The Design of Army-Navy
Part 5 - Ode to Joy
Part 1 - The Uniforms
Part 2 - The Covers
Part 3 - The Prisoners
Part 4 - The Spirit
How’s everybody doing? It’s Thursday and I miss Army-Navy.
You know, the anticipation of this rivalry is really quite palpable.
At this time last week we were frothing at the mouth, chomping at the bit, and sitting on pins and needles waiting for this game.
And it’s terribly possible that the only thing more palpable than the anticipation, is the Army-Navy withdrawal the week following the game. I know I am not alone on this?
Here we collectively sit, voices wrecked, wallets emptied, credit cards lost, carrying our pom-pon into the post-game-week, wondering how to properly express the joy and satisfaction of a 3-year win-streak after so, so many consecutive loses.
Do I post something?
What do I post?
Crap. I forgot to post this factoid about Magnum P.I. being the 1967 QB for Navy.
Is it too late to post this?
What should I share?
Did the ‘67 teams ever have that touch football game?
Have my friends and distant family had enough?
Have they unfriended me after my barrage of #BEATnavy posts over the past two weeks?
Has Kevin from chemistry class sophomore year of high school and Aunt Rita had enough of spirit banners/videos, prank updates and throwback Army-Navy videos from the 1960s?
Do we care? No, of course not - we vigorously post away.
What we’re all dealing with here is 14 years of disappointment. 14 years of heartbreak and shame disguised as consolatory pride.
And, we get just one evening + a Sunday to exercise the demons of all that frustration and expel that pent-up joy.
Then its back to the Monday.
Back to the office.
Back to clients and emails and phone calls.
Back to a non-#BEATnavy world.
Gone are the patriotic tailgates, march-ons, and flyovers.
Gone are the classmates, random cadets in long-o, and hotel lobbies.
It’s simply not fair.
Now look, we’ve all done a great job this week of carrying that victory forward.
Its been done with an esteemed sense of duty, a real sense of honor and plenty of good-natured jabs at the Naval Academy (which they deserve, of course).
So, below you’ll find a curated selection of post-game wrap-ups, photos and other wonderful internet things to help get you through the rest of the week, and maybe satisfy you until Army takes on Houston on Dec. 22 in Dallas, TX.
Instant nostalgia.
GAME BALL PART 1
Army West Point Marathon Team - The game ball for the Army-Navy Game has a fascinating journey each and every year. First, the game ball’s wickedly-awesome journey starts with a relay from West Point to Philadelphia by way of the Army West Point Marathon Team…
GAME BALL PART 2
To close out the journey of the game ball we look no further then the Golden Knights. The second part of the journey for the game ball is the ever popular jump-team delivery. It’s always a crowd pleaser.
THE MARCH-ON
This contest isn’t even close. Each year the Corps of Cadets destroys the midshipmen. It’s actually mind-boggling that this in anyway acceptable. But, I guess we all shout #NavySucks for a reason.
THE PROGRAM
REACTION
More of the same. Big Ol USAA logo. Centered. Pictures of two players from each team. They didn’t even do that part right, placing the two Army players next to each other.
No sense of rivalry communicated here, could be the program to any other game on any other Saturday.
All four players are in dark jerseys. Yikes. C’mon. The faux leather is cheesy and not to mention these were probably $20 a piece.
THE UNIFORMS
REACTION
ARMY: My favorite observation comes from former Army O-Lineman and my former teammate Josh Gonzalez: “Imagine being a Navy ball player (that thought actually makes my stomach turn) and waking up and seeing these Angel of Death unis? It’s not bad enough to be 2-9 and having a little goat on the side of your yellow helmets. It’s game week, boys and girls. 5 days....Go Army. Beat Navy.”
NAVY: They honored a goat.
THE PRISONERS
EXCELSIOR!
The prisoner exchange went off without a hitch. Every year when the cadets turn around after being returned to the first captain they reveal a message affixed to their backs. This year’s message: 3-PEAT!
This has become a momentous undertaking for CBS over the last several years. They usually do an exceptional job of capturing the spirit and ethos of the classic rivalry. This year’s iteration was no different. Its great to see non-academy people reacting to this intro across social media. The military-civilian divide is a real thing. I believe these intros are a good effort to breach that divide. Well Done, CBS.
TV RATINGS
The Good: The 119th Army-Navy Game was the 6th highest-rated College football game of the season.
The Bad: It was a 3% decrease from last year’s contest that brought in the highest rating of any Army-Navy Game in history (still 2nd all-time).
