This afternoon, I was enjoying lemonade and cookies at a local sports bar where they were showing the Army-Navy game on CBS. Most of my life, I had never had any interest in this game since Army and Navy are not college football powerhouses and have not been since before I was born. Men (and women) go to these institutions to prepare for a military career, not for a professional career in sports.
Frankly, I have little interest in college football anyway. Yet, in recent years, due to my involvement in my old Army unit reunions, I decided that I should root for Army. So it was that I took an interest in this game, which was in the 3rd quarter with Army leading 13-10 and threatening to defeat Navy for the first time in 10 years. While this game may mean nothing in terms of college football rankings and bowl games, it is still a huge deal to West Point and the Naval Academy.
At any rate, Navy scored a late touchdown to go up 17-13, and it came down to Army's last drive. The Army team drove down to about the Navy ten-yard line with just over a minute left to play when their running back fumbled and that was all she wrote as Navy held on to win.
What bothered me was that the CBS cameras continued to focus on the young man who had made the costly fumble. He was inconsolably weeping on the sidelines as Navy ran out the clock and the celebrations began. Each time the camera switched back to the young halfback, I asked, "Why do they have to do this?" In the NFL it might be different, but why did they have to keep highlighting this young cadet in his misery?
Well, you know the old saying in the media, "If it bleeds, it leads."
At any rate, I am sure this young man will go on to his military service, serve his country well, and have a successful life. Since sports bars screens are silent, I didn't know the player's name, nor did I care. I later learned on the radio that his name was Larry Dixon.
As I went home feeling sorry for Larry, the radio announcer was describing how Vice President Joe Biden was presenting the Navy team with the Commander in Chief trophy.
Hopefully, that will serve as a bit of consolation to Larry and his Army teammates.
2 comments:
I watched the game (One of the better Army/Navy games.) and saw the way CBS honed in on Cadet Dixon. It was disgusting. Yes he made a mistake. Yes he was upset about it. But in the scheme of the world, it matters not.
Tomorrow nobody in the services will remember the game or hold it against their fellow serviceman. In fact, as soon as it was over, the different services went back to work as usual.
Who knows? Next year Army might win. (NOT)
GO AIR FORCE!!!!!
I agree with you Mongo. These young people are to be admired for their dedication to this country. CBS is a disgraceful news organization and has been going back to the days of Dan Rather and his fantasy make up stories.
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