APACHE959 wrote: I've finally let my disappointment over A-N settle down.  I'm over it for a while.

At least from an image perspective, West Point has become soft.  Not just the football team, but how the Academy is projected through the football program.  Let me illustrate with two examples from the A-N game.

1)  Info Commercials on West Point airred during football games.  These are a total joke, in my opinion.  Why do we feel the need to be so politically correct that we have to dance around West Point's mission?  Our commercials seem apologetic.  I'm a grad and I resent watching a 30 second clip on some cadet's CTLT experience digging water wells in sub-Saharan Africa.  Or, build remote control vehicles after graduation. 

We exist to train a professional officer corp to do the dirty work of winning our nation's wars.  Period.  That may mean something we seem to always run away from -- that winning our wars means killing the enemy. If we don't like saying it in those terms, then do as our Navy breathern do -- find a higher calling that still reverts back to the profession of arms ("A Global Force for Good"  -- excellent).

We don't exist to train Marshall and Rhodes scholars.  We exist to train platoon leaders to lead other in sticking a bayonet in our enemy's heart.  And, perhaps a select few of us, will raise to preeminence and lead this proud volunteer army.  I'm sick of the political correctness.

2)  Our QB's post game reaction.  I know I will russle a few feathers with this one -- please hear me out.  I admire TS' play and tenacity.  He seems like a good young man that I'm sure will serve our country well.  I understand the emotional drain of the last drive and his reaction.  I get it.

But, I don't get why this occured for what seemed like an eternity on national TV.  And I don't get how a team captain doesn't pick himself up after a few minutes, addresses his team and man-up to his failure (or his team's).  And I don't get how our head coach doesn't drag him from the sidelines and tell him to get his head up and lead this team, even in defeat.  And I don't know where the senior officer on the sides (uniformed) -- who is supposed to lead and show an example -- doesn't encourage TS to take this out of the public view after a few minutes.  How does it get so bad that we actually have to have the Navy coach console our otherwise unconsolable quarterback?

Please . . . I understand it was an emotional game.  But after a few minutes of this, I started thinking -- this guy (TS) is going to lead troops in a very far away place very soon.  He and his platoon will be in harm's way.  Some roadside bomb may hit his quartermaster platoon -- people may be killed in a violent and graphic manner.  Subordinates will look to him for leadership.  Will he fold?  Have we (WP) failed him by letting him be so publicly unconsolable after a simple football game?  Doesn't a team captain have responsibilities?

I don't want any announcer, any Navy coach, any sports enthusiast to feel sorry for TS or any other WP player.  We have to train and expect these people to be tough enough to take it, -- physically and mentally -- or they're not ready for the ultimate leadership challenge. 

For 1-2 minutes, TS had my respect for the clear emotion he brought to this game.  For the next 8 or so minutes, he lost it when he forgot who he was and what he represented.  And, we (WP) allowed it to happen.  And, toward the end, frankly I was embarassed.

Someone will surely post that I'm overreacting -- that this was one emotional instance -- that I'm making a mountain out of a molehill.  Perhaps.  I never played in an A-N game, so perhaps criticism is warranted.  But, TS is not a plebe.  We're cutting him loose in 5 months with our nation's finest.  I expect more.

I'm not sure if West Point is actually "soft" or we have perception problem created on TV.  I beleive in the academy.  I love Army and Army football.  But I'm not so in the tank about college football that I've lost sight of the mission -- win our wars. 

If we don't -- who will?

plain wrote:
In interviews during the week prior to A-N he piled tremendous responsibility on his shoulders, not only for the current team but for all the players of the past decade and for the USCC and even deployed soldiers. When the final, potentially game-winning drive ended with the fumble, he was devastated and four years of frustration poured out of him. I don't think there is necessarily a correlation between that moment and how he'd perform leading soldiers.

APACHE959 wrote: I've finally let my disappointment over A-N settle down.  I'm over it for a while.

At least from an image perspective, West Point has become soft.  Not just the football team, but how the Academy is projected through the football program.  Let me illustrate with two examples from the A-N game.

