106th Army v Navy Game

(click image above to see entire gallery)

Four family members braved the cold at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia to take in the 106th playing of the Army v Navy classic. Thanks to my cousin Vin; he, his son Andrew, my cousin Jeff, and I had incredible first level seats to take in all of the action.

We met up around 12:30 - two hours before kickoff. Vin and Andrew provided the grill, burgers and dogs, Jeff provided the hot chocolate, and I supplied the beer. It being Christmas time, I decided to bring something special, and so came with a case of Anchor Brewing’s Christmas Ale. It’s brewed differently every year, so you never really know what to expect, except that it’s always excellent. This year’s brew did not disappoint.

Around 2PM, we headed into the stadium. We all were patted down quite thoroughly, but it wasn’t really all that bad a wait. We quickly found our seats - section 105, row 28, right along the Navy goal line. We had a first hand view of the F18 fighters and Apache helicopters flying overhead, as well as the entrances by both teams.

The game itself was actually quite good - in the first half. Army scored first, a 37 yard field goal with about 3 seconds left in the first quarter. The score went back and forth for a few minutes during the second quarter, and at halftime it was 21-10 Navy.

Navy scored three more touchdowns in the second half, as Army could not stop the Navy ground attack. In fact, Navy had 492 yards rushing in total on their way to a 42-23 victory.

Navy has now won four years in a row, and yesterday’s win was their 50th in the series. They now hold a one game advantage over the Cadets, the overall record being 50 - 49 Navy, with 7 draws.

Big thanks again to Vin for inviting me to the game, I had a great, if somewhat cold, time.