Midshipman fill the concourse at halftime in M&T Bank Stadium, December 10, 2016
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“At every other school in America, the hardest part of any football player’s day is football practice. At military academies, the easiest part of a football player’s day is football practice.” Fred Goldsmith.
My father always told me, “You should go to the Army-Navy game.” It took 50 years – yesterday, I attended. My father was right. And, I will venture that everyone should attend the Army-Navy game. Why? Be patient.
In his book The Element, Sir Ken Robinson writes, “At the most basic levels, professionals in any field are simply those people who earn their living in that field, while amateurs are people who don’t. But the terms amateur and professional often imply something else – something, about quality and expertise.”
When you go to the Army-Navy game, you watch professional soldiers play as amateurs. Be patient.
CBS’s sportscaster Verne Lundquist asked Donald Trump, the future Commander-and-Chief of the men on the field. “Why did you decide to attend this particular game?”
The future Commander-and-Chief said of his future subordinates, “I just love the armed forces. Love the folks. The spirit is so incredible. I mean, I don’t know if it’s necessarily the best football. But boy, do they have spirit.”
Some took this to mean President-elect Trump was calling the players amateurs. He was.
Sir Ken Robinson goes on, “The word amateur derives from the Latin word amator, which means lover, devoted friend, or someone who is in avid pursuit of an objective. In the original sense, an amateur is someone who does something for the love of it. Amateurs do what they do because they have a passion for it, not because it pays the bills.”
There is very little chance any man on the field yesterday will play professional football. They are amateurs – they play because they love the game.
You can sense it - there is an extraordinary feeling in the stadium. Every member of both academies attends the game. Before the game, both academies march onto the field, Army and Navy parachutists drop into the stadium, and Army helicopters and Navy jets perform flyovers. After the game, both academies gather together to sing their school songs.
Even the crowd acts like amateurs – they attend for the love the game. No drunken obscenities, no taunting, no fights. They cheer their teams, they cheer the president-elect (imagine), and, in the end, they cheer both teams.
John Feinstein, author of A Civil War: Army vs. Navy, A Year Inside College Football’s Purest Rivalry writes, “Army and Navy players have fought together in wars, have died together in wars, and will almost certainly do so again in the future. There is also a shared experience: only a cadet can truly appreciate what a midshipman goes through; only a midshipman has a clear understanding of life as a cadet. That’s why there’s no rivalry like Army-Navy.
Attend the game. Play a game. Be an amateur.
How about you? What was your amateur adventure? Share a story.
