Compared to the hoopla surrounding last year’s season opener, the start of the 2011 Navy football season feels almost subdued. Rather than heading into Baltimore to play in a 70,000-seat NFL stadium against a rival BCS-conference team on Labor Day, this year the Mids are keeping things simple. They’re opening the season at home sweet home, on Saturday like everyone else, against a I-AA team they’ve faced plenty of times in recent years. The hype isn’t there, but the promise and excitement that comes with each new season remains. It’s nice to have football back.
Author: Mike
ANNOUNCEMENT
You would be surprised how time-consuming a blog can be. I haven’t been able to devote as much time to it as I used to. After basically taking last season off, I felt like I had to make a decision. I should either shut down for good, or acknowledge my time constraints and find someone else willing to paddle this electronic canoe. I chose the latter, and would like to introduce Adam Nettina as a contributor to The Birddog.
Not that Adam needs any introduction to most internet-conscious Navy fans. You’ve seen his work on GoMids.com and have heard him on the In The Bleachers podcast. This might be the only Navy sports blog I know of, but it isn’t the first; that honor belongs to Adam’s first project, Pitch Right. He recently graduated from Utah State, where he wrote several excellent pieces for the USU Statesman. (Seriously, they’re good). You already know him and trust him, and now you have one more place to read his work. This is probably something that should’ve happened a long time ago if for no other reason than to give you hyenas a new target to distract you from me.
So everyone say hi to Adam, and make sure to follow him on Twitter.
THE BASKETBALL SCHEDULE
It’s out. Some thoughts:
- 8 of the first 12 games will be on the road. Eek. Tough way to start the season.
- One of those four home games will be against Tulane on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Sort of a neat game for Alumni Hall, and might have a shot to be televised by CBS Sports Network as a matchup between two conferences for which they own broadcast rights. Fingers crossed.
- The Mids travel to play Missouri on the same day as the Army-Navy game. The time is still TBA, but it would be awesomesauce if it ended up as a football-basketball doubleheader. Unless I actually go to the Army game this year, in which case I’ll need plenty of time to get the hell out of Landover so I can get back to Annapolis to watch the game somewhere.
- One game I won’t be missing is against Mercer, which is two days after the Military Bowl. I’ll be disappointed if Alumni Hall isn’t packed with fans who made the trip to the area for the bowl game. In other words, I’ll be disappointed.
REAL LIFE
I have a lot of readers in Annapolis and in the Norfolk/Virginia Beach areas. If you guys are reading this, I assume you decided not to get out of dodge ahead of the storm. My parents live in Virginia Beach, and I offered to drive up to help them hunker down and for the inevitable cleanup. My father said no. I’m pretty sure he’s going to climb the flagpole on the end of his dock and ride this one out Lieutenant Dan-style. For the rest of you, don’t forget to fill your bathtub and stay away from windows.
Stay safe. By the time you get power back, I might even have the Delaware preview posted.
EXTRA CREDIT
Some homework for you after yesterday’s post…
Forget joining a BCS conference. Instead, create a service academy all-star team. Cherry-pick the best players from all three. Put THAT team in a BCS conference. How would they do? I mean as a program year after year, and not just in 2011.
Discuss.
It’s funny how bewildered some BYU writers
It’s funny how bewildered some BYU writers seem to be about the whole independent thing. “Wins and losses” should work:
GTFO IRENE
I SWEAR IF I MISS ONE FREAKING SNAP OF EVEN THE MOST POS UMASS VS HOLY CROSS OR WHATEVER THURSDAY NIGHT GAME BECAUSE YOU BLEW OUT ALL OF JACKSONVILLE’S SATELLITE DISHES I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN AND CUT YOU, JOSE, KATIA, LEE, AND YOUR WHOLE FAMILY. NOBODY WILL BE SPARED, NOT EVEN THE DEPRESSIONS. GO BEAT THE PISS OUT OF BERMUDA LIKE YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO. THEY DON’T GIVE A CRAP ABOUT FOOTBALL.
THE WISH LIST
I’m looking forward to this season for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is that I think I’ll actually be going to a fair number of games for once. South Carolina is too close for me not to go, so I’ll be there. I try to get to at least one game a year in Annapolis, and this year it’ll probably be ECU or Troy. Even the Army game is in Washington, so there’s no excuse for me not to go (assuming I can get a ticket). And if the Mids keep their bowl streak alive, that’ll be in Washington too.
I know some people aren’t big fans of the Military Bowl, and maybe I’d feel the same way if I was local. I’m not, though, so I love it. I love Washington. I love RFK, but that’s because I’ve been there enough to know the right seats to get (I TOLD YOU PEOPLE NOT TO SIT IN THE LOWER BOWL BUT YOU DIDN’T LISTEN). I love being so close to Annapolis, and with any luck there will be a home basketball game or two around the same time as the bowl game. How awesome would it be to pack Alumni Hall over Christmas leave with a couple thousand Navy fans in town for the bowl game? Someone should make a ticket package out of it. Damn I’m brilliant.
The Birddog 