The Ugly: We can certainly credit Navy’s poor season and dismal uniforms for the decline in viewership (#BEATnavy).
THE PRESIDENT
Politics aside, its a big deal for the President of the United States to conduct a game’s coin toss. Especially when that game has the Commander-in-Chief’s trophy as the prize. In addition to his coin toss duties, President Trump spent time in the stands with both the Corps of Cadets and the Midshipmen.
As is the case, it spurred a lot of opinions and takes and grades. The Deadspin article linked below had this comical take…
“The video reveals that he added some Trumpier moves to the equation, beginning with a surprise cameo from his signature Unbelievable Can You Believe This shrug and concluding with the Trump classic Mystery Boop, a sort of soft version of a point.”
Ahhh, the time honored tradition of a Battalion Commander awkwardly monologuing into the camera followed by an artillery shell being hurled downrange, something blowing up and half-hearted soldiers mumbling GO ARMY - BEAT NAVY. Well those days are over (kinda) thanks to the advent of the Cadet Media Group. We are seeing a rise in more polished videos year after year. Keep it up! Check out this year’s slate.
THE WRAP-UPS
John Feinstein’s Wrap-Up
PHILADELPHIA - For years, there was a sign over the Army locker-room door that every football player would touch before heading to the field. It was a quote from a John Dryden poem: “I will lay me down and bleed a while and then rise up to fight again.”
When Todd Berry became Army’s coach in 2000, he had the sign taken down. He wanted everything about Army football to be new. He changed the offense, changed the recruiting approach, and by the time he left midway through his fourth season, Army was on its way to an 0-13 finish and in the midst of what would become a 14-game losing streak to Navy…
As For Football’s Superlatives
Beat Navy week is officially over and it ended in the best possible way: Army victory! The streak is firmly established with 3 straight years of the Cadets besting the Middies. Plus, the CIC is undisputedly ours for the second year in a row. Now we get to look forward to over a year of piss-poor Squid excuses and tired references to a 14-year streak. Don’t worry, Squids don’t understand how math or how the sequential nature of time works. Navy won 3-years in a row before they won 14. So continue to celebrate this momentous victory as we all daydream about our decade of dominance. It was fun to watch…
GREGG BELL USMA ‘93 ON Jeff Monken
Gregg Bell is the Seahawks and NFL writer for The News Tribune. He started covering the league in 2002 as the Oakland Raiders beat writer for The Sacramento Bee. The Ohio native began covering the Seahawks in their first Super Bowl season of 2005. In a prior life he graduated from West Point and served as a tactical intelligencer officer in the U.S. Army, so he may ask you to drop and give him 10.
PHILADELPHIA - Minutes after his Army Black Knights beat Navy for the third consecutive year, Jeff Monken climbed from the field to the railing of lower stands…
Feinstein’s Findings
PHILADELPHIA - The game had a different feel right from the beginning. For the first time in 17 years—hard to believe—Army was the clear favorite coming in. Navy's understandable desperation was evident even before kickoff. As the two teams headed in opposite directions down the hallway leading to their respective tunnels, there was considerable jawing back and forth—unusual, if not unique, in this game…
Military.com
PHILADELPHIA -- In its first matchup with Navy as a ranked team in more than 20 years, No. 22 Army edged out a 17-10 victory and extended its winning streak in the series to three games.
Army (10-2) clinched the Commander-in-Chief's trophy in back-to-back seasons for the first time in program history.
Mark Carruthers Blog - Reflexions
After 60 minutes of football yesterday, the final canon was fired and Army was victorious with a 17-10 win. Chants of “3-Peat” were heard in various sections of the stadium. With a victory over Air Force earlier this season, the Commander-In-Chief Trophy will continue its residency at West Point for another season.
THE PHOTOS
Until Next Time, Fare Thee Well
So, that closes out another Army-Navy Game. The bad news is we have to wait until December 2019 to do this again. The good news there are so many other Army-Navy matchups coming this year between these two rivals.
Men’s Basketball Jan 19 | Feb 16
Women’s Basketball Jan 19 | Feb 16
Rifle Feb 2
Wrestling Feb 23
Men’s Tennis Apr 13
Men’s Lacrosse Apr 13
Women’s Lacrosse Apr 14
Baseball
Softball
Track
Unfortunately, these match-ups are not as widely publicized, so if you are reading this an know of a date/time/location of a match-up not listed (Club Sports/Activities as well), please let us know.
Especially those in Annapolis as we are just a short 45 minutes drive and would love to come support the Army Team behind enemy lines - like we did back in September to see Sprint Football and Women’s Rugby take home victories.
