Go Army! Beat Navy!

Football! Who cares? Not I, but this is Army/Navy! "The most storied rivalry in the history of football" and all that. I don't give a rip about football, but the cadets? That I care about! I will sit through a whole football game, like I did yesterday, just for a glimpse of the cadets. The march-on, the signs, the sea of grey, the flags, the bands, the s-l-i-m to non-existent possibility of seeing Waldo, all add up to an excellent reason to waste spend an afternoon in front of a football game on tv.

So, armed with knitting, nacho dip, and tortilla chips, we were off to C's to while away a family afternoon with Army/Navy at the center.

I had intel from M as to where to look for him on the march-on: "On the right, fourth row from the front, in the group with the Navy guy at the front." Easy to spot, right? Well, he would be, if they would just show the march-on. But, alas, the best they did on that score was occasional flashbacks lasting only a second or two, never enough time to look properly.

One thing I noticed right off the bat, so to speak: too many commercials, not enough cadets, and of course an overabundance of football. Between the game and the commercials, we were treated to an occasional look at the audience, the coaches, the players sitting on the bench, the midshipmen, and every so often we actually saw the cadets. We hunted Waldo diligently, but the camera zoomed by so fast we could barely make out an individual face. Well, no matter. We taped the game for a leisurely inspection at a later time.

On my way home I had a text from M, who had had a text from a friend who claimed to have seen him. This news sent D off to examine her tape, and she called me later that night to report a possible sighting at 4:58-5:00 on the clock/tape. I will be pursuing that lead later tonight, with the fervor of a coach studying the last game tape...slow it down, back it up, freeze the frame...

I must say, the cadets gave an excellent account of themselves. The team persevered on the field; off the field, the cadets in the stands represented themselves with discipline and respect and fine military bearing.

And in spite of what the score might say, it was a good, well-played game with Army scoring the first points of the game and showing a lot of improvement over last year. There is a new coach at USMA, and good things are going to happen, beginning now:

Army won the first half; Navy won the second half. I call that ~ a TIE!