This is the only college football game where tens of millions of Americans, at home and abroad, on the seas and under them, root for one team or the other on the first Saturday of every December.

That is why the game has been the nation’s most enduring rivalry for nearly all of its 113 years and 103 games. For decades, it’s been the logical conclusion to each college football season, whether it was played on the Saturday following Thanksgiving Day or, since 1978, on the first Saturday in December. It is like dotting the final “i” and crossing the final “t” before the pads and uniforms are packed away until the next year.

The game has always had such magical appeal that tens of thousands of spectators come from every part of the nation to watch it—if they can get tickets. Back in 1945, Senator William Langer from North Dakota proposed legislation that the game be played in every state, on a rotating alphabetical basis, beginning with Alabama. The bill died in committee but imagine what it would have been like to find a venue in Utah, Wyoming, or even North Dakota to accommodate the huge crowds of 70,000 to 100,000 which have attended the games in Philadelphia, New Jersey, and recently in Baltimore.

The appeal is multi-faceted. Some look on it as a throw back to a time when college football was played by student-athletes who loved the game and sought no other satisfaction than winning. Whereas several hundred players from civilian schools now look forward to signing professional football contracts each year, chances of that happening to service academy players are slim to none. When their final Army-Navy game ends, so too, with very rare exceptions, do their football careers. Navy’s 1890 football team that defeated Army 24-0 in the first meeting between the two schools

Playing football at Annapolis and West Point really is part of the education and training these young men undergo to become future officers and leaders because the sport demands teamwork and a resolve that precludes ever giving up. The appeal of watching the teams play each other is wrapped around watching the determination that every player brings to the game, that this is the most important moment of their lives, and that, as General Douglas MacArthur once declared, “There is no substitute for victory.” Those words are engraved on the wall of West Point’s old gymnasium but they are no less true at Annapolis.

Such a philosophy makes this game unique, and so does having the President of the United States come and watch you play. The popularity of the Army-Navy game really took off when Theodore Roosevelt became the first President to attend a game in 1905. For the first half, he sat in his special box but in the second half, he couldn’t restrain himself from getting close to the action and roamed up and down the sidelines, urging on each team. His successors carried on the tradition until President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s physical infirmities precluded him from attending. But his successor, Harry S. Truman, was a regular and so was John F. Kennedy until he was assassinated a week before the 1963 game. From that time on, presidential appearances have been very rare because of security concerns, and that is too bad.

When television came on the scene and the emphasis in college football shifted to worshipping at the altar of the nation’s top ten teams, the networks and advertising agency suits were flummoxed: the Army-Navy game still was the most beloved game on every season’s schedule. Year-in, year-out, with good teams and bad teams, the game pulled in viewer ratings that put them in the top ten percent of all games telecast each season.

What makes this rivalry so delicious is that rankings and ratings are never even considered by the teams when they play each other. Winning is all that matters.

In 1971, Navy trailed Army 24-21 and was on the cadets eight-yard line with just a few seconds to play. At civilian schools, the coach would have ordered a tie-making field goal and be content with a deadlock. Not in the Army-Navy game. “Upon the fields of friendly strife are sown the seeds that, upon other fields, on other days, will bear the fruits of victory,” MacArthur once declared, and those words also ring as true at Annapolis as they do at West Point.

So coach Rick Forzano ordered quarterback Fred Stuvek to run a pass play, but his ball just skipped off the receiver’s fingers in the end zone, and the mids lost the game.

Six years later, in 1977, coach George Welsh, a brilliant former Navy quarterback of its famed “Team Named Desire” in the ’50s, faced the same situation. Trailing 17-14 with a minute to play, Navy had the ball on fourth down at Army’s eight-yard line with a minute to play. Welsh had the nation’s top field goal kicker, Bob Tata, but he unhesitatingly disdained a tie-making kick and ordered an option pass by halfback Joe Gattuso Jr. As happened in 1971, the ball just skittered off the receiver’s fingers in the end zone and Navy lost the game.

It is also claimed that either team can be winless for an entire season—a painful experience that both try at all costs to avoid—but a victory in this game makes the season a success. In reality, every game they play prior to playing each other is just a warm-up for the only game on their schedule that really counts.

“On Army-Navy Saturday,” a wise man once declared, “the Army band believes it can play ‘Anchors Aweigh’ better than the Navy band.”

It also is a game that when viewed in person for the first or fortieth time, leaves an indelible mark on the psyche. First-time spectators seem dazed, but delighted, at what they have just witnessed. The experience is what brings people back year-after-year; it is what has brought me back every Army-Navy Saturday, save for two, since 1958. And for the past two decades, I seem to have built my own tight entourage of Army-Navy “addicts” whose members include die-hard rooters for both teams.

