Military MMA links: Brandon Sayles video, Herschel Walker visit, Marine boxers win
February 10th, 2012 | Army Boxing Combatives Football Marine Corps Mixed martial arts UFC | Posted by Kevin Lilley
For those of you sick of the latest service academy basketball news (either here or here), try these combatives links:
Army (Superheavyweight) Strong: Staff Sgt. Brandon Sayles gets a nice video treatment from the folks at HDNet before his fight tonight at XFC 16:
Sayles, a three-time Army Combatives Championship winner, will face Chase Gormley live on HDNet; the fights start at 10 p.m. ET. Also on the card is former Marine Dustin West — check out an XFC news release on his work with the Wounded Warrior Project here. Not sure if you get HDNet? Click the “subscribe” tab here.
Football legend stops by: Herschel Walker is known for many things — a college football career that ranks among the best ever, his time as the face of the now-defunct USFL, the famous trade that sent him to Minnesota and helped create a Dallas dynasty (How famous? This famous), and a 2-0 record as a Strikeforce heavyweight as he rushes head-on toward age 50.
He’s also known for going public with his battle against Dissociative Identity Disorder. Multiple personalities may not be at the top of the priority list for military medicine, but mental health issues are. That’s why Walker’s message during his recent visit with soldiers and families at Fort Bliss, Texas, is so important. Staff Sgt Casey J. McGeorge, who wrote this release about the visit, put it best: “There is no shame in seeking help.”
Walker, who turns 50 in March, may have one more fight left in him, according to an SB Nation report citing a recent interview in a magazine After Action only reads for the articles.
Marines take gold: OK, the arts aren’t exactly “mixed,” but it’s big news anyway — the Marine Corps ended Army’s two-decade win streak at the Armed Forces Boxing Championship at Camp Pendleton, Calif., earlier this month. Click the previous link to read about Marine Sgt. DeJesus Gardner’s gutty performance in the 201-pound weight class to clinch the overall win, and get the Army write-up here.
Barksdale airman: ‘Tim Tebow, be my date?’
February 9th, 2012 | Air Force Football | Posted by Brian Everstine
An airman from Barksdale Air Force Base, La., is the newest service member to go viral asking a celebrity out.
Senior Airman Jamie Walden already has more than 14,000 views on a Youtube video asking Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow to be her date for the 2012 Military Ball in Shreveport, La. Who knows, following the success of Marine Sgt. Scott Moore asking out Mila Kunis and Cpl. Kelsey De Santis asking out Justin Timberlake, maybe the QB sensation will do it.
Reports: Big East adds Memphis
February 8th, 2012 | After Action Football Navy | Posted by Kevin Lilley
During the Jan. 24 teleconference that welcomed Navy football into the Big East starting in 2015, conference commissioner John Marinatto was pretty clear: “I’m not done with regard to our expansion efforts.”
Less than a month later, he’s apparently made good. Multiple reports, including one from USA Today, have Memphis joining the conference in all sports as of 2013. If the rest of the conferences’ arrivals and departures go off as scheduled, Navy will enter a 12-team football league, likely split into two to-be-determined divisions, in 2015.
Memphis leaves Conference USA to join the Big East, creating a reunion of sorts with six other former C-USA football programs — Central Florida, South Florida, Southern Methodist, Houston, Louisville and Cincinnati. While Navy football’s team has never played in a conference, Army tried it a few years ago — in C-USA. It didn’t go great.
While the Big East sorts itself out, another conference has made even larger headlines, with the Big Ten reportedly discussing a playoff plan that would include semifinal games on campus. How would this affect the Bowl Championship Series by 2015? Would the Big East’s status as automatic BCS qualifier — a selling point for any conference-shopping school — mean anything if the postseason system suffered major upheaval? Would there be a BCS? Will USC be coming to Annapolis to open the 2015 NCAA Football Playoffs, sponsored by [insert highest bidder here]?
It’s about as likely as Navy dumping Air Force from its football schedule. But you never know.
Top Army brass happy with Giants’ win
February 6th, 2012 | Army Football | Posted by Phil Creed
New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin hugs Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno after defeating the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
The New York Giants have friends in high places in the U.S. Army.
Despite his resemblance to Fireman Ed, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno is actually a Giants big fan, having attended practices and talked to the team over the years. The general is friends with Giants head coach Tom Coughlin, and the two even traded texts in the week prior to the big game. And as you can see in the picture above, Odierno made the trip to Indianpolis to see the Giants’ come-from-behind 21-17 victory over the New England Patriots.
Odierno isn’t the only Army 4-star happy about the Giants victory. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey sounded off on Twitter in support of New York (twice) last week.
