The 111th Army Navy Game

Mike & Friends Blog

Dan Rackley

Dan Rackley is a US Naval veteran living in Philadelphia and a contributor to "Will They Ever Trust Us Again?"

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December 12th, 2010 2:05 PM

Infighting At It's Finest!

By Dan Rackley

Yesterday, for the one hundred and eleventh time the US Navy Midshipmen faced the Army Black Knights in their annual game of football against each other. Nothing says synergy between the branches of our military by arranging a contest where the two sides try to cripple each other over an inflated piece of leather. But as it stands, it’s that time of year again, and Army faced Navy on the field for some friendly competition.

For the ninth straight time Navy beat Army with a final score of 31-17. You’d begin to think that for a group of folks that primarily do most of their fighting in the middle of the water; Army would have a little bit of an easier time beating Navy in a ground game. Nope. For damn near a decade now the Midshipmen have steamrolled over the Knights. For those of you looking for me to turn this into an analogy concerning the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, I’m not going to do it. Oh ok you twisted my arm. Here goes. Army has lost for nine straight years to Navy. It’s been nine years since the war on terror began. If we can’t trust the Army to win a ground game against eleven other guys, is anyone surprised we haven’t found Bin Laden yet? Let me guess, Army’s coach spent the first quarter reading My Pet Goat, then at halftime declared Mission Accomplished. There, how ya like them apples?

But like most of the things that go on with our government, I’m relying on the news of the final score solely on published reports and hearsay. I did not watch so much as one second of the Army Navy game. For roughly the same reason I don’t care that President Obama doesn’t have a high bowling average. He shouldn’t have one. A thirty seven is a perfectly acceptable average for a sitting president. He shouldn’t have the time to get that average any higher. Look at Nixon, he once bowled back to back 300 games. Look how he turned out. So for those of you that are looking for something to get on Obama’s case for, just wait till he gets his average above 150. Then you’ll have all the evidence you need.

But I digress; I can’t really get into college football to begin with. Most you can have the same player on a team for is four years. Unless of course some big money NFL team offers a guy a multimillion dollar contract, or if the Cleveland Browns offer a coupon book with three free car wash passes inside. But like with my presidential bowling average theory, I like that the Army and Navy’s respective teams aren’t all that great when it comes to playing against other colleges. Gives me some slim sense of trust in the country’s military leaders that they are concentrating more on learning the art of war(even though it’s the Defense Department) if they have a crappy football team. All those dropped passes should make you proud to be an American.

But when the Army Navy game comes around this time next year, I probably won’t watch then either. Not until more actual members of the Army and Navy are home to watch it. Watching SpongeBob with my son is on a Saturday is a better form of protest than writing an angry letter to a politician anyway. I’ll still be watching a fantasy world, but at least they don’t try to B.S. me about it.

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Before I close, want to give a little plug to my Associated Content Contributor Page. It's got all the other non-political stuff I churn out on a semi-regular basis. Go give it a look.