A touching video - country and western style

See what you think about this C&W singer's performance -
very patriotic.

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Great Summary of 2006 Football Banquet

Sports Comment: Mids let emotions flow for class football actBy JOE GROSS, Senior Staff WriterMore people than ever turned out on Friday night for Navy's annual football banquet. They came to celebrate another year of success on the football field.As much as the 2006 season alone, the banquet was more of a remembrance of the 35 senior members of the team and their achievements of the past four years: Thus the theme of the event, "Celebrating the Class of 2007."In recent years there has been no guest speaker at the banquet. It was strictly an in-house type of event that put the emphasis on the Midshipmen.There was no need for a rah-rah type of speaker, no need for inspirational messages, no need for emotional stories. That entire spectrum was covered by the young men who have been with the football program for the past four seasons.The messages delivered by the superintendent Vice Adm. Rodney Rempt, athletic director Chet Gladchuk, coach Paul Johnson and the team captains James Rossi and Rob Caldwell said as much as any speaker from the outside might have done.Quite appropriately, there were such words as determination, talent, work, passion, courage, devotion, commitment, desire, dedication and tenacity used to describe the players who were being honored.Simply talking about the records of the past four Navy teams was reason for excitement for the more than 1,200 faithful Navy supporters - Naval Academy personnel, families of players, Naval Academy alumni and townspeople - who filled the tables on the floor and concourse of Alumni Hall.Think about the honor of having gone 8-0 against service academy archrivals: That's defeating Army and Air Force in each of their four seasons. Those wins were biggest for a group that won 35 games during their varsity careers. The seniors were part of the first Navy teams to have four consecutive seasons with eight or more wins since the teams of 1905 to 1908.They played in bowls games after each of their four seasons. They led the nation in rushing in three of their four years including the last two seasons. The seniors helped Navy to a 17-4 home record during their four years in Annapolis.It would be difficult for fans to not get excited hearing about such accomplishments.There were plenty of emotional moments and memories for those supporters looking for that type of thing that is normal at a season-ending banquet.The emotions came from such moments as the introduction of Eddie Martin, who became a symbol of courage for his teammates as he spent the season battling Lymphoma.Moments of emotion were apparent at the mention of the season-ending knee injury to starting quarterback Brian Hampton and then again when the highlight film showed him being carted from the field early in the game against Rutgers.Emotion came from the stirring farewell comments from Caldwell, who expressed his appreciation and love of his coaches and teammates noting at the end, "It's been an honor to represent you."And emotion was evident from the hugs and back pats shared by each of the seniors as they received plaques from coaches Buddy Green and Ken Niumatalolo.Emotions were overflowing when the parents of fallen Navy football player Ron Winchester, who was killed in Iraq on Sept. 3, 2004, presented the Unsung Hero award named for their son to Anthony Picconi.And the highlight film had many moments of the emotion of joy and a few of sorrow as the 9-4 season was condensed to just a few of the more meaningful minutes.The banquet didn't need a guest speaker, though it did have such guests as Navy's first Heisman Trophy winner Joe Bellino, All-America tackle Bob Reifsnyder, 1963 team captain Tom Lynch and legendary coach Wayne Hardin.It was also a night for humility. Players credited their coaches for the success, coaches credited the players. Johnson credited his assistants, the support of the brigade and the fans.There were more than a few standing ovations during the event: All of them were well-deserved. There were tears and laughter. There was raucous applause and silence.And, there was more than an underlying subtle knowledge that those young men, the senior leaders of the 2006 Navy football team, would be leaving Annapolis in May to take their next steps toward being defenders of our nation.There was no need for a guest speaker.

Navy gains an ESPN ALL BOWL TEAM member

Click on the espn.com hotlink above to read about Guard Anton Harper's great achievement.

Meineke Bowl Game - Baltimore Sun article

Mids see hopeful signs in defeat
By Gary LambrechtSun reporter
Originally published January 1, 2007

Navy senior safety Jeremy McGown is no fan of moral victories. But after Saturday's heartbreaking 25-24 loss to Boston College in the Meineke CarCare Bowl, McGown talked of a message the Midshipmen had delivered."I think the program may have taken a step forward [in defeat]," McGownsaid. "I'm glad for the guys coming back next year. They should have theconfidence, knowing we can go out and play with an ACC team and dominate ina lot of aspects of the game."

