There is nothing like a "GO ARMY FOOTBALL" Weekend at West Point. At least not in my mind. A home football game at The United States Military Academy just can't be beat. Two Hundred+ years of history wrapped in a blanket of patriotism and topped with some "Duty, Honor, Country" and you have a fantastic weekend of Black, Grey & Gold.
The Steptoe Clan pointed the Party Van North on Friday to see Army vs Air Force. The weekend started with dinner & drinks with our classmate, JGags and a couple other "young" grads at a place called The River Bank (which actually used to be a bank). Great time!
Saturday - Game Day - started EARLY as the Parade with the Corp of Cadets started at nine, followed by a jump in by the West Point Parachute Team. I LOVE A PARADE (except when I had to march in one). It was an absolute beautiful day for a parade too! If you have never seen one, check out the short video below of scenes from the parade.
Awesome!
Then we had to walk UP to the stadium. Let me just tell you that there isn't anything downhill at the Academy. You have to walk up hill to get anywhere of importance. Yes, we walked back down to get to the van, but we then had to walk up another hill (or mini-mountain) just to get to Hotel Thayer for a tailgate.
We arrived at Michie Stadium and walked around to the Holleder Center (Basketball & Hockey Arena) to crash the Basketball Tailgate. The Lichtenbergs have been doing the Basketball tailgate on the terrace of the Holleder Center for over 25 years...they didn't forget The FireMarshall...and we were embraced back like old family. LOVED IT!
Then we entered the stadium to get our seats to watch Army beat Air Force (which did not come to pass). We had wonderful seats, watched the Parachute team jump in the game ball, and enjoyed watching football players of the Cherry Bowl get honored on the 25th Anniversary of The Cherry Bowl. A good portion of the players that came back were the FM & my classmates...and as a result we managed an invite to the Cherry Bowl Football Reunion Tailgate.
Our hopes & dreams of the ULTIMATE comeback (The Commander In Chief Trophy) were crushed as the Army team imploded on themselves with mistake after mistake. Yet, as the 12th Man, I cheered, hollered, boo'ed the refs, and stayed until the last second ticked off the clock. The 12th Man never leaves her team EARLY - *you wanna be, fair weather fans know who you are - Yeah YOU! - the ones I had to yell at to SIT DOWN or GET DOWN so I could see. Yeah YOU!*
We stayed until the very last bit of humiliation and defeat. I stood and sang the Alma Mater and we payed our respect while Air Force sang theirs. SIGH.
WE HAD A BLAST!
We climbed our way down to Buffalo Soldiers Field, dropped stuff off at the van and then climbed up to Hotel Thayer for the Cherry Bowl Reunion tailgate. Good Food, Good Drink, Great Friends.
This morning we had BIG BREAKFAST at The Park Restaurant and then, of course, went over to the West Point Visitor Center where I picked myself up an authentic 12th Man Football Jersey for our Army-Navy Football Party (Dec 11th - you coming right?). We also took a look at how the Visitor Center was redone and were amused by the display of Notable Grads and my classmate, Mark Valley - star of Human Target - was featured as one of the Notable Graduates. Nice picture & write up.
We had a wonderful GO ARMY FOOTBALL Weekend. Hope you had a great weekend too!
