One more indignity for loyal Army football fans

#1

allright, i will be the first to admit that i do not follow football, and do no care about the sport, but is this anyway to treat loyal fans?

http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.d ... 36/3290323

Gleason: One more indignity for loyal Army football fans

By Kevin Gleason
March 29, 2010

You watch a good season become a great season, then a special season. It is 1996, a wonderful time to be an Army football fan.

Your team wins its first nine games. It finishes 10-2. It scares the pants off of Auburn before losing the Independence Bowl 32-29.

You've always known being an Army fan isn't all about winning. It's also about respecting and appreciating the Army cause, student-athletes with an emphasis on "student," future graduates welcoming a mission greater than the NFL. You are proudly different than fans of college football factories, fans who demand wins instead of appreciating them.

You get word that Army is joining Conference USA for the start of the 1998 season. You wonder if it's a good fit for Army, a good fit competitively, a good fit morally. The league is loaded with teams that have scuffed up the NCAA rule book. But you deal with the move because you believe in Army football.

Your team goes 4-7 in 1997, 3-8 in 1998, 3-8 again in 1999. Your new athletic director, Rick Greenspan, fires the coach, Bob Sutton. You might or might not agree with the firing. But you cringe at how Greenspan fires Sutton, on a street corner in Philadelphia the morning after the 1999 Army-Navy game.

A letter just arrived detailing Army's new parking plan. Your spot will depend upon how much money you contribute to the Army "A" Club. So you've had Army tickets in your family since Red Blaik roamed the sideline. Want a good parking spot? Get out the checkbook.

You try not to take it personally. You try to see the bigger picture. Your team, your school, is bigger than an AD firing a coach on a street corner, bigger than a dopey parking-for-dollars scheme.

You watch your new coach, Todd Berry, win five of his first 40 games. You sit through every home game despite the team being woefully unprepared, despite the coach blaming everybody but himself. You see a once-great rivalry with Navy turn into a punch line, 58-12 Navy in 2002, 34-6 Navy in 2003.

Berry is fired midway through the 2003 season, his teams outscored 1,431-764. Your team finishes 0-13, the worst record in college football history.

You still believe in the Army mission. You will always believe in the Army mission. But you deserve to see a few wins, as well.

As Berry's final season ends, you have seen 15 wins and 65 losses since that glorious 1996 season.

You watch Army go 9-41 in Conference USA before paying a $400,000 exit fee to depart following the 2004 season.

Your new coach is a big name, Bobby Ross, with the stuff to turn things around. But he lacks the energy. He resigns following the 2006 season with a 9-25 record.

You get another coach, a former NFL player named Stan Brock, a good man, a good offensive line coach under Ross. But he's not yet ready to resurrect a Division I-A football program. You sit through consecutive 3-9 seasons in 2007-08 and endure another coaching change.

You receive the smashing news that Rich Ellerson will be your next coach. He has experience, vision, a sharp football mind. He has led Cal Poly, a Football Championship Subdivision school, to a 56-34 record in eight seasons, with seven winning seasons.

You watch Ellerson field a competitive team that goes 5-7 in his first season this past fall.

You are refreshed and rejuvenated as an Army football fan.

Then word that more than 400 season-ticket holders sitting behind the opposition's bench will be moved. The seats will be taken by cadets. Makes for a prettier picture on television. "A great branding and marketing opportunity for West Point,'' is how athletic director Kevin Anderson puts it.

Might not seem like a big deal. West Point gave the ticket-holders a heads-up. Anderson said they will still have great seats.

Maybe it's not that big of a deal as a singular inconvenience. But you've supported Army football through 13 straight losing seasons.

You've remained loyal through bad coaching hires, four coaching changes, bloated parking fees and scheduling changes to accommodate TV.

Maybe it is a big deal. What will be next?

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