Trying to beat a ranked team in a bowl game for the first time since 1958,the Midshipmen fell short when a fumble by normally sure-handed slotbackReggie Campbell set up a last-second, 37-yard field goal by BC's sophomorekicker, Steve Aponavicius.Despite losing that way, confidence is not lacking among the Midshipmen, whowill say goodbye to possibly their best senior class ever.Besides going 35-15 and winning two of four bowl games, it became the firstclass to play in four straight bowls and run the table against Army and AirForce.

It also set the modern-day record for wins by a Navy class and came within one victory of tying the all-time record set by the Class of 1908.Although the departing seniors will leave a hole - 12 starters, includingeight on defense, led by remarkably versatile linebacker David Mahoney - theprogram looks too established to stumble.The Navy offense lost three starters during the year, but it still won itsthird NCAA rushing title in the past four seasons and averaged 28.4 points.Senior quarterback Brian Hampton and junior right tackle Josh Meek went downwith knee injuries in midseason, and junior fullback Adam Ballard broke hislower leg a month ago against Army. That allowed sophomore quarterbackKaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada, sophomore tackle Andrew McGinn and sophomorefullback Eric Kettani to emerge.Campbell and fellow slotbacks Shun White and Zerbin Singleton will return,as will Antron Harper, who is expected to move from right guard to center.Sophomore receiver Tyree Barnes should fill the shoes of Jason Tomlinson.Senior offensive line starters James Rossi, Zach Gallion and Matt Pritchett will move on and make way for already-productive players such as sophomore tackle Anthony Gaskins and junior guard Ben Gabbard. Defensively, the front seven will be extremely young, yet don't underestimate the potential of freshman nose tackles Nate Frazier and AndyLark, who missed the season with a broken leg. They are two of the biggerand more promising recruits under fifth-year coach Paul Johnson. Junior IrvSpencer and sophomore Clint Sovie are proven and will anchor the linebackerunit.The secondary will miss McGown and cornerback Keenan Little, but sophomorecornerback Rashawn King and freshman safety Jeromy Miles started most of theyear, and freshman Blake Carter looks like a future force at cornerback, asdoes sophomore safety Ketric Buffin.

"I'm proud of the last four years for [the seniors]. Hopefully, they've laida foundation for the program," said Johnson, who was denied his 100th careervictory on Saturday and figures to collect it in the 2007 season opener atTemple."I wanted them to win. I'm going to have other games [to coach]. Theydeserved to go out winning this game."

Navy's defense forced five punts and picked off All-Atlantic CoastConference first-team quarterback Matt Ryan twice. Its triple optioncountered the Eagles' massive size inside by exploiting the perimeter. Itthrew the ball downfield effectively enough to lead for nearly the final 50minutes. Despite all that, Navy (9-4) could not overcome its errors.During the second half, when the Mids bogged down and punted four straighttimes, two holding penalties stalled drives, including one right before thefateful fumble. The Eagles, led by Ryan, made Navy pay, and not just at theend. First, they turned an early fumble by senior fullback Matt Hall intothe game's first touchdown.Boston College later turned a failed onside kick attempt into a touchdowndrive that cut Navy's second-quarter lead to 14-13. The Eagles then drovequickly down the field for a field goal at the end of the first half -cutting the margin to 21-16 - after Johnson went for a first down onfourth-and-one at the BC 19, instead of trying for a field goal that couldhave put the Midshipmen up by 11 points.

The Eagles overcame their mistakes, which included a missed extra pointearly by Aponavicius and a two-point conversion pass dropped by TonyGonzalez after Ryan had completed a 25-yard touchdown pass to tight end RyanPurvis to pull the Eagles to within 24-22 with 7:27 left.

"We're not going to hang our heads and sulk about it," Navy seniorlinebacker Tyler Tidwell said. "We've done a lot of great things for thelast four years, and we're going to take pride in that for the rest of ourlives."

gary.lambrecht@baltsun.com