ROCKY TOP BEAT: Vols headed to Atlanta for the Chick-fil-A Bowl

By Frank Gale / Chronicle columnist

The football Vols are now officially headed for Atlanta to play the Virginia Tech Hokies in the Chick-fil-A Bowl on New Year’s Eve.

The Lady Vols remain undefeated after handling Texas last Sunday rather easily. This week they moved up to #3 in the latest poll and are headed to Madison Square Garden in New York to play Rutgers on Sunday (2:30 p.m. CST on ESPNU). Meanwhile, the basketball Vols will travel to Nashville to play MTSU at 7 tonight on CSS.

This past Saturday Jim Butler proved to be a good sport when he paid his due for doubting the Vols against his Commodores last month.  We both had way too much fun during our trip through the Christmas Parade and enjoyed the interaction with the crowd along the way. Those that lined the streets on that cold night warmed our hearts. Thank you. I can’t wait for Jim to decide what one of us will do next year.

With the light sports schedule at UT due to exams and all the conference championships over, I decided to highlight one of the great annual collegiate football events. Tomorrow in Philadelphia, for the 110th time, Army will play Navy in what I regard as one of the best rivalry games in college football.

Where else do you have the entire student body of both schools attending the game? Add to that the number of important people that are alumni from both schools and you have the ingredients for a great event.

This is more than a football game; it is a spectacle of enormous proportions. I have been privileged to attend several of the games over the past decade. It is the one sporting event that every fan should try and attend once in their life. I have been to many bowl games, including the Rose and Orange, and this game ranks right up there with those.

Sure the teams are usually not of the caliber that we see at an SEC game, but these student athletes give everything they have that day on the field of play. What more could a fan ask for?

The pageantry before and during the game is unsurpassed for a one-day event. I have said many times that the scene outside of Neyland Stadium and on the field prior to the game is the best in college football. But the march of the Cadets and Midshipmen is worth the price of admission. Then the fly over of jets and helicopters prior to the game. Well, you can just feel the pride of all the veterans that jam the stadium on this December afternoon.

This is the one game played each year where everyone has a preference. Most people have a family member or friend that served in the Marines, Navy or Army. That is the beauty of this game. Army enters the game with a chance to even their season’s record at 6-6 with a win and earn a trip to the EagleBank Bowl in Washington, D.C.

Navy, already bound for the Texas Bowl in Houston against Missouri on Dec. 31, is looking to improve on their 8-4 record.

The one thing that both coaches understand is records make little difference as long as one victory is against either Army or Navy. Coaches don’t want to lose too many games in this series or they could be looking for a new job. It is that important to each school that they win this game. With servicemen watching from around the world, neither team wants to disappoint.

The end of the game is always a sad time for half the stadium and the seniors on both sides of the ball.

For 99.9 percent of the seniors, they are coming to the end of their football playing careers at a high level.

They have a six-year commitment to the armed forces after they graduate and that pretty much negates their playing professional football. A few have done that and been successful, but for the most part, most will go on to be leaders in both the private and public sectors of this country. That speaks volumes for the caliber of the young men that play in this game each year.

After the final gun sounds, both squads assemble and go first to the losing side where they sing the school’s alma mater. Then they go to the victor’s side and sing that alma mater. Then it is on with academy life and waiting for the next year when this whole pageant is played out again.

For the seniors from each school, next year will mean assignments in their respective service and possible deployment in harm's way. Isn’t it ironic that these combatants on a Saturday football field could very easily one day be fighting beside each other on a battlefield?

I would hope that if you ever get the opportunity to go to an Army–Navy game, by all means don’t pass it up. I promise you will leave the game with a feeling of national pride and knowing you have just witnessed one of the greatest spectacles in college football. As for 2009, in honor of the 278th, this Navy veteran says, "Go Army, Beat Navy!"

(Frank Gale is a Chronicle correspondent and his column appears weekly.)

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