Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 40 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
The 125th Anniversary of Army vs Navy Football
The Army vs. Navy football game is special for me. My dad left the Navy when I was 7 years old. He was an enlisted sailor during WWII in the Submarine Service. He left the Navy as an officer with a full commission. Instead of USNR at the end of his name it was USN.
As a Baby Boomer, even though in the first seven years of my life seeing my dad and others in uniform was the norm, after my dad left the Navy, the military presence was still strong. Friends of my parents had served during WWII. My first scoutmaster was a member of a B-17 crew that was shot down over Germany. He lost several fingers to flack and tried to get beyond the wire of his POW camp twice. Another was a Marine who was wounded in the battle of Guadalcanal campaign. A second scoutmaster served in the Pacific on LSTs, a ship with a shallow draft to land troops and equipment on enemy beaches. He said that LST meant Large Slow Target, not Landing Ship Tank.
There is a lot of noise about the college football playoffs, but the Army-Navy game is just as important to me. CBS Sports covered the full Corp of Cadets and Midshipmen March onto the field as well as the game. Young men and women who have to study and make a commitment to serve in the armed forces. That is refreshing to see when you think of some of the nonsense in academia.
Published in Sports
I finally got educated: Had understood LST stood for Landing Ship, Troops!
That Navy team will likely destroy my Sooners in the Armed Forces Bowl. It was a bad year already for OU, and the @##$!! transfer portal is swallowing up our team. Yegads.
They were named for/after/about tanks, but they also carried supplies and troops to direct beach exit from the ship without requiring intermediary transport.
And…
https://ricochet.com/1000660/rip-arnold-larson/
A great tradition is the academies’ teams and cadet/midshipmen crowds trade singing their alma mater hymns facing each side of the stands. Such class beats trying to plant a flag and starting a fight. And these are warriors in training!
Which would probably earn you some duty scrubbing the latrine with a toothbrush.
I liked the corpsmen in the cavalry who wore Stetsons.
We did note that the flags on the Navy players’ shoulders were backwards…stripes first and not stars. Maybe there is some alternate symbolism I’m missing.
Speaking of the Transfer Portal, did you about Marshall? They were scheduled to play Army in the Liberty Bowl, but their head coach took a new job and the whole team (24 anyway) signed up for the Portal and had to end their season.
The Army-Navy game was fun to watch. Old school simple plays and small guys with lots of enthusiasm. The best play was the fake punt using a lineman who ran 30 yards for a Navy first down.
Yeah, I still have my memories of personnel such as Rollie Stichweh and Roger Staubach.
Less than fun fact: During his presidency (and role as the Commander-in-Chief), good ole’ Joe Biden did not attend a single Army-Navy game.
That lineman had become a member of the kickoff team only because he had asked to be, and the coach told him first he had to run 20 mph. He trained like crazy, clocked himself running 20 mph, and got that spot. Amazing: a guy at 285 lbs who can run 20 mph. What an unforgettable play!
Yeah, college football is dismantling itself.
My parents always watched this – in WWII he was in the Army and she was a Navy Wave.
Notre Dame and Navy players do the same thing after their football game. Notre Dame offers NROTC, Army ROTC, and AFROTC.
In 2018, I took my son to my 30th Air Force Academy reunion. We lost the game to Nevada. In an absolute show of class, the Nevada Wolfpack team joined the Air Force Team to sing the 3rd verse of the Air Force Song (our alma mater)with the Cadet Wing and the remaining fans.
Makes me worry about the dust, just thinking of it.
And the end where the big guy tries to juke out the tackler! A new classic.