I don’t take the Army-Navy game as seriously as former officers do. When I was in the service that game was always something that officers got all hyped up about; us whitehats never really cared all that much. That being said, eleven in a row is fairly impressive. A couple of things stood out to me that did not reflect well on either service.
The Navy quarterback made a point of thanking God for allowing him to “reach this point” and for sustaining him during the game. Sort of as an afterthought he mentioned that his teammates had also been supportive. That struck me as unseemly coming from a military officer and a representative of a government military academy.
The Army quarterback was shown weeping uncontrollably after the game, head hanging and literally sobbing, and continued to do so for almost fifteen minutes throughout the ceremonial exchange of singing by the two academies. He is a senior, and certainly losing for a fourth time to Navy has to be difficult but, dude, you are an Army officer and a leader of men. Get a grip. This is not what Army officers are supposed to be made of.
Update, Sunday, 11:00am: The more I think about it, the more I realize than my opinion of both academies was significantly diminished by the aftermath of that game, and if our military is being led by crybabies and Jesus freaks I am profoundly grateful that my service is long behind me.
You can bet some Army officers are watching and wondering about that weeping..Maybe wondering if they want that kid on their team, perhaps leading men into real dangerous situations.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I never cared about Military Academy games much. When in services I found that I usually much preferred officers who were not from the academies. Just a little more normal usually.