Before I get to my latest
reflections on all things service academy sports related, let me share some of
the comments I received this week.
Gary from Bel
Air, MD would vote for George Chaump as
the worst coach in Navy history, “He spent 11 years under Woody Hayes and
learned nothing…he kept us suffering with that horrible Swiss cheese
defense.” Gary, who graduated USNA
in 1960, also said that he wants Navy to continue to play Notre Dame. “I want to beat Notre Dame more than
Army.” He predicts the streak will
come to a halt in Dublin,
Ireland in 2012.
Chris from
Stafford, VA played for Navy in the mid
80’s and he would never advocate discontinuing the series. “From a player’s perspective you play
Notre Dame because they represent what is supposed to be the best about college
sports. They are supposed to be the
single candle burning brightly in the hurricane winds of the minor league for
the NFL.” Chris also predicts that
the day will come when Navy beats the Irish and as a result, a celebration of
epic proportions will engulf Annapolis.
Rich from
Anaheim, CA is a 1989
West
Point grad who also believes
Navy should play Notre Dame every year.
He says that as long as Navy has Paul Johnson, the Mids have a chance to
“sneak up on (Notre Dame) and hold on in the 4th quarter.” As far as his cadets go, Rich believes
that any coach who brings Army to a bowl game will “get the next version of a
tank named after him.”
Paul from
Huntington, NY is also a 1989
West
Point grad who shared some of
his opinions about the study group and his overall displeasure as a fan. Paul’s comments were echoed by a few
other Army fans in shorter tirades, so I’ll try to summarize them. According to a handful of fans, Michie
Stadium may be one of the worst stadiums in Division 1-A football – or as one
fan argued, “it’s worse than some high school stadiums.” The conditions, according to Paul are
deteriorating every year. For
example, one fan said that if it rains on game day and you are waiting for food
in the “covered” concession stand area – bring your poncho with you because
“covered” does not account for the leaks in the roof. As for the study group, Paul said the
“bunker mentality” shouldn’t surprise me.
He referred to West
Point as having an impenetrable
“inner circle” and if you’re out of it, well, you’re out of
it.
As always, I appreciate the
feedback, and since the feedback is increasing, I have decided to open a new
email address for all of your comments.
So from now on, if you want to share your thoughts, send an email to
offtheyard@gmail.com. I’m in
negotiations with Google about a possible corporate sponsorship – I can’t
imagine why they wouldn’t be interested in advertising that they are the
“exclusive” email address of Off the
Yard.
A GoMids.com
Road Trip to West Point?
As for the comments I
received, first let me say that as a boy growing up in
New
Jersey, I used to
go to Army football games with my grandparents and all of their senior citizen
cronies. It was about a 90-minute
bus ride and I was usually about 65 years younger than everyone else on the trip
– including the driver (scared me to death going up some of those mountain
roads). My grandmother used to
always rave about the parade before the Army games – which incidentally, I
always found pretty boring. As a
seven-year-old, I thought parades included fire trucks…and each time I went, yep
you guessed it, no fire trucks were in the procession.
I also remember sitting on
bleachers that were not very comfortable.
My grandfather used to bring one of those cushion seats with a back for
support. Needless to say, I was
pretty amazed to hear from Army fans that the bleachers are still the best seats
available at Michie Stadium. There
has got to be a big-time (rich) West Point graduate out there somewhere who can donate some seats
with backs on them. I’m still
holding out hope that season ticket holders on the 50-yard-line have seat
backs. Anyone have good, current
photos of Michie Stadium? One Army
fan wanted me to post some with my next column. Heck if an Army fan wants me to send
him/her a disposable camera, drop me an email and during the season I’ll share
your photo journal with others who can’t get to West Point for a game.
Maybe I should just go and find out for myself. How would a three-year-old do at a
football game?
Questions for Coach
Johnson
Media Day (July
30th) is fast approaching and GoMids.com is planning unprecedented
coverage of the event (me and a tape recorder). And even though I have been filling my
brain with possible questions for Coach Johnson for several months, I may have
room for a few more. So if you have
a burning and perhaps unique question to ask the coach, send it to offtheyard@gmail.com. If they
are better than mine (long shot), I’ll take credit for thinking of it and I’ll
ask him it.
Summer Training Profiles
Also planned in the coming
weeks are some of those feel good stories I had hinted about in Volume
6.
I hear it’s true that Midshipmen and Falcon football players don’t sell
cars during the summer (sorry Sooner fans). I’ll share with you all a glimpse into
what it is like these days during summer training for the future leaders of the
military. Personally, I remember
spending four weeks trying to throw fellow Mids out of a bear pit at the Marine
Corps Base in Quantico - in August – now that was fun.
Looking for a Few Good Army and Air Force
Fans
Finally, are you an Army or
Air Force service academy football fan and have knowledge of not only your
school’s team but the other two as well?
Are you looking to weigh-in on the upcoming season? If so, I may have a special mission that
may be of interest. Send me an
email with your
service academy resume of football acumen and you might just get picked for this
special detail. The Navy fan has
already been identified for the mission and let me tell you, he is pretty
psyched about the role he is going to play…especially the part about possibly
getting to meet Jessica Biel in
person.