Swensons' Adventures: Army Victorious Once Again Over Navy

That's what the headline would be if you only spent time watching the two academies march on to the field. Not to say that the Midshipmen's marching was bad, but the Cadets of West Point certainly have marching drilled into them. Too bad for them that Navy came to play football and the march-on was a secondary event!

Cheri and I headed down to Pine Brook, NJ on Friday afternoon to meet up with Deb and Scott. The trip was uneventful except

for the time and traffic you have to deal with on a Friday. We got to their house at a reasonable hour and were treated to a great steak dinner.

Saturday morning the four of us got up a little early (not real early for some, but weekend early for others) and headed for Philadelphia. The game was at Lincoln Field, near the site of the old Veteran's and JFK Stadiums that we went to when Scott and I were Midshipmen. March on for the Midshipmen was a 9 a.m. and the Cadets were to follow right after. Security was tight for the

game since President Bush was coming so the lines for getting in were long, and everyone was thoroughly checked.

While in line we kept looking for Tim and since the lines moved so slow we had plenty of time to look. Of course the temperature was only in the high 20's at this point so standing around was not the most comfortable position.

It wasn't until we were in the Stadium that we finally found Tim. He was directing traffic and getting Midshipmen to their correct seating area.

You can tell he is official....he is wearing an armband.

Of course Midshipmen have a tendency to ignore other

Midshipmen who just happen to be wearing an armband.

Once inside, our seats were on the Club Level which made it nice for us to have an indoor area behind the seats to keep warm and to wait out the time before the game festivaties started. You can see that Deb and Cheri decided to sit awhile so Deb could check text-messages from Laura and Cheri could just sit around looking good.

After a while another group came and asked if they could sit with us. It turned out to be Rear Admiral (two star) Victor See, Director Naval Space and Warfare (SPAWAR) who is a member of the class of 80. His wife started to talk to Cheri about knitting when she saw Cheri's felted bag. We had a nice time visiting with them and Scott took a picture of me with the two women.

Eventually we headed out to watch some of the pre-game activities. While inside we could see the Presidential motorcade come to the stadium and outside we were able to watch President Bush walk around the field and shake hands with many of the players.

President Bush shaking hands with #3
Then, since it was an Army / Navy game, people started to jump out of airplanes....

Some of the Army Jump Team heading into

the Stadium

Then came a Navy Seal Team.

Of course these two had to enter together and spun around almost all the way to the ground.

The last one in brought Ol' Glory

If that wasn't enough, it was time to call in the big guns! This doesn't happen at all college football games.

First through are a few Navy F-18 Hornets

Then a few Army Blackhawks

After all that, the some of the plebes from both sides lined up on the field to form a funnel for the teams to enter the field through. Army came out of the locker room first and they were wearing new uniforms with camouflage helmets and football pants. Navy then took the field.

Army taking the field

Navy taking the field

Finally we got down to some football. The weather didn't get any warmer so we all bundled up and got warm in our seats. It's always nice to have a personal seat warmer alongside.

At half-time President Bush made his way from the Army side of the Field to the Navy side of the field. This is what typically happens when a President attends the Army / Navy game.

For the third quarter Scott and I headed down towards the sidelines. When purchasing the tickets Scott had also gotten two tickets in the front row near the 35 yard line behind Navy. We went down to watch the quarter a little closer. It was nice to be near the action, but the higher level Club seats were better for watching the overall game. From so close to the field you can not always see the play developing or the player with the ball.

While in these seats we had in front of us an interesting (or possibly scary) individual. I am not sure if this is someone dressing up like Kevin Kline in A Fish Named Wanda or if it is a cross between the Village People and Philadelphia's finest....the picture doesn't do the tight pants and high boots justice...... .

We went back up to the Club seats for the fourth quarter and to watch the end of the game. In case you didn't figure if out earlier, the actual title for this blog should be:

Navy Crushes Army for the Seventh Year in a Row!

In case you can't read the scoreboard it says Navy 34 Army 0

Following the final play of the game we were once again priviledged enough to see one of the best sportsman activities in college football. First all of the Army players went and stood before their classmates and sang their alma mater. The Navy players stand at attention respectfully behind them. The winning team gets to go last and the Navy players then stood before their classmates, with the Army players behind them, and sang

Navy Blue and Gold. What also makes this special is that the alumni from both schools stay in the stands for this event and stand for the other

Academy and sing along with their own.

We waited around inside the Club area after the game to let the crowds clear out and to wait for Tim. He met us at the car and we set the Navigator and headed out for dinner. Tim needed to head back to the Academy that night so Scott had made reservations for dinner and then we needed to get Tim to the bus loading area.

Philadelphia is full of good restaurants and Scott

got us into a great one. Our reservation was for the restaurant's 5 p.m. opening time, and since

we were there a few minutes early we decided to go into the Artful Dodger pub next door. This gave us a chance to warm up while waiting for the restaurant to open.

The meal was great and we were able to visit with Tim for quite a while. We then left him at the Hyatt to catch the bus back to Annapolis, while we drove in the snow flurries back to Pine Brook, NJ. It was a great day and evening and we were glad to have been able to spend time with Deb, Scott, and Tim.

Sunday morning we lazed a little bit and then headed back for Connecticut by mid-morning. Cheri and I realized that we don't have many weekends available before Christmas, so along the way we stopped and picked up two trees; one for the Keeping Room and one for the Family Room.