Posted on by Californiacontrarian

Tradition

On Saturday, 12/8, my wife and I sat down to watch the annual Army-Navy football game. No, it had not been a prior tradition. No, we were not big college football fans. No, the weather outside was not frightful, as it was sunny and in the 60s. No, we did not watch it because our President was going to be in attendance. My wife and I both watched the entire game because one of our friend’s grandsons was the punter for Navy. The game itself was “slow” . . . I would call it a “defensive struggle.” However, the pomp and circumstance surrounding the actual game was very cool, and watching the midshipmen and the cadets in the stands was motivating, and I learned a lot on-line during the commercials about the tradition of the Army-Navy football game. The game was first played in 1890, and in 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt was the first President to attend the game . . . in a snowstorm, no less. He also started the tradition of switching sides at halftime. Since then nine other sitting presidents have attended the game. President Trump was the tenth. (He also attended the game as president-elect in 2016.) Ford, Clinton, and Obama each attended once, while JFK attended twice during his abbreviated term. George W. Bush attended three times.Some presidential Army-Navy football trivia that could possibly come up when you are a future contestant on Jeopardy!Which president attended the most Army-Navy games . . . President Truman attended all seven games during his presidency. Likewise who was the only president to actually play in the game? . . . President Eisenhower!Since our friend’s grandson is only a freshman and will probably punt for another few years, we have put it on our schedule for next year, and will make it a tradition.
12/10/18

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