rave the cold for the 2nd year in a row. However, after many glitches and an awful cold (which has been making me sound ridiculous, cough, hack and need to blow my nose so much that one of my students asked in horror if I was going to be ok?!?!) I had to sell my tickets. Since I'm a fan of football, in any form, I am very depressed about this fact. Sure, it's FREEZING but the game also has a TON of traditions that are just really cool! So, as I procrastinate grading my 3 inch (literally) tall stack of papers, I decided that to try to make myself feel a little less sad and lucky for having been fortunate enough to go to one A/N game, I would share my experience at last years game!My good frie
nd and sorority sister, Lauren, has a boyfriend who is currently in his last year at West Point, so she offered me an extra ticket to the game last year. Of course, I jumped at the chance! After working a horrendous private party at the restaurant I used to work at, I headed up to her house around midnight. After sleeping for about 3 and a half hours, we woke up, met her BF, and were on our way to Philly!
We got there around 6 AM, since Lauren's BF had to be there super early to line up or something. We took a short nap in the car then bundled up and headed inside. All of the Navy Midshipmen and West Point Cadets do this super neat march out onto the field before the game starts. It looks really sharp and just shows how disciplined those men and women are. (Even though I secretly thought Army looked much more put together...)
The game started at noon sharp, but not without some fan fare. First of all, Air Force One flew overhead, and since we were in the nosebleeds, it was pretty close to where we were! Parashoot jumpers from Army and Navy cruised onto the field and the Blue Angels and an Army helicopter flew over
! When it was time for kickoff, President George W. Bush (who I am a loving fan of, regardless of what anyone says) came out to give a faux kickoff and call the coin toss! Army was debuting their camo uniforms at the game last year and they were very sharp looking! Then, at halftime, the high commander from West Point "handed off" the President to the high commander from the Naval Academy so that he could sit on that side for the rest of the game! I th
ought that was probably the coolest part of the game (yes, nerd.) Also, since the President was there, there were a ton of sniper shooters ON TOP OF THE STADIUM. It was neat.I had a hard time choosing who to root for; I've lived very close to Annapolis my whole life and therefore, feel like I should bea Navy girl, buuuut Lauren's BF goes to West Point and I knew how hard he worked at school everyday. Let's just say I cheered for America! It wasn't a super exciting game (Army lost), but it was definitely an experience I will never forget!
As I've said, it was extremely cold. The delicious hot chocolate that Lauren and I bought in plastic travel mugs only kept us warm so long. We also had hadn warmers inside our gloves and shoes, but I still think of
it as the coldest day of my life. Let's just say that we spent a lot of time walking around the stadium to keep our blood flowing throughout the game!I will be sad to not be at the game this year, but am glad that I have my memories (and travel mug!) from last year! Let's go Army! Let's go Navy!
2 comments:
I'm sorry to hear that you're too sick to go! Glad you had a great time last year though!
My brother is a midshipman at the Naval Academy, so I watch every year! I love it! Always hope to see him on TV.
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