I’m sitting at the airport right now. My flight is delayed, so I have some time to kill. I’m at gate 40; at gate 39 is the Delta flight to Salt Lake City, so I’m surrounded by Utah fans. It doesn’t bother me, though. Right now I don’t know if I could be more proud to be a Navy fan.
I was joking around with some friends this week about Zerbin Singleton’s story. His mother was shot by a bounty hunter, he was shipped across the continent to live with relatives, was hit by a drunk driver, and his father committed suicide. We asked ourselves, “At what point would you have given up?” Fortunately, Zerb never did. How appropriate was it, then, to see Zerbin Singleton cutting across the field to catch a pass, then beat a Utah defender in a race down the sideline to put Navy within a field goal of tying the game in the last minute? I had given up, but the Navy team never did. I should have known better. This team came back from an 11-point deficit in the 4th quarter against Duke, fought through multiple overtimes against Pittsburgh and Notre Dame, and rallied to beat North Texas despite trailing by 18 on 3 separate occasions. This is a team whose defense saved its best plays for the end of games, and who didn’t miss a beat when its starting quarterback missed a game. How foolish was I, then, to have abandoned all hope after Darrell Mack found the end zone with 1:27 left to play?
That will be the story of this 2007 Navy football team. The never-say-die attitude of Zerbin Singleton was carried on by his teammates until the last series of the last game. There were several points during the season where everyone might have understood if Navy just ran out of steam. They could have given up, and nobody would have thought any worse of them. But that wouldn’t have been acceptable to themselves, and that’s the attitude the Mids played with.
Hopefully my DVD recorder picked up the game, although my wife says that she isn’t optimistic. I have some thoughts on the game but I want to see it again to validate them. I also have some more pictures to upload, but my camera is in my checked bag. So for now, I just wanted to pass along how proud I am of these players. I wouldn’t trade these guys for anything. Beat Towson.
The Birddog 
Great post. It’s been a long time coming for us to have a team that we can be proud of, even in defeat. The resiliency these kids showed all season was amazing. So many times I thought “here we go again – typical Navy” and then stood there stunned as they pulled out another nail-biter.
Shame on me. “Typical Navy” these days is the “never-say-die”, “it ain’t over until the clock reads 0:00” attitude this team now exudes.
BZ, Navy Football.
Phat – Beware of the “controversial” pylon call when you watch the replay – hide the women and children because you’ll be ready to scream scorn and damnation on the replay official(s). Will never say that play lost the game for us, but you know, after giving up several hours of my life over the last couple of years sitting thru countless hours of reviewed plays (which were usually inconsequential), I was beyond annoyed at that call last night. I mean, why even use replay if they’re going to miss calls that are that apparent – you’ll see on the replay that ESPN had 2 camera angles practically on top of that pylon. Who is running this operation?!?!? Oh yeah, Mountain West officials, that’s who. Too bad that, when 2 teams come ready to play and fight all night, a jackass in front of a 36 inch LCD screen doesn’t even know the rules. GRRRR! ha! I vent…
But yes, great effort by the Mids – I, too, had given up. Went to my computer to check email and gomids.com and say “well, it was a good try” when I turned around to see Zerb streaking down the field. I pray there were some underclassmen smart enough to take notes from Zerb. He’s unbelievable and fought like hell to the end – and so did the rest of the team. Let’s get ready for the Towson ____(?) – don’t even know their mascot… ha!
They showed the replay on the jumbotron at the stadium, and I knew then. It was terrible. Pretty sure it was MAC officials, though.
Oh yeah… I think the first story I read (maybe on Wags blog, can’t remember) implied the officials were from the MWC. Oh well – crapola call regardless. I would love to read Chet’s letter – and hear his phone conversation with the MAC Commish.
Great post man I am proud to be a navy fan great kids play hard till the end . I am with ya man already cant wait till opening day next year ..
BE LOUD AND PROUD NAVY FANS THESE R SPECIAL TIMES IN NAVY FOOTBALL
I was so glad to see the intensity and emotion out of KN on the sideline. Utah was tough. I cant wait for next year. I hope the Constitution Bowl doesn’t get the go ahead. CG could arrange something better. What do people think about a Bowl game in Texas? There are many players from Texas that would love to play near home around the Holidays. Or maybe the small bowl in New Orleans. Also what do people think about playing an Army Navy game in Dallas. They are building a $1 Billion Stadium that seats close to 100,000.