I was at the game this weekend. Annapolis was a lot of fun. The Naval Academy is absolutely beautiful. Campus is obviously pretty small compared to UCF but for a school with an enrollment of about 4,500 it felt pretty sizable. Pretty cool to see the cadets walking all over the town in uniform. Annapolis felt like a very safe, walkable town. Even their more rowdier bars were pretty tame. Walking around the campus, 97% of the students I saw were in incredible shape (the other 3% being average/not fat). Don’t think I’ll ever see that in another campus at least in the US.
Gotta say, the Navy fans, cadets and their families were all really nice people. I didn’t meet a single jerk the entire weekend. Lot of older Navy alumni in the area. Stayed a place where a Navy group was hosting their 40th or 50th class reunion. Very welcoming and humble bunch. Surprising, I heard a lot of praise from them of our football team (prior to the game). Not one Navy person I talked to realistically thought they had a chance against us.
The stadium felt a bit on the smaller size but not like the Bounce House is that much bigger. Pregame ceremony was cool, I’m sure you heard about it- the Midshipmen march in, the fly over, etc. The cadets (especially the plebes) were having a ton of fun in the stands. Would break into song when they played music in the stadium, and for every Navy score the plebes would have to do pushups by the field goal post. They were loud and when Navy got back into the game…even louder, I felt our offense heard them a lot towards the end. Believe me as time started ticking in the 3rd and 4th quarter, I got just as pissed as anyone else to see us lose our lead and the game, but the young cadets were having a really good time throughout the whole game and even more towards the end……so you know, good for them. It could be worse, could have lost in front of an awful usf fanbase or Memphis (I hear their fans are pretty meh too). Anyways it was a solid time, I wish could have seen a UCF-over-Navy-win in person, but it was good enough atmosphere to make up for the L (plus I don’t foresee any more scheduled games with Navy in the near future). I do hope we’ll schedule games with the military academies in the future, would love check out West Point someday.
Gotta say, the Navy fans, cadets and their families were all really nice people. I didn’t meet a single jerk the entire weekend. Lot of older Navy alumni in the area. Stayed a place where a Navy group was hosting their 40th or 50th class reunion. Very welcoming and humble bunch. Surprising, I heard a lot of praise from them of our football team (prior to the game). Not one Navy person I talked to realistically thought they had a chance against us.
The stadium felt a bit on the smaller size but not like the Bounce House is that much bigger. Pregame ceremony was cool, I’m sure you heard about it- the Midshipmen march in, the fly over, etc. The cadets (especially the plebes) were having a ton of fun in the stands. Would break into song when they played music in the stadium, and for every Navy score the plebes would have to do pushups by the field goal post. They were loud and when Navy got back into the game…even louder, I felt our offense heard them a lot towards the end. Believe me as time started ticking in the 3rd and 4th quarter, I got just as pissed as anyone else to see us lose our lead and the game, but the young cadets were having a really good time throughout the whole game and even more towards the end……so you know, good for them. It could be worse, could have lost in front of an awful usf fanbase or Memphis (I hear their fans are pretty meh too). Anyways it was a solid time, I wish could have seen a UCF-over-Navy-win in person, but it was good enough atmosphere to make up for the L (plus I don’t foresee any more scheduled games with Navy in the near future). I do hope we’ll schedule games with the military academies in the future, would love check out West Point someday.
