I am an USMA graduate and I want to share with you why my hate for Navy Athletics is so visceral. When I graduated in the mid seventies Beating Navy was a big deal, but not a really big deal..as a result we lost a lot more than we won..we had all sorts of weak rationalizations as to why..bottom line, we were weak and the staff faculty and coaches did not really care...l came back to WP in the mid eighties for an assignment on the faculty and Carl Ullrich was the AD (btw he had come from Navy) and attitude and accountability on the part of the Athletic Department had really changed..LTG Scott and Coach Jim Young were in place and the planets lined up and we experienced specifically an ARMY football renaissance. I worked with the FB team and got to know Coach Young and Carl Ullrich fairly well...l was so happy for the Football team and Corps..they had it figured out...the AF game and Navy games were huge deals to Coach Young..he became obsessed with beating AF at AF...and l believe never did it..So l leave WP and dive back into the Army with an obsession of beating Navy..l can tell you stories of cheering on the Army team early in the morning, late at night from Korea, Italy Germany and the Middle east..as my Army career progressed l had a series of Joint assignments and got to know many AF and Navy grads/football players we competed against..they to the person were wonderful individuals emblematic of the highest character and they loved me but nothing made them prouder than beating Army (oftentimes really bad)..my Army peers, not so much..rationalization..larger fish to fry..we fought Navy on fairly equal terms in Football post Jim Young era, pre Paul Johnson era..we had two good years 95 and 96 and Navy was good when PJ was the OC..the rest of games in that period were battles of will. Good close games but nothing to smash your hat about..Al Vanderbush replaced Ullrich as AD and thru the 90s he kept the course true...when he retired a series of blunders and missteps screwed Army football and Army sports for the next decade plus..we became an embarrassment and laughingstock..Navy rode the brilliance of Paul Johnson to great success.. they best us like a drum...better athletes, better scheme, better attitude..we ducked and my Navy pals felt for me and I hated it..then l discovered fan blog sites and for a few years made the mistake of reading Navy posts..that was my birth of visceral hate..it got to the point l was obsessed with beating Navy at anything..chess, dodge ball you name it..l took as much joy in Navy defeats (against anybody) as Army victories..thank god for Bob Caslen and Coach Monken's total adjustment of headspace and timing..in my quarantine..watching Army victories again and again has reminded me that there is no substitute for attitude and effort and more often than not that leads to victory..so l discovered a degree of moderation in my Navy hate..l found myself acknowledging their exceptional 2019 bounce back football year and really appreciating the brilliance of Malcom Perry..l hope we really kick their ass in 2020, and AF too.....never tell Cadets they have larger fish to fry..make beating Navy as important to them as it became for me...so why do you hate Navy, and what do you want the Army/WP to do about it..sorry for droning on..l am bored,
Go Army