Army

If you need a moment to chill amid all the holiday pressure, I've got some music to help -- "O Little Town of Bethlehem," in a soft-jazzy arrangement by the top-notch US Army Field Band with Sergeant First Class Brian Sacawa as soprano sax soloist (Kenny G, eat your heart out). Around Baltimore, Sacawa is better known for his work curating and often performing with Mobtown Modern, an imaginative new music ensemble that has gone on hiatus this season (seeing it bounce back would make a great Christmas gift)

Concerns about cutbacks in defense spending notwithstanding, there are plenty of business opportunities on the horizon connected to activities at Aberdeen Proving Ground. Last week, more than 1,100 business and economic development representatives from across the country attended the proving ground's first installation-wide Advanced Planning Briefing for Industry, where APG commands presented more than 180 potential contracts worth an estimated $19.5 billion over the next five years.

Harry Dutton Grunwell, a retired Army warrant officer with a talent for linguistics and computers, died Dec. 5 at Howard County General Hospital from complications of multiple sclerosis. The Marriottsville resident was 66. Mr. Grunwell was born in Ogden, Pa., the son of Paul and Bernice Grunwell. He graduated in 1963 from Chichester High School in Pennsylvania, where he was class president his last two years. In his senior year, Mr. Grunwell was voted "most talented" for his skill at the piano and "most dependable," said Norman Guarinello, who became friends with Mr. Grunwell in sixth grade when they competed against each other in sports.

The beleaguered Black Knights of Army finally seemed poised to escape their recent past when freshman quarterback Keenan Reynolds gave them a deflating glimpse of Navy's brightening future. Reynolds, who picked the Midshipmen off the deck nine weeks ago and led them back to bowl eligibility, picked them up again on Saturday when it looked like the Commander-in-Chief's trophy was about to slip through their fingers. He accounted for all but two yards in the decisive 80-yard drive that carried the Mids to their 11th straight victory in the legendary Army-Navy rivalry.

A half-century after a Navy quarterback launched his legend here with a win over Army, another might have done the same Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field. Showing why some have begun mentioning his name in the same paragraph, if not the same sentence, as the legendary Roger Staubach, freshman Keenan Reynolds displayed the poise -- and strong right arm -- that helped turn around Navy's season. Reynolds led the Midshipmen back from a rare fourth-quarter deficit against their service academy rivals, leading Navy on a late 80-yard drive and scored what turned out to be the winning touchdown in a 17-13 victory before 69,607 -- including Staubach.

NAVY (7-4) vs. ARMY (2-9) When: Saturday, 3 p.m. Site: Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia TV: CBS Radio: 1090 AM, 1430 AM Series: Navy leads 56-49-7 Last meeting: Navy won, 27-21, on Dec. 10, 2011 at FedEx Field in Landover Line: Navy favored by 7 Navy offense vs. Army defense: The Midshipmen have not been sharp early in their past few games, but offensive coordinator Ivin Jasper has...

Quarterbacks Trent Steelman and Keenan Reynolds will come into Saturday's Army-Navy game at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia from nearly opposite directions. The 113th meeting between the service academies will be Steelman's last game in a collegiate career in which he set Army records for rushing touchdowns (44) and consecutive starts (32), but led the Black Knights to only one winning season (7-6 in 2010). It will mark the seventh career start for Reynolds. The first Navy quarterback to start a game as a freshman in more than two decades, Reynolds has accounted for 17 touchdowns (eight passing)

Phil McConkey wasn't surprised to hear that Navy's mascot had been goatnapped last week, for the umpteenth time, prior to Saturday's Army-Navy football game. That the animal was left tethered to a post, outside of the Pentagon, didn't surprise him either. "The goat is a smelly old thing that defecates all the time, and Army probably couldn't deal with it (after the heist)," said McConkey, a star receiver for Navy in the 1970s. "They also stole our goat when I played there, 34 years ago, and I said the same thing then: "Good riddance, let Army have it. " After 112 years of hijinks and hoopla, Army and Navy can still find ways to torment each other in advance of their storied rivalry.

Ken Niumatalolo noticed the Army guys looking askance as he wound his way through the Pentagon to attend a ceremony for his brother, an Army lieutenant colonel. "I think they recognized me," said the Navy football coach, chuckling. "And I don't think they were too happy to see me. " The Army-Navy football rivalry - set to be contested for the 113 t h time Saturday in Philadelphia - is felt from the halls of power in Washington to the waters and battlefields of the Middle East.

Nine months before Bobby Ross came out of retirement to coach football at Army in December 2003, the United States began its military involvement in Iraq. As he dug into his new job at West Point, Ross was thinking more about how to rebuild a team that had lost all its games the previous season than the escalating casualties of war. Soon enough, Ross learned the success of Army football and whether the United States was actively engaged in war were often intertwined. Though it had not happened during the two World Wars -- the Cadets won their three national championships at the end of and immediately after World War II -- Army's football struggles in the early 1970s were often tied to the unpopularity of and protests against the Vietnam War. When Ross began to recruit in the winter and spring of 2004, the conversations he had with parents of prospective players often turned toward what was happening in Iraq.