Army-Navy has always been the game for as long as I could remember. Yet, somehow in my bubble, or perhaps in my naïveté, I failed to realize how much the game meant to so many people. This game means every bit as much to others as it does to me, even those who have no affiliation with either academy or with the Army or Navy at large. 

Those who read about my perilous travels to Yankee Stadium may already know that my Army fandom extends far back before my time as a cadet, from 2017-2021. Whenever college football talk comes up at work, and the NCOs brag about their fandom of college football’s bluebloods, my answer is always “I’ve been an Army football fan since I was six years old.” Both of my parents enlisted in the Army. My Dad retired from the Army; my mom served eight years after immigrating from Jamaica. Growing up, I thought the Army Black Knights were the Army proper.

My fandom evolved over time, of course. I watched my first Army game on TV in 2005. In middle school, I would stay after at the library on Fridays to print out old Army Football news articles to put in a binder while I waited for my mom to pick me up. Army Football filled most of my conversations with friends in those days. I endured a lot of teasing during the Ellerson and early Monken years.

Naturally, one day has always stood above the rest as an Army fan. The Army-Navy Game became nothing short of a holiday for me. During the streak, I always waited with barely held anticipation, wondering whether Army would break the streak that year or not. As a junior in high school, my mom rushed to get me back home after taking the very ACT that would help me get into West Point just to make sure I got home before kickoff.

At the Academy, I took the dreaded “boomerang” bus for my first two Army-Navy Games. I didn’t need to take a weekend pass. For me, the game was the only thing that mattered. I did eventually take a trip section with Baptist Campus Ministry my cow year, though only after some convincing from my fellow club members. They wanted me to have some fun, as they saw it.

Yet, despite all of this, never did I imagine I would cover the Army-Navy Game as part of “the media”. 

This year’s game became my first in person since graduating from West Point nearly five years ago and my first as a member of the press. Somehow, through all those years watching as a boy and later as a cadet, I never quite realized just how big this game has become.

Army-Navy has always been in a class of its own. The College Football Playoff may push for conformity to suit their insatiable greed, but Army-Navy transcends rankings and the Playoff. Forcing it to conform to an increasingly commercialized and manufactured college football landscape would do a disservice to so many who cherish this game today. 

It’s hard to describe the frenzy of my two days in Baltimore, but it seemed like the college football world at large descended upon Army-Navy. We saw a ton of heavy hitters roaming Radio Row, from USAA board members to Robert Griffin III. Americans from all walks of life seemed to make their way to the game, either to marvel at the spectacle or just to check it off their bucket list. For this one day, perhaps by itself, the entire nation came together in a way that’s becoming increasingly more difficult in this hyper-polarized world.

The closest comparison I can make is to the Super Bowl, but this game is purer. We got celebrity appearances from everyone from Mark Wahlberg to Annie Agar, but these folks weren’t just there to keep up appearances. Instead, they showed up for the young men and women who would soon defend our country’s freedoms. There’s plenty of money involved in Army-Navy, and there has been for a good long time now. But unlike most other college football in the modern era, money isn’t the point at Army-Navy. We weren’t out there watching kids play for a better contract, a higher position in the draft, or a bigger NIL deal.

Amazingly, it seems like a lot of folks don’t even get why that’s important anymore.

Army’s Rabble Rousers at the Army-Navy Fan Fest.

On the last leg of my flight to Baltimore, I sat next to a teenager whose brother is at West Point. Seeing my 2025 rivalry shirt he said “Go Army.”

Seeing him wear his own Army gear, I asked his relation to the Academy and he explained his brother is a cadet. When I asked him what company his brother was in, memories seemed to pour in all at once, memories I had hardly thought about amid the pressures of lieutenant and now captain life over the last four years.

Upon arrival in Baltimore, I finally met my As For Football teammates in person, as well as the famed Drunk Old Grad and Captain Cons. Sure we’d talked many times on our weekly shows, but it still felt surreal to meet the people I’ve bonded with over our shared love for our Alma Mater. As I watched each interview unfold, or actually took part in them, it slowly hit me that I was really covering the Army-Navy Game. So many times I wondered what 12-year-old Omar would say after seeing adult me do this.

After making a business decision to be “out-of-sight, out-of-mind” during the Supe’s interview, I headed to the break room for a true full circle moment. I tossed a few chips and dip on my plate, and then I heard someone call my name. 

