Why, yes, I'm biased, but at least I was rooting for the classy side

Two weekends ago, K and I went to the Army-Navy game with friends. Two of K's close friends are Army grads, and one of them even played football while he was there. We made plans to go to the game together back in August, so we'd been looking forward to it for a long time!

Evidently so had the city of Philadelphia (where the game was held).

The game is one of the biggest rivalries in college football -- and some would even say it's the biggest rivalry. There are so many neat traditions involved in the game, so it was really cool to see them ...

... like how (similar to OU-texas) the fans are divided at the end zones, with one team on the left and the other on the right ...

... and watching the Cadets march onto the field. First Army ...

... and then Navy.

The West Point Cadets were very intimidating in how structured and serious they were. They chanted and sang in unison once they were all on the field.

Navy, on the other hand, was much more relaxed. They found ways to get little jabs into their portions of the ceremony. (As you can see, the Cadets on the front row had letters that spelled "BEAT ARMY" as they faced us. When they did an about face, the letters on their backs read "GO NAVY.")

The photo below was taken just before the game started. Navy had won the game the last 7 years in a row, so they were eager to rub in the past and their prediction for the day's result. As you can imagine, it got quite a cheer when they turned their backs to Navy's side. The second photo below shows the West Point Cadets staying classy, with nothing on their backs.

Instead of marching onto the field the way they marched off, the Naval Academy Cadets broke rank and ran.

Evidently another big tradition with this game is the game balls. There are two -- one from each school. Every year, the marathon team from both schools runs the ball from the school to the football field. It takes several days, and each member of the team completes a part of the run. Unfortunately, I didn't know about this tradition until game day, so we missed the running of the ball. The marathon team members were brought onto the field, though. I couldn't believe they had them run onto and off of the field. I'd be sick of running by that point!

One of the final big events (probably the biggest) before the game was having the Golden Knights land on the field. Very cool!

There was a flyover, of course.

Then, it was finally time for the game.

And unfortunately, we saw a lot of this.

West Point was leading 3-0 at the half. It was along first half, so we definitely didn't feel relieved, but it was nice to have the lead.

Halftime was a little different than what I was used to seeing. Navy's band was just a little bit smaller than the band I was in at OU (I'm pretty sure our clarinet section alone wasn't much smaller than this). What's funny is their band performed "Batman," which we did when I was in band at OU!

I couldn't believe it in the 4th quarter when the West Point male cheerleaders started benching the girl cheerleaders. Evidently that (like pretty much everything in this game) is tradition, too. Impressive!

Unfortunately, this silly mascot fight was the closest Army came to winning (well, aside from the coin toss).

When the game was over, Navy's bold pregame prediction proved true. A final tradition of the game involves each team standing behind the other as a sign of respect as both school's song is sung at the conclusion of the game. First, the winning team waits for the other to sing in front of their Cadets. Then, they all go to the other side of the field to sing to their Cadets. It was a display of sportsmanship that was really neat to see.

This may not have been the most interesting game I've been to sports-wise, but it was definitely one of the most memorable.