When they were young...

A lot of people give me grief about my love for the Army Football Team. They often wonder why anyone could give an ounce of care and energy to a program that hasn't had a winning season in a decade or more. They get the bit about it being part of my heritage and where I grew up, but most serious college football fans will mock my steadfast support of West Point's Black Knights of The Hudson to no end, and if I mention past glories on the field of friendly strife, laughter ensues. What they don't get are the stories behind the story, much like what was chronicled in John Feinstein's most excellent A Civil War: Army Vs. Navy a Year Inside College Football's Purest Rivalry, or David Lipsky's Absolutely American: Four Years at West Point.

I though about this while reading an article written by Bill Morgan, a classmate of my dad's, in which he offers his testimony to Army football's greatest season ever (and no, it didn't occur during WW I or II). I have met some of the people in this story and can attest to the influence the events scribed had on these guys lives. It's not hokey sentimentality, but real inspiration.

Take a read here if you’re interested.