Army needs to beat Navy.
For the good of the game, the good of the rivalry, the good of the country for gosh sakes!
Army-Navy football is one of the greatest traditions in American sports and it's been tarnished by the fact one team continues to beat the other. Navy has now won eight consecutive meetings with Army, an unprecedented streak in the 110-year history of the storied service academy series.
Previously, neither...
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Army-Navy - 2009-12-17 21:46:15
If Navy wins the next ten games how will that hurt the rivalry or the country? Will fans stop coming? Will there be no TV? Will the players stop caring? This rivalry transcends normal athletic matches. The good exists because of what the teams represent. I don't see a greater good generated by minimal winning streaks. So personally, I don't have a problem with Navy winning the next twenty (or thirty) games.
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Neil Wallace - Williamsburg, VA - Karma: Neutral
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Agree 100% - 2009-12-16 12:38:55
I couldn't agree with you more. I go to the game every year and the more Navy dominates, the more sportsmanship goes out the window. What I have seen and heard from Navy fans and midshipmen the last two or three years honestly makes me ashamed to be a Navy football fan. I hope Army comes back to be considered in the same league as Navy football so we can return to the gentlemen's rivalry that used to exist.
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Pat O - , - Karma: Neutral
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The Rivary Is More than the Score - 2009-12-16 01:31:24
Bill, your eyes are on the scoreboard and missing what makes Army-Navy a special rivalry. To see it, you need to take a step back and compare the Army-Navy and Air Force-Navy rivalries.
While Air Force games are almost always competitive, it's not the same rivalry because there's not the same purity in sportsmanship and respect that exists between Army and Navy. It's not just about longer histories. It's about how players, coaches, and fans talk before and after the game. Many Navy fans want Army to win every game of the season except Army-Navy because both schools share common respect and value for the game of football and the concept of team.
That mutual respect is at the core of what makes Army-Navy special, and it's what makes it the best rivalry in sports.
It's not about the score.
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Gene Estes - , - Karma: Neutral
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Army Doesn't Need to Win - 2009-12-15 18:47:14
Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill. Love your articles and columns, but I couldn't possibly disagree with you more on this one. A team that went 3-30 over three seasons just 7 short seasons ago, is now being told by its hometown paper that it's really time for Army to win to keep the rivalry going. Mule Manure. While Navy has dominated recently and gone 10-1 since 1999, miraculously the immediate preceding 13 years Army went 10-3 against Navy. So over the last 24 years Navy has a whopping 13-11 margin. Woop (pun intended) tee do. The fact is some of college football's greatest rivalries often have streaky series. Any plans to wish a win for Michigan or Flordia State because they have been dominated by OSU and Florida respectively the last 6 or 7 years. Same with USC-Notre Dame. And at different times Auburn-Alabama and UCLA-USC and others. Virtually all great rivalries have had streaks over the years that have gone both ways. In the end, rivalries are measured by the cumulative impact they bring to the fans -- the passion felt by the players, the alumni the fans and even tose with no affiliation to the school, the tradition, stars, the goofy plays, and yes, heartbreaking close ones. Ironically it was Navy that lost 5 in a row by a total of 10 points - not Army. Taking a less dispassionate view, I do get your point. 20 consecutive blowouts would not be good. But taking something close to home, Air Force v. Navy managed to survive as a pretty healthy rivalry, even after Air Force won 19 of 21 games against the Mids. The pendulum will undoubtedly swing,as it always does, but in the meantime let's remember the '92-'96 games, let's remember 3-30 streaks and please let's remember one winning season from 1983 thru 2002 -- and let's stop "hoping" Army wins for the health of the Army-Navy rivalry. It's survived 110 years and two World Wars -- surely it can survive a few more consecutive Navy victories. BEAT ARMY...AGAIN.
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Bob Schmermund - Gambrills, MD - Karma: Neutral
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Army needs to win - 2009-12-15 17:21:32
I want Army to win all of their first 10 or 11 football games next year and be ranked. Then when Navy defeats them, as they should always do, the victory will be so much sweeter.
Let's face it, ND ,for whom I will never ever cheer (even if they were playing the Russians) beat Navy 40+ times in a row, but I still watched every game I could.
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Edward Wynne - Easley, sc - Karma: Neutral
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Army needs (?) to beat Navy. Reall - 2009-12-14 15:49:50
If you look at the long history of this rivalry, Army led in overall wins from 1924 to 1980. 56 years of dominance.
At some points, Army led the overall wins to losses by a delta of 8. From 1984 to 1998 - sort of the Dark Ages or Wilderness of Navy Football - Army won 11 out of 15 games.
So, we sit at 54-49-7 now after having won 8 in a row. Do I feel a little sorry for Army? Maybe a little, but we have a long way to go before we are as dominant over Army as they were over us for most of the 20th century.
BEAT ARMY!
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Thomas Smith - Bealeton, VA - Karma: Neutral
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