Why the Army-Navy football game might be the best sporting event
By Jason Parker
The annual Army-Navy football game might not just be the top college football moment each season – it might just be the best thing in all of sports.
This weekend, the annual football game that is known by just two words takes place. The annual Army-Navy game is not going to be for national titles or even many individual awards over its history and its future – but when the Black Knights and Midshipmen take the field, it means so much more.
While the FSU alum in me is always going to be biased in saying that the annual game between the Florida State Seminoles and Miami Hurricanes is the best college football game, the Army-Navy game might actually just be the best event in all of sports – better than Yankees-Red Sox, Bears-Packers and all the rest.
It’s more than just the game – it’s the fact of what it means to both teams, their fan bases and the country as a whole. Look, I will be the first person to admit that I am not a flag waving, Star Spangled Banner singing person – but I will be sitting by my television each and every season to watch this game.
Florida State Seminoles Football
It has nothing to do with records – heck, Army comes into the game knowing it’s their final time on the field this season as they enter the game with a 5-7 record while the Midshipmen of Navy come in with a 9-2 record knowing they will be playing in the Liberty Bowl later this month against Kansas State.
It’s all about the pride and joy that comes with getting a win. After Army won for the first time in 2016 after losing the previous 14 games in the series, the tears were flowing and the pure joy was there in the eyes of those Black Knights players who never had experienced a win over their hated rivals before.
It’s the fact that both teams are there for each other’s songs at the end of the game – standing in respect with the losing team’s song first followed by the winner’s. Heck, we can barely get our own team there for the FSU fight song even after a win.
It’s Army-Navy football. It might not be a game that will decide which team makes the College Football Playoff at all in any of our lifetimes, but it’s the one game each season not involving the Seminoles that can not be missed.