Are you ready for some football?!

What's more fall than tailgating and football?

I wouldn't say I'm a big football fan, but it's not foreign to me. Three of my brother's played in high school, and one continued on to play in college. Of course they taught me how to properly hold a football, and throw a decent spiral.  Also, my family used to go to the University of Illinois football game on Thanksgiving for a few years.

As I've gotten older, I'd rank football on the lower end of my favorite sports. I went to a university that didn't have a football team, and in it's place - soccer. That doesn't mean SLU never had a football team. To my knowledge, SLU (primarily an all boys school until the 1940s) had lost most of their football players to the military draft. Interestingly enough, the forward pass in football was "invented" at Saint Louis University. Don't believe me? Read on here. The only football experience I got in college was when I played the position of Wide Receiver on my sorority's powder puff football team in the annual SLUper Bowl tournament, and scored a total of one touchdown in three years. LOL But it was a glorious moment, and fun times!

We were lucky to get the opportunity to go up to the Naval Academy this weekend to watch Navy play San Jose State with Andrew's work. The Naval Academy is in Annapolis, Maryland - about an hour and a half drive North from the small town we live in. It was a BEAUTIFUL day.

By the entrance where the team runs on
to the field.

This was the first time I've ever been up to the area, and the area around the football field had some cool stuff to look at - they even had a Blue Angel plane! Unfortunately there was no fly over, like we had hoped, but seeing a plane up close was good enough. We got to spend some time before the game tailgating, and got some free Navy tshirts and BBQ. Before the game, we watched many of the students march in uniform from the academy to the football stadium in a parade.

The parade, as you can see, also included their band & bag pipes! Once they marched to the stadium, they went onto the field and stood in their platoon (correct me if I'm wrong).

Not your normal start to a football game, but it was a great site to see.  It was Homecoming for Navy, and they took that literally - more than one class reunion was being celebrated at the game. I can't even begin to think about my 50th college class reunion in 2063. So you can imagine the atmosphere at the game with many Alumni presents, who obviously are all active or retired military. Talk about feeling like you're in the presence of something great.

 

The game itself was pretty exciting, and we had some great seats! Most exciting play included one San Jose State offensive player just BARELY missed stepping out of bonds and barely missed putting his knee down as he barrel rolled over a Navy defender. Caused a lot of uproar. The score stayed close throughout the game, but Navy made out with a Win and a final score of 41-31.  

I can't say we'll be pledging our allegiance to Navy football anytime soon, but hoping to see some of our favorite teams play the local teams in the future.  We were lucky to catch a Orioles/Cards game in the fall. For the winter, SLU Men's Basketball is in the A10 Conference, and they play George Washington (an A10 Conference team) in January, and I'm already looking at tickets! And University of Maryland is now in the Big10 Conference, and I wouldn't mind watching them play U of I this season.  Lots to look forward to!

Speaking of things to look forward to... only 16 more days until our trip "home" (STL/Mt. Carmel/Gardner) !! Really looking forward to seeing everyone!