Army Navy Game

My husband and I were standing in an enormous human bottleneck outside Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field, waiting to clear security and take our seats at last month's Army-Navy game - President Bush was attending - when we came to the same conclusion. We'd driven a little over two hours to get there, and then we sat in traffic for 45 minutes. While waiting to go through the metal detectors, we missed all the pre-game pageantry, the kickoff and the first score. We were cold and hungry.

It happens, inevitably, at every sporting event. Katie Odierno Funk hears the national anthem and her eyes well up with tears. It's true whether she's watching baseball or basketball, but it hits her the hardest, without fail, at the Army-Navy football game each year. She thinks about her father, Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the commanding general of Multinational Corps-Iraq. She knows he will be watching, before he heads to bed, as much of the game as he can from Iraq. She thinks about her brother, Tony Odierno, also a West Point graduate, who lost his left arm when a rocket-propelled grenade slammed into his Humvee while he was on a routine patrol in Iraq.

In an article in yesterday's Sun, sports columnist Rick Maese recounted the age-old Army-Navy game tradition of West Point cadets slipping into Annapolis to capture a couple of the Naval Academy's mascot goats. Today's Army-Navy clash at M&T Bank Stadium will be the fifth time the two military academies have played the game locally. The first time was 1893, when they met in Annapolis, with Navy winning, 6-4. Thirty-one years later, when they took to the field at the old Municipal Stadium on 33rd Street in Baltimore; this time, Army trounced Navy, 12-0.

IN BALTIMORE, when do blue and gray make green?When the blue-coated midshipmen of the Naval Academy and the gray-clad cadets from West Point meet at the Army-Navy game on Dec. 20, 2000, at PSINet Stadium.The classic college football game, whose return to Baltimore after a half-century seemed a long shot as recently as a year ago, could mean $15 million in economic spinoff. That was the impact of the game in Philadelphia, and there's no reason it can't be just as lucrative for Baltimore.The Baltimore Ravens and Maryland Stadium Authority, which will share profits after the service academies receive their cut, lobbied hard to land the event.

PHILADELPHIA -- The hot seat Army coach Bob Sutton has been sitting on most of this season is now scalding, thanks to sophomore quarterback Brian Madden and the Navy football team.Madden and the Midshipmen pushed the mistake-riddled Cadets all around Veterans Stadium yesterday for a 19-9 victory that could possibly force Sutton's exit as head coach after nine seasons.Army finished the season with a 3-8 record and is 44-55-1 under Sutton. Even though Sutton is 6-3 against Navy, talk has surfaced around West Point that his job is in jeopardy with one season remaining on his contract.

The Army-Navy game, an epic matchup of the service academies' football teams that has been held nearly every fall for more than a century, will be played in Baltimore next year.A "major announcement" by the U.S. Naval Academy has been scheduled today at PSINet Stadium, home of the Ravens. Officials are expected to reveal that the game will be played at Baltimore's downtown stadium Dec. 2, 2000, according to several sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity."I will not and cannot confirm that," said Eric Ruden, a spokesman for the Naval Academy.

Co-captains Jamie Doffermyre and Terrence Anderson and senior punter Tray Calisch have been named to Lindy's preseason all-independent team.Doffermyre led the Midshipmen in tackles with 127 from his safety position.Anderson was rated the eighth best center in the country by the Sporting News. He had a stellar blocking grade of 89 percent last season and averaged 15 knockdowns a game while not allowing a sack.Calisch averaged 40.6 yards a punt. He had four for fair catches and downed seven inside the opponent's 20-yard line.

PHILADELPHIA -- The craziness surrounding the 100th Army-Navy game can officially begin."You know at the academies there are a whole lot of rules you have to abide by," said Navy co-captain Jamie Doffermyre (Arundel). "But guys really get it leading up to this game. The worst in Annapolis goes to the Army cadets on exchange. They have to go around wearing Navy uniforms and aren't allowed to sleep.""Things for this one game border on lunacy," added the Midshipmen's other co-captain, Terrence Anderson.

Complaints about deteriorating conditions at Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium had long preceded Saturday's Army-Navy game mishap in which a railing collapse sent nine fans hurtling to the AstroTurf field -- including a West Point cadet who suffered a fractured bone in his neck.The accident may prompt the Naval Academy and U.S. Military Academy to review whether they will play future games at the 27-year-old stadium. A contract between the academies and the city of Philadelphia for use of Veterans Stadium expires in 2002.

IT SHOULDN'T have taken a near-tragedy at the Army-Navy game to improve Baltimore's chances of playing host to this classic American sports event. But Baltimore merits strong consideration after last weekend's game, in which nine cadets fell 15 feet when a railing held by tape gave way at Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium.Fortunately, no one was seriously injured. But the accident reopens the question of whether a new location can better serve Army-Navy. The contract in Philadelphia expires in 2002.

