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Go Navy - Beat Army!

Having been recruited to play football for Navy back in the early 80's, I have an allegiance to Navy Football and The Brotherhood.  My Plebe Year, Napolean McCallum "Nap," was our star, Heisman Trophy Candidate, running back.  We opened the season with a win over North Carolina (33-30).  Unfortunately Nap got injured and we suffered through an up and down season and a loss to Army 11-28.  Two highlights of the season; however, were a games against Notre Dame and South Carolina.  After the Service Academy rivalries, Notre Dame is the biggest game of the year.  Back in the 60's, when Joe Bellino and Roger Staubach were at Navy, we won in 1960, 1961 and 1963 (With Heisman Trophy winner, Roger Staubach, Navy was #2 and beat ND 35-14).  After that year, there was an amazing drought and we went into East Rutherford, NJ, to play ND, as decided underdogs.  I'll never forget how we were winning by 9 points with 4 minutes to go.  Then, the referees became a HUGE factor, calling penalty after penalty on us.  Notre Dame scored and was down by 2 and driving.  With one second remaining, they kicked a field goal and missed.  Of course, the referees called a penalty, move the ball 5 yards closer and they made the winning field goal with no time remaining (18-17).  

That was frustrating because the losing streak continued until November 3, 2007, 44 years in a row, and we finally beat ND in triple overtime.  Three pictures from that game are shown below.  Not only did we beat ND that year, but we won 2 of the next 3 years as well. 2013 was a very close game with Navy driving for the winning touchdown, when we were stopped on the ND 30 yard line.  

The other memorable game in 1984 was the #2 ranked, South Carolina Gamecocks, coming to Navy-Marin Corps Stadium, with a 9-0 record.  The only thing stopping them from a #1 ranking and an Orange Bowl berth for the National Championship, was Navy (with a 3-5-1 record at the time).  The only one who thought we had a chance was our team, who rolled to a 38-21 win.

Played since 1890, the Army - Navy game is one of the longest rivalry games in college football.  Both teams have had winning streaks of 4 to 5 years in a row, but the recent success of Navy has been unprecedented.  Navy's most recent streak lasted from 2001 to 2015.  That's 14 years in a row and most of them weren't been close (58-12, 34-6, 42-13, 42-23, 26-14, 38-3, 34-0, 17-3, 31-17, 27-21, 17-13, 34-7, 17-10 and 21-17).  The most fun for me during the streak was an ongoing bet with a West Point friend.  While you are a Midshipman and Cadet, you exchange service academy bathrobes in a loss.  As graduates, the winner gets an item representing the other Academy.  We started our bet the first year the streak began. After 14 years, I have lots of Army gear!  Sweatshirt, hat, mug, jersey, coasters, wine stoppers, jacket...  After the eight win, I asked my friend if he'd like to stop the bet?  His reply, "Eric, the bet is on with me until I die and then it's on with my wife!"  

In 2016 the streak ended.  Primarily because Navy entered the American Conference and we ended up playing in the Championship Game, which happened to be between the last game of the season and the Army-Navy game.  During the AAC Championship Game, our starting Quarterback and Running Back were injured.  We were actually winning until the last few minutes.  Anyway... I was happy to finally buy my Army friend something.

Another fun extra curricular activity of mine is being part of Florida Citrus Sports and the Bowl Selection Committee for the 2 college football bowl games held in Orlando at the end of Dec. and Jan 1. each year.  Our role as "Scouts" is to go to games in the four conferences that participate in our games (SEC, Big 10, ACC, and Big 12), and represent Orlando and FCS.  We go around the tail gate parties prior to the game and get a pulse of the fans on coming to Orlando.  We interact with the home team officials in the Press Box, down on the field in the 4th quarter, and in the Post Game Press Conference. On Monday mornings we have a breakfast meeting at the Citrus Bowl for those who scouted to report back to the Committee.   If you scout at least one game during the season, you get to vote on the teams you think deserve to be in our Bowl Games.  

DALLAS COWBOYS - I lived in Dallas for 3 years in the early 70's, so the Cowboys became my team when Tom Landry was the coach.  We later moved to Miami and I stayed a Cowboys fan and was very excited when Jimmy Johnson was chosen to take over for Coach Landry.  The Cowboys won another 3 Superbowls, but then owner Jerry Jones fired Johnson and I lost interest in the NFL.  Last year when Tom Brady was traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers , I decided to come back to the NFL and cheer for "the old guy."  And, what do you know, they won the Superbowl... in Tampa for that matter.  I've got my Bucs Superbowl hat and am officially on "the band wagon."

MIAMI HURRICANES - You couldn't live in Miami in the 80s and 90s and not be a Cane fan.  I went to their first National Championship game in 1983 in the Orange Bowl.  Those were great days when it was "The U" against the world and "Catholics versus Convicts."  Sadly, it's been at least 15 years since Miami was relevant and it's hard to say if they will ever come back.

AUBURN TIGERS - My new favorited team to root for outside of Navy is Auburn.  My son, Kyler is a 2020 graduate, played Rugby, and as a Navy ROTC student, commissioned as an officer in the Navy after graduation.