Marines, sailors take in Super Bowl at sea
February 6th, 2012 | Football Marine Corps Navy | Posted by Dan Lamothe
Maj. Doug Baker, a Patriots fan from Roxbury, Conn., reacts while watching the Super Bowl in the officer's wardroom aboard the USS Wasp. (Mike Morones/Staff)
ABOARD THE AMPHIBIOUS ASSAULT SHIP WASP -– If you’re going to watch your favorite NFL team lose in the Super Bowl, it may as well be somewhere interesting.
That’s the scenario I found myself in last night as I continue to cover Bold Alligator 2012, a massive amphibious exercise involving at least 14,000 personnel and 25 ships off the coast of North Carolina and Virginia. Like many of the sailors and Marines aboard this gator ship, I had accepted there was a strong possibility the game wouldn’t be on while underway –- only to find out the exact opposite.
Not only did the Wasp have the Super Bowl, the ship’s leadership went out of its way to make sure as many people as possible could see it. From the wardroom, to the barber shop, to the mess deck, several thousand personnel took a break to watch the game, in which the New York Giants beat the New England Patriots, 21-17.
The liveliest place to view the game was the hangar bay. A movie theater screen and hundreds of chairs were set up, and Marines and sailors turned it into a concert-like environment in which the game and the commercials alike received howling cheers and boos.
The crowd was polarized when it came to sports, with any close-up shot of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady or Giants quarterback Eli Manning receiving a loud, mixed response. It was less so when it came to the commercials, as the raucous response to a new ad for the Fiat 500 Abarth showed. It depicted a tall, exotic woman flirting with a short, awkward man – until he realized he was simply daydreaming. The Marines and sailors howled.
In the ward room, dozens of officers aboard gathered over chicken wings, mozzarella sticks, coffee and soda to watch the game on two big-screen TVs. Several foreign officers asked questions about the rules of American football, and U.S. personnel cheerfully explained.
As a Massachusetts native, I took all this in with a red Patriots T-shirt poking out from underneath my half-zipped fleece. A few people noticed, but no one poked fun. They understood the draw of the game.
In the hangar bay, Lance Cpl. T.J. Miller, 20, told me he found out he’d be involved in Bold Alligator two days before the ships launched earlier this month. A Patriots fan, he assumed he’d miss the game for the second year in a row.
“They told me two days before, ‘Pack your stuff. You’re going,’ and I thought it was possible I’d miss it,” the CH-53 mechanic said. “The signal has gone out twice for about 30 seconds, but if it happens again I’ll go see what happens in the mess deck.”
Ah, the signal. Late in the game, it did go out again. Shortly after Giants receiver Mario Manningham reeled in a spectacular sideline grab that put New York in position to win the game, the screens on board went dark.
“Are you kidding me!” several Marines and sailors yelled in the mess deck, frustrated with the timing.
The signal came back a few moments later, and stayed true through the end of the game. When Giants running back fell into the end zone with the game-winning score with about a minute to play, much of the hanger bay exploded into cheers.
Brady’s last desperation heave into the endzone fell to the ground a few minutes later, and Giants fans on board erupted. A sailor began blowing a whistle as though it were a musical instrument, and a group of Marines and sailors began jumping up and down in celebration.
Lance Cpl. Alex Ovide, 23, was one of the most boisterous. An amphibious assault vehicle crewman from Queens, N.Y., he’ll be involved in the amphibious unfolding over the next few days, but was glad to watch the game. He missed it last year while he was in the field, he said, and didn’t know the Wasp would have the game until it was already underway.
“I was just hoping to get a phone call out and find out the score,” Ovide said. “There was a rumor mill at first that we’d be able to see it, and then it came together.”
The result of the game, Ovide said, was “simply beautiful.” He congratulated the Patriots on a great season, knowing that I was a fan.
“This was great,” he said. “All of us came together, and all of the branches of service on board, too. It’s something you can really appreciate.”
I couldn’t agree more. Other than the final score, of course.
Titans owner hosting GIs at Super Bowl
February 5th, 2012 | After Action Army Football | Posted by Sean Smyth
Titans head coach Mike Munchak signs autographs for Fort Campbell soldiers after a training camp practice in Nashville on Aug. 18. The Titans invited 250 soldiers to come and watch practice. (Mark Humphrey / The Associated Press)
Here’s a classy move: Tennessee Titans owner Bud Adams is recognizing soldiers at Fort Campbell, Ky., and he’s hosting some of them at today’s Super Bowl.
Thirty-three Campbell GIs took off early today and made the 300-mile trip to Indy.
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.
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.
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.