Black Knights to play spring game at Fort Benning
February 3rd, 2012 | Army Football | Posted by Phil Creed
Army’s football team will play its annual spring game — known as the Black/Gold Game — at Fort Benning, Ga., this year.
The “spring” game will be held March 9 at Doughboy Stadium at Benning, which promises to be warmer venue than last year’s 35-degree affair at Michie Stadium. It’s the first time Army has played the Black/Gold game away from West Point, according to Assistant Athletic Director Brian Gunning. The academy had to get a waiver from the NCAA to hold the event at a different location.
Aside from the (hopefully) warmer conditions, playing the game at Benning is seen as way to showcase the program at one of the more famous posts in the country. Benning is home to elements of the 75th Ranger Regiment, the U.S. Army Armor School and the U.S. Army Infantry School. The annual Best Ranger competition is held at Benning, and a good chunk of the training to become a Ranger happens at the post.
“It’s something we’re anxious to do,” Army coach Rich Ellerson said in a release. “It makes too much sense. As spring football games have become a little bit more of a media event, it’s a chance for us to showcase the program and articulate that connection with the U.S. Army.”
Army’s “spring” practices begin Feb. 13 — much earlier than most programs. Ellerson prefers to give the players as much recovery time as possible before preseason camp begins, Gunning said.
More bad news for Navy hoops: Leading scorer suspended
February 3rd, 2012 | Basketball Navy | Posted by Phil Creed
Navy’s basketball team is mired in 14-game losing streak, and it looks like things just got worse.
The (Annapolis) Capital is reporting today that J.J. Avila, the Mids’ leading scorer and rebounder, has been suspended from the team indefinitely.
Navy coach Ed DeChellis is not optimistic that Avila will return this season, according to The Capital:
“Pressed on when he thought Avila might be able to rejoin the team, DeChellis stated flatly, ‘I don’t anticipate him coming back this season.’ DeChellis was hopeful that Avila would be allowed to remain at the Naval Academy and could continue his career next season.”
Avila had been averaging 15.9 points and 7.2 assists for the Mids (3-18, 0-7). Navy travels to Lafayette on Saturday, where they hope to avoid tying the school record for consecutive losses.
Navy hoops losing streak: By the numbers
February 1st, 2012 | Basketball Navy | Posted by Kevin Lilley
Junior Navy guard Jordan Brickman dribbles during the Mids' season-opening win over Penn State-Altoona on Nov. 13 in Annapolis -- one of Navy's three wins on the season. (MC1 Chad Runge / Navy)
This is not the kind of record athletes want to be chasing.
A loss at Patriot League rival Lafayette on Saturday would be the 15th straight for the Navy Midshipmen — good enough, so to speak, to tie a team record for futility set during the 1988-89 season. A loss at home to Holy Cross on Feb. 8 would break the record, just in time to prepare for a Feb. 11 showdown at Army, which will air nationally on the CBS Sports Network.
The streak and the season so far, by the numbers, after the jump:
Check out the giant Navy billboard in Times Square
January 27th, 2012 | Football Navy | Posted by Phil Creed
According to the Navy athletic department, this will be running all day today. Click on the image to see it blown up.
This isn’t the first time the Big East has gone all-out to publicize its new members in NYC.
Friday military MMA links
January 27th, 2012 | Mixed martial arts UFC | Posted by Kevin Lilley
UFC middleweight and former soldier Jorge Rivera wrapped up his MMA career last week with a victory at UFC on FX. (Getty Image photo by Ryan Pierse)
A few military-themed (and almost-military-themed) notes before Saturday’s prime-time UFC card.
A word from an ‘El Conquistador’ sponsor: Former soldier Jorge Rivera retired last week after stopping Eric Shafer in the second round at the inaugural UFC on FX event. The win wrapped up a mixed martial arts career that began in 2001 and ended with a 20-9 record, according to Sherdog.
