Black N by Ricky Conlin

Author:Ricky Conlin [Conlin, Ricky]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dream Oak Publishing
Published: 2017-04-20T04:00:00+00:00

Mick, 1455 hrs.

The seats throughout the stadium began emptying steadily well before the conclusion of a 30-20 disappointment against Air Force. As the game’s final seconds ticked away, many of the fans that had the freedom to leave the game already did. The matchup was not nearly as close as the score had indicated. By mandate and tradition, all midshipmen remained in the stands until the bitter end. It was an early lesson in “going down with the ship.”

“A toast to the host of men we boast, the U.S. Air Force!” the Air Force Cadets concluded the singing of their school’s Alma mater. “Wooooo!” the cadets erupted in unison with their fists victoriously raised. The song’s not-yet-completed tune blared on from the corner of the visitor side stands, directly across from the Brigade of Midshipmen. What sounded and looked like the peak of a southern evangelical biblical service was to the cadets a triumphant exclamation point concluding their final sung verse. It was an audibly obnoxious and self-indulgent show. It perfectly summarized just about everything we hated about that place.

There just seemed to be more reverence and dignity in the singing of our own “Navy Blue and Gold.” Per the game’s tradition, we sang our song first as the game’s losing team. Aside from the emphatically loud last line of singing, the majority of the following Air Force song was barely audible given the scarcity of visiting fans and cadets. Over top of the several blaring horns, I could audibly interpret very few lyrics throughout the song. About all I could make out were some references about rainbows and a pot of gold. I couldn’t tell if they were singing about a football game or a box of Lucky Charms.

“I guess by the time that academy got started they just ran out of good Alma Mater lyrics,” I verbalized to no one in particular as a way of venting. Catching myself in the act of being petulant, I quickly ceased my sudden outburst. As tempting as it was to be a sore loser, the Naval Academy was too prideful a place to be anything shy of a good sport. Gonzo and I instead silently sulked our way to the parking lot with the remainder of my shipmates. All of us were dreading the next year of gloating Air Force cadets had yet again just earned over us.

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