So, in every sense of the word, the Army-Navy game is a classic. Midshipmen march into the Rose Bowl before the 1983 game. It was the only time the game has been played on the West Coast. The biggest military airlift ever in the continental U.S. transported some 9,000 midshipmen and cadets across the country for the game

It starts with the academies. Both are acclaimed as “special schools,” if only for the mission they espouse. Attending an Army-Navy game and watching the two student body’s perform their stirring pre-game march, automatically jumps your mind ahead to the possibility that in your lifetime, those young people may be serving their country in harm’s way. That’s why there are not many dry eyes or throats without lumps or backs without goose bumps when those young people march onto the field, preceded by the “Stars and Stripes” and their respective battle flags displaying the combat ribbons of every conflict this nation has ever fought.

Their appearance only ratchets up the emotion that will become so palpable before day’s end that it seemingly becomes something you can reach out and feel. The cadets and midshipmen never get tired of cheering, whistling, singing, and constantly bombard each other with this ear-splitting cacophony with the same ferocity that their buddies on the gridiron engage in the game itself.

Perhaps we are in a gentler, more politically correct era now but there were times up to a couple of decades ago when some of the hi-jinks on the sidelines were nearly as interesting as the game itself. Each year it became a battle of one-upmanship to see which school could perform the most outlandish act.

For instance, prior to a game during the ’50s, a huge Army van drove onto the sidelines at Philadelphia’s then-Municipal Stadium, and 102,000 fans expected the three Army mules mascots to prance out.

No mules appeared. Instead, out bounced a bevy of female cheerleaders at a time when there were no females at West Point and cheerleading was strictly a male domain at both academies. Needless to say, they received the warmest of receptions.

One year, shortly before the game began, the Navy sideline was visited by a stretch limo, similar to that which brought the President to the game. Expecting that their commander-in-chief did indeed make his entrance in this style, the mids of that time came to attention, ready to salute and hail their boss. The door opened and out stepped not the President, but Bill, Navy’s goat mascot.

This kind of zaniness helps to transcend other football rivalries and helps the Army-Navy game to stand alone as the constant attraction that needs no priming such as the TV networks indulge in for civilian school rivalries as Ohio State-Michigan, Southern Cal-UCLA, Nebraska-Oklahoma, Notre Dame-Southern Cal, and Alabama-Auburn.

Artistically, neither Army nor Navy is now as talented as any of those teams, though there were times, particularly during World War II and for most of two decades thereafter, when both often were nationally-ranked. In 1944 and 1945, the game was played to decide the national champion and Army won both games. In 1926, 115,000 at Soldier Field in Chicago saw an historic 21-21 tie. Navy was then acclaimed national champion.

But this game supercedes poll rankings or who has the most talent. Won-loss records are irrelevant when the teams play each other; and the team’s talent weaknesses seem mitigated by the pure desire and emotion that elevates their abilities.

There have been many afternoons when spectators become almost apoplectic watching hair-breadth finishes such as a five game stretch in the early ’90s where the outcomes were decided in Army’s favor by a total of ten points.

Such heroics are part of the soul of this rivalry. Sometimes there is more glory for the losers than for the winners, as happened in 1946 when a Navy team that had won only one game, and was tabbed an 18-point underdog to Army’s great Blanchard & Davis team, was at the cadets seven-yard line trying to score the winning touchdown only to be defeated by a cruel clock. Army won the game 21-18 but for more than a half century, that Navy team has been hailed for almost achieving the impossible.

In 1963, after the game had been postponed for a week because of President Kennedy’s assassination, the 1946 game was fully reprised, this time with Army as the “victim.” The mids were led by Heisman Trophy winner Roger Staubach ’65 and ranked second in the nation. A berth in the Cotton Bowl to play Texas for the national championship awaited them if they defeated Army.

Navy led 21-7 with 11 minutes to play after Pat Donnelly’s third touchdown of the game. Then Army exploded and not only scored another touchdown but had the ball at Navy’s two-yard line with a minute to play. Municipal Stadium was a cauldron of noise so loud that it was almost impossible to talk to someone sitting next to you. But Navy’s defense and another cruel clock again betrayed the underdog and time ran out before Army could run one last play to get a victory.

One of the most poignant moments in every game occurs after the final whistle when the two teams and the thousands of midshipmen and cadets in the stands stand at attention while the alma mater of each school is played by their respective bands. Win or lose, during those few moments players and students from both schools stand at attention in total respect for each other.

