2003 Houston Bowl: Shalimar Brazier Brings the Pain

Looking for some late June motivation? This was 9 years ago but MAN was this an awesome hit. The 2003 EV1.net Houston Bowl didn’t feature a lot of Navy highlights since Texas Tech won 38-14, but this will hit will live on for years. Texas Tech’s QB B.J. Symons actually lost a tooth. You can see him handing it to a coach at the end of the clip. To his credit, Symons didn’t miss a snap.

OLD STUFF

I like old Navy sports footage. I’m always looking for it. Here’s a clip I found at a used book store that you might find interesting. This is some old newsreel footage of the beginning of Navy football practice in 1929.

Some cutting-edge training techniques there. I like the glimpse of the Yard from 80 years ago, too.

By the way, over on the message board we’re talking basketball, football superlatives, and moving the Hawaii game next year. Make sure you check it out!

Loose Change 2/1/08

Odds & ends you may have missed over the past week:

• Read Lisa Horne’s tribute to J.P. Blecksmith and service academy football. Yeah, I know she screwed up Army’s nickname. But if that’s all you get out of this then you really miss the point.
• Some of you may remember Matt McCutchan, the former Mid who transferred to Kentucky and became their starting center. He’s playing in the Arena League now.
• Remember the Duke game? Where Navy just had more left in the tank in the 4th quarter? David Cutcliffe doesn’t want that to happen again.
• Kyle Eckel is in the mix with the media hype that suppounds the Super Bowl. He gets a little hometown coverage here, while the Baltimore Sun says more or less the same thing but with their usual sprinkling of gloom here. Bill Simmons ponders asking about a battle royale. And I don’t know what the hell to make out of this.
• Navy basketball recruit John Corrigan had a good game.
• Remember the latest panel put together to figure out how to fix Army football? Well, here’s what they came up with.
• The broadcast schedule for the lacrosse team was released with all the usual games on the air. Don’t be surprised of the Cornell game gets on TV somewhere, too.
• Navy lacrosse was voted as the preseason favorite to win the Patriot League, with Jordan DiNola picked as the preseason Defensive Player Of The Year. Colgate’s Brandon Corp was voted for the offensive honors. No surprises here.
• Colgate assistant lax coach Jeff Cohen scouts Navy, among other things.
• Patriot League All-Access is carrying Richie Meade’s halftime interview from the Army basketball game as free content. There are also some clips from the league’s preseason lacrosse teleconference here.
• Some quotes from Buddy Green about one of his former players at NC State who he helped get started in coaching.
• A volleyball recruit.

Pylon-gate

Just in case you wanted to relive the pain.

It’s funny to lurk on Utah message boards and read some the comments about the play.  “The pylon was in the wrong place! It was placed out of bounds!” Some real football experts there. Oh well.

Alton Grizzard

The Army-Navy game is today. It’s one of the most celebrated days of the year. But today is also December 1; 14 years ago today, Alton Grizzard was killed. Please take a moment today to remember him.

I remember the first time I saw Alton Grizzard. I was 10 years old, and I had just moved from San Diego to Virginia Beach. We finally lived close enough to Annapolis to get to a Navy game. So I was with my father at my first Navy game, and Navy’s offense took the field. My father started to chuckle. I asked him why he was laughing, and he said something about one of the linebackers being lost. Alton definitely looked like a linebacker with that big ol’ neck roll he wore. That neck roll was a symbol of the toughness that he brought to the quarterback position and a sign of things to come.

What are your favorite Alton Grizzard memories?

100

Congratulations to Paul Johnson for earning his 100th career head coaching victory tonight. I’ll write more about the game later, but for now here’s a little something to honor the man that means so much to this team and this school.

eBay Scavenger Hunt, Vol. 2

If you’re like me and love collecting old Navy football footage, this item will catch your eye.  This auction is for highlights from the 1954 Army-Navy game, captured on 16mm film. The 27-20 Navy win is widely considered one of the best games in series history. Navy entered the game with the nation’s top-ranked defense. Army entered the game having won 7 in a row and featuring the country’s top offense. Red Blaik vs. Eddie Erdelatz. Don Holleder vs. George Welsh & Ron Beagle. Navy’s “Team Named Desire” went on to shut out Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl, 21-0. Truly a classic game with some great teams.

There are services that will convert 16mm film to DVD, in case you were wondering.

Brian Brinkmann

Navy lacrosse recruit Brian Brinkmann (St. Joe’s Prep, PA) has a couple of videos featuring his lax and football highlights up on YouTube. Pretty sweet. Video #2 after the jump.

Army-Navy 1989

It’s a long offseason. YouTube makes it so much easier to take. Someone was kind enough to load Frank Schenk’s magnum opus, the end of the 1989 Army-Navy game. Glorious.