Army/Navy game 2009

Your Center City Correspondent was an usher at Lincoln Financial Field for the Army/Navy game this past Saturday. Having attended the game in the past as a spectator, I knew that the crowd is pretty mellow and exceedingly respectful. So I expected pretty much the same thing this year. However, my assignment was between two sections of midshipmen from the Naval Academy, approximately 1000 of them.


And I learned something – although they go to one of the premier schools in the country, they are still college kids. They have the same percentage of knuckleheads that Temple does - standing in the aisle, standing on their seats, jumping over railings, stopping in mid-stride to place a call with 10 people waiting behind them. The only saving grace is that they are not allowed to drink at the game.

And they are not allowed to have civilians sit with them during the game, they had to come to the top of the section for a visit. So I got to see some touching scenes between middies and their family and friends. And these people came from all over the country, as close as Lancaster and as far away as Spokane just to see their sons and daughters for a few brief hours. There was one young lady, could not have been more than 19, with these big brown eyes, waiting. I asked her if she was waiting for one in particular or would any one do. Another lady had ridden a bus for two days from Midland, Texas just to see her daughter for about 10 minutes. Hopefully they all got to visit some more after the game, won handily by Navy 17-3.

The highlight of the day for me was shaking hands with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Navy Admiral Mullen. When I was in the service, the man in that role was like a god to us, and here I am welcoming him to Philadelphia. I told him I liked his hat, and would’ve asked if we could swap hats given a few more seconds with him.

We are fortunate to have the game played right here in Philadelphia most years. If you’ve never attended the game, you should make a point to do so. Maybe it’s not the best football game, but definitely the best spectacle in college football.



All for now. Off to do some Christmas shopping. Maybe I’ll catch the light show again.