1)  Info Commercials on West Point airred during football games.  These are a total joke, in my opinion.  Why do we feel the need to be so politically correct that we have to dance around West Point's mission?  Our commercials seem apologetic.  I'm a grad and I resent watching a 30 second clip on some cadet's CTLT experience digging water wells in sub-Saharan Africa.  Or, build remote control vehicles after graduation. 

We exist to train a professional officer corp to do the dirty work of winning our nation's wars.  Period.  That may mean something we seem to always run away from -- that winning our wars means killing the enemy. If we don't like saying it in those terms, then do as our Navy breathern do -- find a higher calling that still reverts back to the profession of arms ("A Global Force for Good"  -- excellent).

We don't exist to train Marshall and Rhodes scholars.  We exist to train platoon leaders to lead other in sticking a bayonet in our enemy's heart.  And, perhaps a select few of us, will raise to preeminence and lead this proud volunteer army.  I'm sick of the political correctness.

2)  Our QB's post game reaction.  I know I will russle a few feathers with this one -- please hear me out.  I admire TS' play and tenacity.  He seems like a good young man that I'm sure will serve our country well.  I understand the emotional drain of the last drive and his reaction.  I get it.

But, I don't get why this occured for what seemed like an eternity on national TV.  And I don't get how a team captain doesn't pick himself up after a few minutes, addresses his team and man-up to his failure (or his team's).  And I don't get how our head coach doesn't drag him from the sidelines and tell him to get his head up and lead this team, even in defeat.  And I don't know where the senior officer on the sides (uniformed) -- who is supposed to lead and show an example -- doesn't encourage TS to take this out of the public view after a few minutes.  How does it get so bad that we actually have to have the Navy coach console our otherwise unconsolable quarterback?

Please . . . I understand it was an emotional game.  But after a few minutes of this, I started thinking -- this guy (TS) is going to lead troops in a very far away place very soon.  He and his platoon will be in harm's way.  Some roadside bomb may hit his quartermaster platoon -- people may be killed in a violent and graphic manner.  Subordinates will look to him for leadership.  Will he fold?  Have we (WP) failed him by letting him be so publicly unconsolable after a simple football game?  Doesn't a team captain have responsibilities?

I don't want any announcer, any Navy coach, any sports enthusiast to feel sorry for TS or any other WP player.  We have to train and expect these people to be tough enough to take it, -- physically and mentally -- or they're not ready for the ultimate leadership challenge. 

For 1-2 minutes, TS had my respect for the clear emotion he brought to this game.  For the next 8 or so minutes, he lost it when he forgot who he was and what he represented.  And, we (WP) allowed it to happen.  And, toward the end, frankly I was embarassed.

Someone will surely post that I'm overreacting -- that this was one emotional instance -- that I'm msmash mouth footballaking a mountain out of a molehill.  Perhaps.  I never played in an A-N game, so perhaps criticism is warranted.  But, TS is not a plebe.  We're cutting him loose in 5 months with our nation's finest.  I expect more.

I'm not sure if West Point is actually "soft" or we have perception problem created on TV.  I beleive in the academy.  I love Army and Army football.  But I'm not so in the tank about college football that I've lost sight of the mission -- win our wars. 

If we don't -- who will?

losttribe wrote: I'm not sure I understand your post or that it really has much relevance to the Army football team's crappy performance.

Who is pretending that women's sports teams are the same as men's sports?  I would have thought that everyone knows men are physically stronger and that women's athletics are a different sphere. The "make up stories about them" and "spend a lot of time on crap like that" are such non-sequitors that I can't even start to guess what you are trying to say. If you want to repeal Title IX or make the case that women's sports are inherently less "tough" or competitive, I don't agree. If I did, I still don't see it as having much to do with the football program's problems. Again, these issues are addressed at the other service academies and haven't been a roadblock for their schools' football success.

keco616 wrote: This is sports, nothing else- a Fn football game.

The kid has dreams, he works for them, he puts his heart and soul into accomplishing them. He deserved it, didn't get it. He reacted the same way HUNDREDS of players before and after him have. TS is a fearless leader and did nothing to show weakness. If I'm his teammate and see him react like that, I know I've got a TEAMMATE, a person who cares only about winning and having my back.

Full credit to TS for being a great player and great leader. Life goes on, it's merely a football game, but for that day, it's every football player's livelihood. Class act.