it was in the guise of an athletic fee - but that money went to support the football program and I was not fooled.

The football supporters liked to claim football made money, but that was not really true. If the brigade was held hostage at a lacrosse game every other Saturday and the only way to see your mid was to buy tickets to the lacrosse game, lacrosse would have "made" just as much. I really did feel like a hostage at those games.

As further injustice, football players were pampered and excused from much of the crap other midshipmen had to deal with daily. They had team tables year round and did not have to participate in drill, march on practices and parades. I once calculated the those activities sucked away three months of my life.

I'm a doer, not a watcher and having to hang out for hours while other people played a game bored me stiff. I had my own sport to practice for and more than enough other things that needed doing like racking or goofing off.

By the time I was a second class (junior) my tolerance was gone. I made a point of getting out of as many football games as I could. My escape from the last Army/Navy game was especially satisfying. I marched on with civilian clothes hidden under my uniform and overcoat. Once dismissed, my best bud and I scrambled to the Army side of field, changed in the head, and were out of the stadium before the cadets battalions had even left the field. A civilian friend was waiting in the parking lot with my car and we were out of there. Freedom is an intoxicating thing.

For those not familiar with the term "march on," essentially you were boosted out of bed on Saturday morning, formed up as a company in uniform, and marched from Bancroft Hall through Annapolis to the football stadium where you ended up arrayed on the field. There was a synchronized removal of covers (hats) while your fellow midshipmen dutifully yelled something like "Go Navy, Beat the Cougars, Owls, Platypuses or what not (Army)." This evolution required at least one practice the week before the game as well, just to make sure we had it down which sucked away hours as well. The march ons and the many other foolish academy evolutions like it left me with little tolerance for stupid activities performed for tradition.

Which is why I was appalled when approached by a gaggle of Captains at the pentagon and told that as the most junior Navy Officer in the command, it was up to me to do Army/Navy right. At the time we all worked for an Army two star who was not a Westpointer. Lucky for me he had a sense of humor or I'd have been toast after papering all the Army flag cars parked at the river entrance with pro-Navy propaganda. I was the only officer literate in power point at the time and that narrowed the suspects. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs was army and not amused.

While stuck in my craw to be forced to participate yet again in Navy football at a time when I thought I was too far gone from that place to be sucked back in, but watching the expressions of the Army flags when their drivers handed them the poster of Bill the Goat knocking out the Mule was pretty funny.

I have other Army/Navy tales, like how the upperclass got me and my fellow plebes schnockered on orange juice and vodka on the bus ride over or the year I got fried for yet another black N for a crime completely unrelated to football, but the product of a chain of events that occurred due to another successful scheme to avoid the game. But I've hijacked your thread enough.

Suffice to say the entire tradition is ridiculous and I haven't watched a Navy football game for decades.

(rated)

@ LT

Wow...that makes me even happier I skipped out on attending a service school.

Well if it makes you feel better I didn't watch the game either...I like to sleep and neither one was my team (GO RUTGERS)

@ Dorinda...life has to continue some way right :-)

@ Edgar...service uniform motifs are weird no matter the school because they aren't actually IN the military (well the reserves I think)...but that's just my opinion

Service academies are a cross and a haze, but that ring opens doors. The communal suffering bonds you with your frat bros and that association carries throughout life. You speak the same lingo and know the traditions - even if they are bogus.

Right or wrong despite several higher degrees tacked on to my resume, it is the Annapolis time that always impresses. I don't recommend it to most people, but if you are convinced your road to happiness includes succeeding in the Navy, there is really only one place to prove your mettle as an undergrad. Up until the 90s and the selections of ADM Boorda, only Annapolis grads were permitted to be CNO and to this day, the vast majority of admirals are knockers. I never thought this was terribly fair, but the birds of a feather principle was in force.

Back in my day, midshipmen and cadets were active duty and carried the green card. This was when the cards were green, grey, pink and brown. I don't think the status of mids has changed, but Edgar is a more recent grad and will know.