Reprinted From : http://www.mcall.com/sports/college/all-s-westpoint.6602679sep26,0,4283037.story
West Point is worth it
Michie Stadium rated one of America's best college football venues.
West Point cadets are part of a very unique college football experience at Michie Stadium, showing tremendous support and reverence for the Black Knights football team -- win or lose. (Jon Malinowski, Allentown Morning Call / September 20, 2008)
College football at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., was
started in 1890, when cadet Dennis Mahan Michie accepted a challenge
from midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy.
That storied rivalry game kicks off for the 109th time Dec. 6, at
Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia in front of a national
television audience.
It's the one time each year that Army football enters the national
consciousness despite a tradition-rich history that includes three
national championships and three Heisman Trophy winners.
The Black Knights haven't had a winning season since a 10-2 campaign in
1996, that ended with a three-point loss to Auburn in the Independence
Bowl.
Yet, each autumn thousands of fans make the sojourn to West Point for a game-day experience renowned as one of sports' finest.
Sports Illustrated magazine ranked Army's Michie Stadium seventh in its
top 10 college sports venues last year. In 1999, the magazine rated
West Point third in its top 20 sporting venues of the 20th century.
A West Point football Saturday lives up to the hype and then some.
It's a living history lesson, military base, college campus, museum,
athletic event, tailgate party and alumni gathering rolled into one
afternoon in a bucolic, rural setting along the banks of the Hudson
River that overlooks Bear Mountain.
Enter the 16,000-acre facility from scenic Route 293 off the New York
State Thruway and you quickly realize mountains have morphed into a
military base.
Once past the initial entrance checkpoint -- manned by armed military
police -- the beauty and tradition of a West Point football Saturday
quickly surround the senses.
Tailgating is the main pre-game pastime, but this is not your
run-of-the-mill party in a paved parking lot. West Point's grounds are
akin to a national park, and tailgaters find niches along curved roads,
in grassy knolls behind academic buildings and on stretches of athletic
fields adjacent to the Hudson River.
The fare on this warm mid-September day runs the gamut from beer and
sandwiches to elegantly catered meals eaten from dinnerware place
settings.
Formal tours aren't available on football gamedays, but strolling
through the massive campus, with its ubiquitous ''Beat Navy'' signs,
gives you plenty of its history.
Statues honoring generals MacArthur, Eisenhower and Patton, among
others, are within a short walk of the public parking areas. Cadets
race back from early Saturday classes to prepare for gameday duty.
Decades of tradition and sense of espirt de corps emanate from fans
taking part in pregame rituals ranging from tailgating to gatherings of
private alumni, boosters and sponsors.
Kevin Hopkins of Warminster, Bucks County, and a 2003 graduate of DeSales University, has attended Army home games for as long as he can remember.
''It's the best place to watch a football game and it's a family tradition,'' he said.
Hopkins was tailgating with his parents, Bob and Paula Hopkins of Edison, N.J., season-ticket holders since 1965.
''He saw his first game here when he was in diapers,'' Bob Hopkins said
of his son. ''No one comes to the service academies to play football.
People who come here are true American heroes.''
The elder Hopkins' grandfather was a Navy officer living in northern
New Jersey during the 1960s, when the lone way to obtain seats for the
annual Army-Navy clash was to own season tickets.
''West Point was pretty close, and season tickets were cheaper than
Navy's. So, he sold his soul and bought Army season tickets so he could
go to the Army-Navy game. We've been coming ever since,'' Bob Hopkins
said.
Marlieah Rogers of Durham, N.C., likens the feeling of going back
annually to West Point to a sense of duty, family and tradition.
Rogers and her husband, a West Point alum, attended that weekend's West
Point Hall of Fame induction dinner the eve of the game. Bob Knight,
former Army head basketball coach, was one of several 2008 Hall of Fame
inductees honored on the field during halftime ceremonies.
Military tradition also means parades. The U.S. Military Marching Band
and Corps of Cadets assembles in the morning for this notable pregame
ritual.
Two regiments of the Corps dressed in crisply pressed short-sleeved
white shirts, gray pants and white hats march through the campus.
Later, they'll reassemble for the march into Michie Stadium to
patriotic music minutes before kickoff before joining their cohorts in
the stands. The cadets and band stand for the entire game.
A precision parachute team drops in from above, landing on the midfield stripe with the U.S. flag and game balls in tow.
The Black Knights, despite the ardent support, drop a turnover-filled 22-3 decision to Akron to fall to 0-3 for the season.
Their spirit, or that of the cadets, isn't doused. Instead, they gather
in the corner of the end zone and stand at attention for the West Point
alma mater. Cadets are dismissed and seek out family and friends for
postgame tailgating that is almost as festive as the pregame despite
the loss.
There are still games against Air Force and Navy that will make or break the season no matter what the records say.
ARMY FOOTBALL
What: Army football at The U.S. Military Academy in West Point.
West Point college football dates back to 1890, and boasts 634 all-time
victories.
Distance: About 115 miles, or two hours, from Bethlehem,
If you go: Army hosts Eastern Michigan (Oct. 11), Louisiana Tech (Oct.
25) and Air Force Academy (Nov. 1.) Tickets, $29 to $60. General
parking, $10. Pregame and postgame tailgating permitted. Photo ID
required for everyone 16 and older.
Highlights: Corps of Cadets parade forms every football game- day at 10
a.m., winds its way through campus and into Michie Stadium. Â
Black
Knights Alley, at east end of the stadium, opens three hours prior to
kickoff. Activities include working helicopter and tank displays,
music, inflatable bounces, face painting and Black Knight Walk.
Web: http://www.goarmysports.com
Telephone: 1-877-TIX-ARMY
Tom De Martini is a freelance writer.
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