We could try to recap his time in the cage, but instead, read this from Rivera’s longtime friend and sponsor Nick Palmisciano, the founder of the Ranger Up apparel line. Military Times EDGE has profiled Palmisciano before — his success story may not involve quite as many bruises as Rivera’s, but it’s worth a look regardless. A fan of both the fighter and the gear? Palmisciano has the perfect way to celebrate.
Battle of bad guys? About a year before his retirement, Rivera lost at UFC 127 in Australia via a controversial second-round stoppage at the hands of Michael “The Count” Bisping. Bisping hit Rivera with an illegal knee in the first round and was docked a point, but the bout was allowed to continue; since then, Rivera has said the blow was intentional, and that it may have hurt him more than he let on at the time.
So, that’s one middleweight former soldier out of The Count’s corner. And you can probably add Tim Kennedy to that list, as we outlined earlier this month. Still, Bisping will have his share of fans Saturday night when he faces off with Chael Sonnen on Fox (also on AFN xtra, according to the American Forces Network website). Sonnen beat former Marine Brian Stann in October at UFC 136 via second-round submission and has been a polarizing figure in the UFC for years, especially after failing a drug test following his 2010 loss to middleweight champ Anderson Silva at UFC 117. The Bisping-Sonnen winner will get a chance at Silva down the line, and the winner of Saturday’s light-heavyweight main event between Phil Davis and Rashad Evans earns a shot at champion Jon “Bones” Jones.
More military in XFC: We told you about former Army combatives champ Brandon Sayles participating in XFC 16: High Stakes next month. The Feb. 10 card will give a number of young fighters national exposure via HDNet, and Sayles won’t be the only vet taking part. Read the XFC release on former Marine Dustin West’s bout here, and check out a feel-good 2010 story on West’s charity efforts here.
Jeff George to QB in game benefiting wounded warriors group
January 26th, 2012 | After Action Football nfl | Posted by Andy Charest
Gunslingin’ quarterback Jeff George is making a comeback — again.
No, not with the Colts, Raiders or Redskins — but instead on a field where his talents can do the most good.
George, an Indianapolis native, is set to play in a Feb. 1 flag football game pitting military amputees against former NFL players. The game will benefit Wounded Warrior Amputees (if you’re in the Indy area and want to check it out, tickets are $20 and can be purchased here).
George has tight military connections, with his brother-in-law and father-in-law both Army officers.
The quarterback played for several NFL teams over his 14-year career, and was always highly touted for his deep-passing skill. Run-ins with coaches — including a famous flare-up with Atlanta Falcons coach June Jones in 1996 — clashed with his genuine talent, though, and George was labeled an enigma during the last half of his time in the league.
Still, you can’t argue with throws like this.
And on Feb. 1, with flag football not exactly a run-first game, fans can expect some aerial fireworks courtesy of George’s golden arm.
Here’s an old ESPN piece with some highlights of George’s stint with his hometown Indianapolis Colts.
NFL’s best reach out to troops in Hawaii
January 25th, 2012 | Football | Posted by Kevin Lilley
Adm. Patrick Walsh, left, then head of Pacific Fleet, chats with New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick before the 2011 Pro Bowl. Walsh turned over command of Pacific Fleet to Adm. Cecil Haney on Friday. Belichick will miss this year's Pro Bowl as he preps his team for Super Bowl XLVI. (Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Cohen Young)
NFL stars are doing more in Hawaii this week than catching rays and suiting up for a defense-optional exhibition game at Aloha Stadium.
The Pro Bowlers have a full slate of community outreach activities, including a practice on Thursday at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. The event — open only to military families with base access, according to the base newspaper — will include both the AFC and the NFC squads working out at Earhart Field, which has been undergoing improvements since early December. USAA, which has chipped in for some of the field work, also is providing 1,000 tickets to the game for military families on Oahu, according to a company news release.
After the workout, players will take part in community outreach activities, including outdoor activities tied to the “NFL Play 60 Community Blitz” fitness effort; visits to wounded warriors; and other events at Army, Navy and Air Force installations. Everything from tree-planting to cheerleading clinics, according to an NFL.com announcement.
