College Football in the Hudson Valley

While Michigan was losing to Toledo yesterday, we were at Michie (pronounced Mikey) Stadium at the US Military Academy at West Point watching Army beat Eastern Michigan University on a shining, sunny day.  It was Army's homecoming, and I have to admit I was rooting for Army.  After all, teams deserve to win their homecoming, and oh, the pageantry of it all.  I think the Catholics and the military come from the same school of over-the-top ceremony and tradition.  It's in my blood and it moves me every time.  What the Army homecoming game had:  4 cadets parachuting onto the center of the field from very high in the sky from a Black Hawk helicopter; said helicopter often hovered above the field, inviting the not-sold-out crowd to admire it (Ken thought it had these hovering capabilities for other reasons).  It had a band.  It had cheerleaders.  A whole platoon (? right term?) of cadets, cheering and whooping, formed an avenue for the players to flood onto the field.  It had canons - yep, lots of explosions from them (it?).  The canon boomed for every point scored.  It boomed when the quarters ended.  It boomed when the game ended.  The Army fight song rang from the 40,000 seat stadium, which is perched high above the Hudson River and the campus.  The Army varsity song (think 'hurrah for the yellow and blue') made me cry as well.  The game has the Star Spangled Banner, sung by an a cappella group of USMA alumni.  Of course, this is one of few places in America where the words to the SSB mean something.  I have been to the USMA campus 8 times since moving to New York:  2 conferences, 3 football games, 2 college fairs and 1 band concert, all in the post 9/11 world; all when we are at war.  There are surely cadets on campus on my previous visits who are now war casualties.  The cheerleaders, band members and football players we saw yesterday may be in Iraq or Afghanistan next year.  They may come back from those wars minus limbs or with serious psychological issues.  It is sobering and sad and tragic.  It all looks exactly like a college like EMU or Michigan, but it is not.  

I do not want to end this post on that note.  We had a lovely time, especially as the last two games we went to were in pouring rain.  Last year, Tom and Barbara were here and we saw Rutgers beat Army, and I mean, it was pouring!  

Today is a birthday party, a hike around Lake Minnewaska, one more day of dealing with tomatoes and prep for the week to come.  I'll be in Rochester Thursday and Friday and Ken will be in Queens and Long Island Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Until the next post, be well...