Army-Navy Hype, Pt. 2

One of the sub-texts of every Army-Navy game is that that game's seniors will be dispersed around the world to one hotspot or another. Sometimes, the results are tragic. Every player who takes the field is special for having attended an academy, but the seniors are particularly so by virtue of what they face upon graduation.

At the Naval Academy this week, as has been the case in 104 previous years throughout one of the greater rivalries in all of sports, the primary focus is on beating Army.

From there, Navy will move on to the Emerald Bowl, its second consecutive postseason appearance, marking another emphatic step in the program's resurgence.

But a palpable sense of pause has grabbed the coaches and players, who are thinking often these days about J.P., the young man who was all about sacrifice, the young warrior who died doing exactly what he had set out to do.

When word came three weeks ago that James Blecksmith, a 2003 graduate and second lieutenant in the Marines, had been gunned down on Veterans Day in Iraq by a sniper during the takeover of Fallujah, football got kicked down the priority list. One of their heroes was gone.

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