M&T Bank Stadium is expected to host at least one Army-Navy football game - and perhaps more - as the schools seek sites for future games, according to officials familiar with the process. The committee of representatives from the Naval Academy and West Point could announce sites for games after 2009 by week's end, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because selections have not been finalized. Baltimore had previously learned it was among four finalists, competing with Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field - which will host this year's game - as well as FedEx Field in Landover and the new Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. The committee is examining bids for games from 2010 to 2014.

My husband and I were standing in an enormous human bottleneck outside Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field, waiting to clear security and take our seats at last month's Army-Navy game - President Bush was attending - when we came to the same conclusion. We'd driven a little over two hours to get there, and then we sat in traffic for 45 minutes. While waiting to go through the metal detectors, we missed all the pre-game pageantry, the kickoff and the first score. We were cold and hungry.

WASHINGTON - As Navy cornerback Rashawn King raced toward the end zone after scooping up a fumble in the first quarter of yesterday's EagleBank Bowl at RFK Stadium, an interesting thought went through his head. "I'm thinking I've got to get those yards that I didn't get against Pitt, everybody's been telling me," said King, who had a 91-yard return on an interception against Pittsburgh this season. "I was glad I got those back. I've never been in the end zone before. I felt like Shun White feels a little bit."

Bobby Ross understood the nature of the Army-Navy rivalry long before he took over coaching the Black Knights in 2004. Ross grew up knowing that his father passed up an appointment to West Point because of the Depression. Ross later served in the Army, coached at The Citadel and saw one of his sons graduate from the Naval Academy. But it was after the first of Ross' three seasons at West Point that the essence of the rivalry was driven home. It happened at the funeral of former Army football star Glenn Davis in March 2005.

The foundation of Navy's football dominance over Army can be found hundreds of miles north of Annapolis, at the Naval Academy Prep School in Newport, R.I. It is there that a long-haired quarterback from Hawaii named Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada cut his locks and honed his skills in running the same triple-option offense he had in high school. It is there that a college soccer goalkeeper from New Jersey named Sander Gossard learned how to play football and turned three years in the Navy into a four-year career as an offensive lineman.

It's not going to be called the General Motors Army-Navy Game, but the academies are considering their options when it comes to the sponsorship and location of one of the nation's most storied college football matchups. The game is under contract for Philadelphia through 2009, but Army-Navy could get a new venue after that, with Baltimore a bidder. As for sponsorship, the schools are interested but not committed to landing one. "We're looking at a presenting sponsor, but it's not going to be the 'X Army-Navy game,' " Navy athletic director Chet Gladchuk said.

It happens, inevitably, at every sporting event. Katie Odierno Funk hears the national anthem and her eyes well up with tears. It's true whether she's watching baseball or basketball, but it hits her the hardest, without fail, at the Army-Navy football game each year. She thinks about her father, Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the commanding general of Multinational Corps-Iraq. She knows he will be watching, before he heads to bed, as much of the game as he can from Iraq. She thinks about her brother, Tony Odierno, also a West Point graduate, who lost his left arm when a rocket-propelled grenade slammed into his Humvee while he was on a routine patrol in Iraq.

The Army-Navy rivalry doesn't exist in the Campbell family, at least not in the way you'd think it would. After all, Reggie, the third-oldest child and youngest son, is the man of the hour for Navy - and his older brother, Tony Martin, is part of an Army unit serving in Iraq. That'll make for some good ribbing the next time they talk, right? A little chest-thumping by the younger, the hero at M&T Bank Stadium, with his two touchdowns and 227 all-purpose yards in his final Army-Navy game, and his cameo as leader of the alma mater?

Navy coach Paul Johnson was joking with his kicker, senior Joey Bullen, before yesterday's Army-Navy game about missing all but one of the kicks he was trying from 50 to 52 yards. But when slotback Reggie Campbell returned a punt to the Army 34-yard line and left one second on the clock, Johnson decided to give his kicker a chance to make a 51-yard field goal. "He comes up to me during the timeout and said, `Coach, I can make it.'" Johnson said. "And I said [sarcastically], `Sure you can, I watched you warm up.' He says, `No, really, I can make it.' So I figured the chances were better for him to hit it than for us to complete a pass into the end zone from there.

In an article in yesterday's Sun, sports columnist Rick Maese recounted the age-old Army-Navy game tradition of West Point cadets slipping into Annapolis to capture a couple of the Naval Academy's mascot goats. Today's Army-Navy clash at M&T Bank Stadium will be the fifth time the two military academies have played the game locally. The first time was 1893, when they met in Annapolis, with Navy winning, 6-4. Thirty-one years later, when they took to the field at the old Municipal Stadium on 33rd Street in Baltimore; this time, Army trounced Navy, 12-0.