Call me a sissy. Call me corny, out-dated, or whatever you think
appropriate. But on Saturday, 12 November 2005, I cried. I
sat in front of my television with tears streaming down my face.
It was not a war movie or a love story on the screen, but a football
game!
I had just watched my team, Navy, seriously defeated by a powerhouse
Notre Dame squad, 42-21. But that was not the reason for my tears.
When the game ended, a reporter ran up to Charlie Weis, Notre
Dame's phenomenal coach, and asked him one of the usual post-game
questions. Coach Weis politely, but firmly, told the reporter
he had something more important to do and, pushing the microphone
aside, headed for the opposite side of the field. With him went
the entire Notre Dame team. What I saw next I will never forget.
With their fans looking on, The Fighting Irish joined the midshipmen
and stood respectfully with them as the latter sang "Navy Blue
and Gold," their alma mater.
An article in The Observer, a South Bend.
newspaper, described the scene:
The weather was beautiful, the team looked great, and the home
crowd at Notre Dame Stadium had plenty to cheer about on Saturday.
However, the most impressive event in that stadium was when 80,795
people did no cheering at all. No yelling, no talking, not even
an odd sneeze. Dead silence. That's what the Navy band received
at the end of the game while they played their alma mater.
From that moment on, I am forever a Notre Dame fan (though
I will still root for Navy when the two teams meet). It was a
moment of pure class, of unabashed patriotism, and
of true sportsmanship; an all-too-rare combination.
The class part is not too surprising. Though I am not
Catholic and have been to Indiana only once,I
have long had a healthy respect for Notre Dame as a university
with class. Educational standards and the value of tradition have
always brought this school much well-deserved respect.
The patriotism part is a bit more complicated. As a
Vietnam veteran, I lived through an era when respect for the military
was wanting by too many Americans. It was a time when CBS actually
considered taking the Army-Navy game off the air. It was a lonely
time when no one thanked you for your service.
I suspect that some of the tears I shed in front of the TV were
a bit self-indulgent because I saw something I would have given
much to have seen in those dark days. But it was not bitterness
I felt; it was gratitude - thanks that we are now doing it right.
The sportsmanship part is something that lately we
are not getting right. I have all but given up on my beloved NFL
because it just isn't much fun anymore, when I have to watch players
dance and strut after every routine tackle and wave the football
in their opponent's face after scoring a touchdown. I won't say
sportsmanship is dead, but it is seriously wounded.
But when those Notre Dame players stood beside their Navy opponents
it was a gesture that said more than thousands of words could
ever convey. Class, patriotism, sportsmanship - all in
one simple, but noble, gesture.
I have since learned from friends who were there that the nobility
went well beyond that one moment. I was told that the Notre Dame
fans did not boo the opposing players when they first ran onto
the field - which is often the case these days. Instead, they
cheered them. And at the end of the first quarter, the stadium
announcer asked the fans to recognize Navy "on this day after
Veteran's Day" - and they gave the midshipmen a long standing
ovation.
The Irish band played "Anchors Aweigh" several times during
the game, and one witness watched as total strangers walked up
to the midshipmen and thanked them for their service. He described
it as not "just one act of manners . . . it was all day long."
In post-game interviews, I watched spellbound as Notre Dame
players spoke not of their own (awesome) achievements on the field
but talked instead of their opponents and how they faced far greater
challenges in the future, not on the football field, but on the
battlefield. Again, I cried. Thank you, Charlie Weis,
for a class act. Thank you, Notre Dame, for embracing patriotism.
Thank you, Navy, for your service.
* * *
Retired Lieutenant Commander Cutler is the senior acquisitions
editor for the Naval Institute Press.
Reprinted from Proceedings with permission; Copyright
© 2006 U.S. Naval Institute/www.usni.org.
(April 2006)