The game itself kicks off at 2 p.m. Hawaii time (7 p.m. Eastern) and will feature an “NFL Salute to Service” halftime show, according to the Aloha Stadium website. Those who aren’t in Honolulu can catch the action on NBC. Unsure if your favorite player made the squad? Check here.
Point/counterpoint: Navy to the Big East
January 24th, 2012 | Football Navy | Posted by Kevin Lilley
Ricky Dobbs led Navy to a 28-21 win over Southern Methodist in Annapolis in 2010. In 2015, Navy-SMU will be a Big East Conference matchup. (Navy photo by MC1 Chad Runge)
Is it a move to remain relevant in the evolving world of big-time college football, or a descent into an “ethical cesspool of misplaced priorities“? A way to ensure a competitive schedule, or a repeat of Army’s disastrous Conference USA run?
Navy has made it official: The Mids will join the Big East Conference as a football-only member beginning in 2015. That leaves three full years to argue whether it’s a good idea. Need some ammunition in either direction? You’ve come to the right place. Click below for both sides on some key issues.
Reports: Navy football to Big East in 2015
January 23rd, 2012 | After Action Air Force Football Navy | Posted by Kevin Lilley
Well, we knew it was coming eventually. But if reports from two major sports news outlets are accurate, the Naval Academy will make it official soon, joining the Big East as a football-only member in 2015.
Both CBSSports.com and ESPN.com are reporting an announcement is imminent; CBS says it’ll come Tuesday. The move would give the Big East 11 football members for the 2015 season and be the latest in a series of shakeups: By the time Navy joins up, Pitt, Syracuse and West Virginia will be out and Boise State, Houston, Southern Methodist, Central Florida and San Diego State will be in.
Yes, San Diego State. In the Big East. It’s best not to think about it too hard.
The conference likely isn’t settled in yet, either. If a 12th football school signed on, the Big East would reach the minimum required to hold a conference title game, giving it another revenue stream and a cherry to put on top of a yet-to-be-negotiated TV deal. It’s entirely too early to speculate on division alignments, but Navy could fit in a “Big East East” along with current Big East members Connecticut, Rutgers, South Florida, Cincinnati and Louisville. That would leave a “Big East West” with the five new, non-Navy members and another late addition.
Air Force said no in December when Big East expansion talks heated up, opting to remain with the Mountain West Conference. But things have changed with the MWC since then — that conference has been in merger talks with Conference USA that could lead to a 16-team megaconference. And joining a conference with Navy would make that academy rivalry a league matchup, freeing the Falcons to schedule a nonconference opponent of their choosing instead of filling up that nonleague spot with the Mids.
Confused yet? Join the club. But once official word comes down from Annapolis, expect some of the cloudy conference picture to get a little clearer.
‘Patriot Wing’ C-5 cargo jet grabs spotlight at Patriots-Ravens game
January 23rd, 2012 | Air Force Football | Posted by Dan Lamothe
A Patriot Wing C-5 approaches Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., on Sunday. (Photo by SrA. Kelly Galloway/Air Force)
When most people think of aircraft flyovers at sporting events, they think of swift jets. It’s the Blue Angels, maybe, or some other fighter squadron providing the thunder.
Not at the Patriots-Ravens game this weekend, though. The honors at Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts were carried out by a lumbering C-5B Galaxy from the 439th Airlift Wing out of Westover Air Reserve Base, Mass. – and it made all the sense in the world for the hometown team.
For years, the unit has referred to itself as the Patriot Wing, even using the New England Patriots logo on the tail of its aircraft.
As Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler completed the national anthem Sunday, the C-5 soared overhead. It quite clearly caught the attention of quarterback Tom Brady and other players, as you can see in this video:
Crew members sounded ecstatic with how the flyover turned out in local media reports today. The decision to include the Patriot Wing was made last minute, and its members jumped at the chance, according to CBS-3 out of Springfield, Mass.