Well as I mentioned above, I ended up in West Point, NY at the United States Military Academy (founded 1802) for the Army-UConn game this past Saturday. DW was supposed to go with me but bowed out last minute. My Dear Son in NEPA came over to join me and it was a beautiful and inspiring day.
I had bought two digital tickets and a parking pass for the game in advance and did my research which helped greatly. We parked the car and rode the shuttle bus to "The Plain" which is the big open grass expanse for a marching review by the cadets (it's a 9am gameday tradition). The band comes out first and then as they play the cadets march out from the tunnels of the building WAY in the background.
It was a reunion weekend also for the Class of 1991 who came onto the Plain to join in the review. The cadets march to the far left in the picture, make two left turns, and then march close to us (and the reviewers) and then continue to march back across the field, into the tunnels, and out of sight.
After the review we walked around The Plain down to the left side where the library was. There are Patton and Eisenhower statues on that corner and a MacArthur statue on the other corner. The public was blocked off from walking down past the Patton statue which is where the buildings are the cadets live in and several class buildings. After checking out all sides of The Plain (and a nice view of the Hudson River near the War Memorial) ...
... we boarded a shuttle bus again for the ride over to the stadium.
Although I did wear my Alabama gear and brought my crimson/white shaker, I did buy a black & gold shaker to cheer on Army.
At first we sat in our assigned seats in the northwest corner but we were in the full sun.
After the first quarter we moved to the south/far end zone seats where there was some shade which felt really good. The downside was that was where the UConn seating was (and there were some fans). But Army rolled through the first half scoring every (six) time they had the ball leading 42-0 at the half.
The Corp of Cadets was over to the right side and they were HOPPIN'.
Although Army doesn't have a full marching band to perform at the games at half-time, they do offer some entertainment. It's an embarrassment of riches in a way. Earlier in the morning at the end of the Cadet Review on The Plain, the event closed with six parachute jumpers (the coach and five cadets) jumping out of a helicopter and landed on their feet right in front of us. And the chopper buzzed the stands when the last one hit.
Then in the pre-game activities we had another set of six jumpers and a FORMATION of copters of all different sizes in a fly-by immediately before kick-off. It was so amazing I didn't get pix of the first two jump performances. But the THIRD time today we had parachute jumpers - this time during halftime (fer KRYIN OUT LOUD-3 TIMES?!?) I was ready. It was a "jump-off" between two 3-person teams to see which team could come down closest to a target on the 50 yard line.
It was a great experience. We got several "Roll Tides" during the day and responded with "Go Army".
Check this off my bucket list.
Ed