TEAM
OWNER, MILITARY REACH ACCORD
ARLINGTON,
Virginia (CNN)…The University of Central Florida was
okay with it. Clarkson College was okay with it. But the Army took exception to the naming of the new professional hockey
team in Las Vegas as the “Golden Knights”, given that its elite parachute squad
already bears that moniker. Owner Bill Foley continues to contend that
registration and trademarking of the name was done legally on the up-and-up,
but out of respect for his alma mater, for whom he himself was part of the
“long, gray line” almost a half-century ago, agreed that in exchange for
keeping his NHL team’s name intact, players will jump out of perfectly-good
airplanes into opponents’ rinks ahead of road games. Team members will also go through the Army’s
Airborne School at Ft. Benning, Georgia prior to the initial puck-drop on the
2017 season!
Meanwhile…the wingers, centers, defensemen and
goalies are still proactively tryin’ to figure out how to fit their chutes into duffle bags already full of
pads, helmets, hockey-sticks and…
THE
WEBER KID’S 2016 ARMY-NAVY FORECAST
(Drawin’
more protesters than the Dakota Access Pipeline!)
Army
(+6) over #Navy (“under 47”) (@ Baltimore, MD): Line’s
dropped from opening 8 ½ and could be lower than pair of field goals by
kickoff. Middies were uncharacteristically in trouble even before starting QB
Will Worth was sidelined with an early ankle problem during AAC Conference
Championship game. It’s been a reversal-of-fortune in the turnover-arena for
both teams this year. The Platoon was minus-8 this time last year, while the
Ensigns strolled in at plus-15. Those numbers are now minus-3 and even, respectively. Worth’s departure
contributed to Navy’s lowest scoring-output of the year (10) and first
home-defeat since early-October of 2014 (loss to pretty-good 8-5 Western
Kentucky). No surprise there. Worth was top-passer and top-rusher for the team,
accounting for 8 aerial scores and 25 rushing scores. Next best rusher has half
his yardage (almost a century-mark per game) per game and 20-fewer touchdowns
(in 3 fewer games). Middies’ likely-starter under center has no starts, no
touchdowns and two picks and will make first start of the year in a game of
this magnitude (not nationally, but rivalry-wise). Some interesting stats
emerge here. Marc Lawrence notes Navy
has beaten the line just once in past seven after losing outright as a favorite
and Army hasn’t covered last five tries getting less than 16 off a bye. Phil Steele notes Army has lost three of
the four played in Baltimore, with the lone victory coming 92 seasons ago. As always, this contest features two of the best ground-games
in the country (brides-maids to just New Mexico) and should keep the clock
moving, limiting possessions and scoring-opportunities, particularly on the
Army sideline, which has adopted traditionally a Joja’ Tech- or Gandalf-like (fer our fellow Lord of the Rings geeks out there) “You…shall not….pass….!” philosophy (FBS-last
79.9 ypg) Army also stops the run
well. Navy does too, but those stats might be a tad-deceiving given Navy’s
often large-leads that cause opponents to forego the run and try to throw to
stay close. Soldiers have gone 7-2 “under” (including an “under” in OT) in FBS
play. Boat People show 7-4 “over” but again, a significant portion of their
scoring-potential is on the pine here. Comparing a common academy-foe, Black
Knights lost by 19 on da’ Hudson River to Air Force, while Swabbies went down
by 14 at Falcon Stadium. Neither has
been exciting ATS…Army’s gone 5-4 in FBS play, Middies show slightly-better 6-4-1.
President-Elect Trump will be in da’ stands on game-day. There’s prolly something
clever we could say about that, but it escapes us currently. West Point could
gain a sweep of AAC division-winners
with the victory in light of season-opener road-triumph at said-conference champion
Temple (by 15!). One knock on Army is fact that just two of five losses were
decided by 7 or less in 2016, following four of five defeats by same margin
last year. Momentum is a basically a push…Salty
Dogs come in at 9-4 SU, Cadets have lost 5 of last 8. Army, averaging again-misleading-30
ppg, posted 60 or more three times…at UTEP, vs. UL-Lafayette and vs. FCS Morgan
State, otherwise remaining eight matches show max of 31, with six of those at
21 or less. Vindy’s Picks has been on
the right side ATS or total ho-ho-hum 3-2 over last five meetings (correctly backing
Army twice and Navy once, failing on Navy once and over-under once). If it
comes down to a FG to win it, ‘vantage Annapolis because Army’s kicking-game
has been “not just a job, it’s been an adventure” (6 of 12 for mere
fitty-percent success rate). No reason Army can’t
can walk away triumphant, but little voice in Vindy’s head says win goes to…USNA
19 West Point 17
BETWEEN
THE HASHMARKS
BTW, Vindy ain’t even qualified to para-sail!
As opposed to what the military branch-in-question
sarcastically-refers to as “five-jump commandos”, Sin City skaters could
actually have “jump-master” wings by the end of the regular-season! (And could be called upon to reinforce the 101st Airborne
Screamin’ Iggles in the event of foreign or domestic hostilities!!)
Last April, members of da’
173rd Airborne Brigade, on a training-mission in Germany, dropped
supplies, vehicles, commo equipment and indirect weapons systems a long, long
way above the Earth’s surface. A trio of Hummers was demolished after inadvertently
wriggling-free of rigging as chutes opened. Investigators concluded the
incident “was no accident”, but rather “a practice-run
for retribution” in the event the
Vegas hockey team used an unauthorized “Knights”!
Takin’ a few liberties
with a Clint Eastwood quote from “Heartbreak Ridge”…”We pick swift. We pick silent. We pick deadly.”
If a Middies hockey player makes a big hit on an opposing-player, would it be “a ship-check and a beauty!”? If the
player-in-question was part of Akron’s hockey team, would it be “a Zip-check and a beauty!”???!!!
Vindy caught a quick-glance at a headline last week referencing
the “Fight for 15” and immediately wondered why folks were protesting in favor of personal-foul penalties!
Black
Shirt: Sewing 11 of ‘em for the Penn State defense in light
of late goal-line stand that completed da’ Lions’ rally and sent the Alma Mater
to the Rose Bowl. Honorable-mention to New Mexico State QB Conner Cramer’s
35-yard scoring-throw with about a half-minute left to give the Aggies the
cover over South ‘Bama and recording our first winning “best bets” tally in
four weeks!
“Locked
in a Box?”: Navy’s
loss to Temple drops the “lock” record to 7-7 (.500). (This time last year, we went
2-8 in championship week and were meager 4-10 (.286) for the lock tally).
Shoppe
Talk: Vindy’s Army-Navy Best Bets: none Last Week: 3-2 Season:
37-39 (.487)
Don’t touch that dial! We’ll be back circa December 16
with Part One of our infamous bowl predictions!
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