Time to next Navy home game

ODE TO THE STARS AND STRIPES It's not "just a bunch of colored cloth sewn together". The American flag is the banner under which thousands of men and women have fought and died. Its white stripes are the bandages which bound their battle wounds; its red stripes are colored with their blood; its star-studded field of blue is the heaven into which they stared with dimming eyes as they laid, dying, on foreign soil. When you see the stars and stripes snapping ferociously in a stiff winter gale, or waving lazily on a warm summer breeze, remember the men and women who fought - and those who died - so that "bunch of colored cloth" could fly so freely. © Michael Calo, April 1997

These are not civilian students pretending to be soldiers, dressed up in fake uniforms and carrying the American flag because it looks cool to people who see it.   These are Midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy - officers in the United States Navy - carrying the Colors of the United States Navy and of the United States Marine Corps.  They also carry the National Colors - the emblem of the nation they have taken an oath to defend "against all enemies, both foreign and domestic". That, people, means that they are willing to die for the flag they carry on parade - which leads to me say, yet again: Navy football - like all Navy sports - is played by student-athletes who - like their counterparts at West Point, Colorado Springs, and New London - are in school to become officers in the armed forces of the United States, not to get into the NFL. Yes, it's true that the service academies don't win many gridiron battles against the likes of Notre Dame, Georgia Tech, West Virginia... But we win the important battles - the battles to keep this country free so the fans of Notre Dame, Georgia Tech and West Virginia - and the fans of Catawba, Cortland State, and Baldwin-Wallace - can cheer their teams on.   That is what Navy Football - like all service academy sports - is about. Are the men in the picture "cool"? You're damned right they are.

The
World		Of
Mike

	FREE PLANS for an outdoor Christmas stable
	An accounting of Annapolis National Cemetery
	An accounting of Nichols-Bethel Methodist Church Cemetery in Odenton MD
	Mike's railroad page - the B&O and the Pennsy, plus a brief history of railroads in Annapolis, Maryland, and some stuff about signals and mechanical interlocking, PLUS, learn how to SCRATCH-BUILD a house!
	A virtual tour of fhe United States Naval Academy
	Flag etiquette
	My Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ
	Which star belongs to your state?  Admission dates and interesting facts about each state
	A tutorial on how to make a personalized "gold medal" in Paint Shop
	The Baltimore and Annapolis Trail Park
	A ride along the WB&A Trail Park
	A short ride along the Northern Central bike trail
	Assembling Walthers' Gas Storage Tank
	Assembling Walthers' "Modern" coaling tower