Many who are annual attendees declare that it is the most emotional moment of the day and one they would never miss. For those few moments, the final score is put aside and the camaraderie that connects the men and women in the blue coats and the gray coats is transcendent. It is something that lives forever.

Regardless of which team wins, it is a very common sight to see cadets and midshipmen embracing or shaking hands after the game and then heading off into the night to enjoy each other’s company. At one time, items such as bathrobes, beer mugs, and other personal items were exchanged as victor’s spoils.

Forty years after they had faced each other in a rather rough encounter in the 1904 game, Admiral William “Bull” Halsey, a former Navy fullback, and Major General Charles Thompson, a former Army guard, met to discuss command responsibilities in the South Pacific during World War II.

“General,” said Halsey, “the last time I saw you, you were rubbing my nose all over Franklin Field.”

General Thompson grinned and replied: “Admiral, how did I know you were going to be my boss in the South Pacific?”

Jack Clary is well-versed on the Army-Navy game. He has written two of his 64 books on the history of the series and he has been a regular contributor to the game’s programs for over a quarter century. His latest book is Field of Valor: Duty, Honor, Country, and Winning the Heisman.

Let's fire this mother up . . .

Hell on the Hudson . . . Hell on the Hudson . . . damn the class of 28.

Why 28?

In honor of Army's 2 and 8 record this year.

GO NAVY!

Yes, I would love to see it in person, also. I hear it's quite an event, but everytime I watch it, it is freezing cold out there. I've been to several Navy home games and those are just as fun.

This is the top sporting event on my "I want to see it live once before I die" list. Always a must see on TV,

Ditto!

As one who got bumped because of bad eyesight from attending West Point and had to go to a different "trade school," I have always wanted to do the same.

I took my kids to games at West Point for years and my wife and I still go once a year when the leaves are at their peak color.

My Dad was an alumni of LSU and lived and died by their football fortunes. However, he was also a regular Army Colonel from the Old War Skule who got just as excited watching Army-Navy as watching LSU-Ole Miss.

ARMY fans: check out this video my cousins unit, TF120, currently in Iraq produced.

http://armyadvice.org/armysteve/archive/2004/11/10/865.aspx

Link for video is in the middle of the website page, down a little bit.

"There are two times on this old green Earth," roared the grizzled old DI, "when the Navy and the Corps are on the same side. One is when the nation is at war... The other is when Army plays Navy."

Go Navy! Beat Army!

I still remember the riot of 1984, when we stormed the field .... destroyed the Blimp and Beat Navy .... GO ARMY!

The 1984 Army-Navy Game had a near riot (with lots of fights) where the Corps started saying "Get the Blimp" (as a result of another Army- Navy game three years earlier when we put a hole in the Navy Blimp but it was patched up and refloated) and then the Corps stormed the field. My parents taped the game and when the sportscasters were doing their pre-game, in the background, you can actually see the blimp going down. Right as we destroyed the blimp the camera panned away. It was probably far worse then the recent B-Ball game fight, hundreds if not thousands of cadets and midshipmen were involved. We actually destroyed the float and won the the game, thanks to St Nate and the Wishbone Offense .... Go Army ..... Bone Navy!

Were you also there the year before in Pasadena for the Navy victory (and the "HOLLYWOOD" sign replaced with "BEAT ARMY!")?. My family flew out to California to see that game and had to rely on my 11 year old brother's technical skills to program the VCR to tape the game. I still have that tape :)

BEAT ARMY!

One of my memories of watching the game on TV was near the end, some Mids in the stands lifted up their jackets and shirts and exposed their bare skin (seriously out of uniform) while their pals on either side of them shielded their faces with their covers and shielded their own faces also. It made me laugh. A few years back some Mids did something to the Lincoln Memorial to show their pre-game spirit. The picture was in the W. Post. I love the camraderie of stealing mascots and other pranks that go on during the week leading up to the game.

It gets pretty wild .... most of the stuff is innocent fun but .... for the exchange cadets .... those stories could fill several threads.

I try to go to games at West Point at least once a year, unfortunately, Army is always getting beaten badly. Usually, I wander off to sit or stand among or near the cadets in that left-hand corner of the field.

That is some of the best entertainment on earth. What a raucous, crazed group they are, yet strangely well-behaved at the same time. In fact, being surrounded by thousands of fine young US soldiers, it's probably the safest place to be on earth.

A particular highlight is when the opposing team's cheerleaders come over to their routines in front of the cadets. It's hilarious.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.