— The big news over the weekend was the lacrosse team’s 5-4 win over Maryland on Friday night. The Mids took a 5-0 lead into halftime and held on at the end. TBO2F sums things up and gives you all the links to game reports here. Between Maryland, Georgetown, and Hopkins, Navy probably needed to win at least one of those three to have a shot at being seeded in the NCAA tournament, assuming they beat Army and win the Patriot League tournament. Of course, that’s no guarantee the way Army and Bucknell have been playing. Navy travels to West Point to take on Army on Saturday at noon.
One more thing on the Maryland game– TBO2F points out that Navy turned the ball over on 14 of its 16 second half posessions. Not good, and not going to cut it if we want to purge the last of the wretched losing streaks that hang over our athletic department.
— Speaking of West Point, the tremendous amount of “good PR” generated by their Alternative Service* Option keeps pouring in. Here we have Thomas Hauser, Muhammad Ali biographer and Pulitzer Prize nominee, taking a break from boxing to write about the new super-awesome West Point policy. Most of his points are things you’ve already read here, but it’s worth a look.
— The other big news from this weekend was the first football scrimmage of the spring. The official report is here. Adam gave a good recap down in the comments of the last post, too. Bill Wagner gave his impressions here. So far the stars on the offensive side look like Bryant, Shinego, and Byrd, with Maurice Cumberland standing out on defense.
— All of next year’s home games (except Notre Dame) will start at 3:30 (ET).
— One Baltimore blogger wonders if the new DC Bowl will keep the proposed Baltimore game from happening.
The Birddog 
Ten of the twelve games have already been picked up by TV. I’ll bet Duke and/or Wake Forest also get picked up. (If not, I may have to take a road trip from Alabama.) It looks like my purchase of that 47 inch LCD and the DirectTV sports package 15 months ago is paying off.
I just found this website and I like all the discussions I’ve read so far on Navy Sports. But Thomas Hauser’s story made me curious to know:
Was there this much debate three years ago when Army’s alternative service option was first introduced or is it just now because Campbell (who I assume is the first player to do so) is putting it to use?
It wasn’t really announced with a lot of fanfare, so I think most people just didn’t know.
Okay, thanks. I guess Caleb Campbell is the proverbial “scapegoat.”
The article mentions the military service of Staubach, Robinson and Hennings. Do you happen to know how Eckel served before he went pro?
Eckel was a surface warfare officer for two years before he was separated. But did what he did against the Navy’s wishes, so it isn’t really comparable to Staubach, Robinson, and Hennings.
Army-Navy lacrosse is on one of the ESPN channels on this Saturday at noon eastern. The Navy-Johns Hopkins game is also scheduled to be televised.
If Eckel was a surface warfare officer for two years before going to the pros then he certainly followed the rules of the existing DoD policy. Not sure I understand why Navy would have a quarrel with him unless it’s that the other three were drafted into the pros and Eckel went as a free agent.
Thanks again for the info. Congrats on a great website. And good luck on your MofD walk to which I just now made a contribution. I thank God everyday that I have three healthy boys one of whom will be attending USNA in the fall. I appreciate your efforts to raise money to help those less fortunate than I.
The DOD policy was enacted on the first of this year. Eckel was already playing for the Patriots by then. Eckel had previously petitioned the Secretary of the Navy to allow him to play, but was denied. The details over why the Navy separated him aren’t publicly known, but it wasn’t related to the DOD directive.
Thanks for the compliment, and more importantly, the donation!
Anyone else going to the scrimmage this Saturday?
Adam,
I plan to be there, … but must immediately drive back to Fairfax to “play” head coach for my daughter’s tee-ball game early in the afternoon.