“Omar.”

I looked up and it was Mike James, the Navy Birddog, one of the most prominent figures in Midshipmen football coverage. Over ten years ago, I noticed he had some clips of past Army-Navy Games on his YouTube channel. Finding these was like finding gold. I became desperate to see more from that Army-Navy archive, more than what the CBS Sports Network aired in the buildup to Army-Navy each year. I emailed him asking for copies, willing to pay to cover shipping. And he sent me copies of the 1989, 2002, 2003 games, most of what was missing from my collection.

Ten years later, I marveled at how surreal this all had become and how funny life can be. From being a teenager wanting any bit of Army-Navy history he could get his hands on to covering the rivalry with the man who helped me fall into a deeper love with the rivalry itself. We talked about many topics for the next hour. Future Army-Navy Games and Notre Dame-Navy sites, Academy grads in the pros, bowl games, and much more. 

I came back just as Danno and Rob started wrapping up their interview with Brian Keith Jones, a man I’d watched on TV a million times firing off opinions in the CBS Sports studio. He joked with me and asked if I was currently a cadet. 

I laughed and said, “No, do I look young?”

He fired back, “You look like you’re 12 years old!”

Maybe all those years maintaining my boyish fervor for Army Football has kept me young. Who knows? Nonetheless, I can now tell my daughter that a prominent college football analyst told her dad that he looked 12 years old. How cool is that?

All of AFF’s Army-Navy interviews as a playlist on YouTube

I’d already had the experience of a lifetime when gameday arrived. Danno, Rob, and I hit the concourse outside M&T Bank Stadium to hang out before the march-on. We met a wide range of fans from a proud father of a cadet who’s in E4 (the inferior tenants of Scott Barracks to I4), to a Marine TAC NCO for one of the Naval Academy companies. 

Our highlight came in meeting a man with a “U.S. Naval Academy Class of 1975” hat. He told us he was part of “The Brotherhood,” as Navy football alums pride themselves. I asked him if he remembered the infamous 51-0 blowout of Army in 1973, still the worst blowout in the rivalry’s long illustrious history. He said that he did and then bragged about shutting out Army the next year, 19-0. 

I then had to tease him about Army’s 23-15 win in 1972, and the smile fell away from his face. Over the next fifteen minutes or so, we shared factoids about both of our programs, before I asked him if he played with Chet Moeller, the famed College Football Hall of Famer and 1975 All-American cornerback for Navy. A shocked expression filled his face, wondering how this baby-faced twenty-something knew about Chet Moeller. All those years of nerding out about service academy football seemed to pay off. 

“I hosted Chet Moeller on his Midshipmen visit!” he exclaimed. The conversation continued into more Navy football talk, including how he played in Navy’s 1974 game against Penn State, the last in that series until 2012. He gave Danno, Rob, and I his business card and then headed for the entrance. 

Soon after, we too went into the stadium and towards the press box. We made it just in time to get something to eat before the March-On. When the March-On began, I had one of my first true “Old Grad” moments. I couldn’t hold in my company pride as I-4, my former company, marched on. They are — notoriously — the last company in the Corps.

“BEAM!”, I yelled as they marched onto the field. Afraid of being called a “ring knocker,” I’ve always played it cool when it comes to West Point pride. After all, no one wants to be that high-strung lieutenant that needs to be brought down to earth. But I couldn’t hide it this time. It wasn’t standing in the reviewing party during a reunion, but this was still something.

By kickoff, I’d already had an unforgettable experience. I found it hard to focus, either on posting tweets about obscure stats or on taking notes for my follow-up As For Football piece. The loss stung, but win or lose, the spirit of Army-Navy had been reborn in me once again.

Words can hardly do justice for the Army-Navy experience. This was my fifth time attending, and I found myself at a loss for words many times during this drafting process. The feeling of Army-Navy never gets old. So many times, did that nerdy die-hard twelve-year-old Army fan come back. 

This is what pastimes should do. They keep us young.  

This weekend proved that Army-Navy need not align with the misguided goals of the College Football Playoff. Instead, college athletics must itself keep the spirit of Army-Navy alive. Quite frankly, in a landscape that encourages profitability and homogeneity, college football needs Army-Navy to be its year-end centerpiece. Otherwise, it’s just a business, and everyone knows that business has no soul.

Go Army! Beat UConn!!!