| FTBL NAVY chose to practice without live tackling. "Are we going to be prepared?" An emphatic NO.

TerryP

Staff
Navy has been having no-contact practices. They were going to get mauled from the start.

They are attributing the no-contact decision to the state of Maryland and its officials.



Some background on the no contact practices we've been running. TLDR: State of Maryland busybodies would love to shut our season down over COVID. They can't just up and do that, but they can make life miserable for us. Here are some of the issues at play.
#1: USNA is located two blocks from the Maryland State Capitol and not much further than that from Annapolis City Hall. We've bent over backwards to accommodate a good working relationship with both, but there is a lot more baggage here than the usual "institution vs townies" drama. While the city and state governments have no official power over USNA, they can make life very difficult for us. The USNA "Board of Visitors" is a rotating group of individuals whose ostensible job it is to oversee the Academy. They are appointed by POTUS, VP, Speaker of the House and Chairmen of HASC / SASC. There are usually several MD politicians on the BOV. They bring no value whatsoever, but can make our lives miserable. Former US Senator Barbara Mikulski was notorious for demanding briefings and information and unscheduled tours and giving unsolicited and wildly unrealistic advice. The names change, but the vibe is the same. They want us to be at their beck and call. We don't do that, but we also can't antagonize them. Ditto with our at sea training - Chesapeake Bay is an internationally navigable waterway, so Coast Guard can squat out the MD water cops, but USNA is located on the Severn River - we have to go through MD water cop territory to get to our training areas. They can make life difficult for us. For the most part, the MD water cops like us, and vice versa, but they answer to the state politicians. So occasionally they let us know, its our Academy, it's their river. It's silly, and pointless, and pathetic, but it happens. Right now with COVID, there are a lot of MD politicians who are begging to be antagonized to justify an over reaction, and we can't afford to give them a pretext. More at stake here than a football game.
#2: Aside from MD, Big Navy has a microscope on all things COVID. USS Theodore Roosevelt got pulled off of deployment for COVID outbreak; Commanding Officer eventually got relieved; Secretary of the Navy also eventually got relieved. The outbreak was not Big Navy's fault, per se, but the response to it was incoherent. Did not spark fear in our enemies. Did not spark confidence in our allies. We can't afford to screw up again on the COVID front. More at stake here than a football game.
#3: University of Maryland is 20 miles away from USNA. They are not playing football this season, at least not right now. The relationship between UMD and USNA has always been contemptuous. Way more baggage here than the usual institution vs townies. If you want to see hate and discontent, watch a UMD vs. Navy Lacrosse game. We beat them far more often than we should - they are a perennial top five team, with a dozen or so national championships. UMD has cleaned up a lot over the past two decades, but back in the 80s and 90s it was hideous - easily the filthiest campus I have ever seen - trash everywhere, and low rent call girls working out of sorority row. If they can't play, they don't want us to play, and the UMD alumni association would love nothing more than to see a COVID outbreak at USNA and lean on the state regulators to shut us down.
#4: A lot of hate and discontent from the state on how we handle our "home" games against Notre Dame. Big Navy kept Notre Dame open during WWII, they have paid us back by keeping us on the schedule ever since. It's a no cost H/H series. We play away games at ND stadium, but we don't play our home games against ND in Annapolis - no sense in limiting attendance to our 40K seat stadium when we can sell out an NFL stadium for that game. So for a long time we would play our "home" games against ND in the NFL stadiums in Baltimore, and in DC before the Redskins moved to that dump at FEDEX Field. But we also played our "home" games against ND up in NY at the NFL stadium there - this year we were scheduled to play in Ireland - and in the recent past we have played ND in the NFL stadiums in Jacksonville, Florida, and San Diego. It's fun for our alumni - move the home game around the country, good for visibility, recruiting. Point being, MD politicians are not happy that we moved our "home" games against ND out of MD. They made some noise about it, and we more or less ignored them. A lot of low grade static from them ever since. They have no leverage here, they know it, and so they want to exercise leverage over us in other areas. It's grade school playground posturing, so on the one hand we ignore it - but we can't afford to be unaware of it.
#5: While USNA itself is federal property, Navy and Marine Corps Memorial Stadium is located about 2 miles from campus, on private property owned by the Naval Academy Athletic Association (NAAA). The MD regulators just denied USNA request to have the Brigade of Midshipmen attend the game; the game will be played in front of an empty stadium. Nobody there other than players, coaches, staff, media. Our take on it is, we have to let them flex on the small stuff to keep them out of the important stuff; so nobody challenged the prohibition on putting 4000 of our people in our stadium, with more social distance between them than they get Monday through Friday.
I could go on, but you get the drift. There are a lot of busybodies in the State of Maryland who would love to use COVID as a pretext to exercise undue influence over USNA. The AD and Coach Ken decided to bite the bullet and minimize the risk. No contact practice is the result. Does it really protect against COVID spread? I doubt it; it's performance theater of the absurd to mollify the busybodies. Nobody likes it, but it's the price we pay to get beyond the reach of the busybodies. I think by this point everyone understands, or should understand, that playing football presents demonstrably less risk to the participants due to COVID than due to CTE, and as evidence continues to build to support that conclusion, the busybodies will have less leverage. But if USNA had experienced a COVID outbreak over the last month, the state regulators would have been chomping at the bit to shut us down.
 
I watched a little over half that game. Navy looked like a really good high school team, and that made BYU look like Bama running on Notre Dame. I know they're a military academy, but the differences in size and bulk were dramatic.

Navy is done for the year. They can't catch up.

I was unaware of the MD/Academy row. "Low rent call girls working out of sorority row". Few things are worse than a lacrosse game that gets nasty.

RTR,

Tim
 
That was just plain ugly! I do give Coach Niumatalolo credit for taking full responsibility of the disaster. No team can go into a game at any level without having live contact. Like I said, just ugly!
 
I didn't watch and I'm glad I didn't since I threw away $200k in my BAMA bucks on them!! Glad to see the HC accept the responsibility for that shit show!!!
 
About the same as a golfer who has hit buckets and buckets of balls on the driving range and then expects it to translate to the actual course without every playing said course.

I never hit balls for that reason before a round. It simply does not translate to anything other than a good stretch in my mind. If I want to work on my swing, sure, but that's not the time to work on your swing just before a round. I usually do a few stretches on the tee box, and then I'm off on my round.
 
I never hit balls for that reason before a round. It simply does not translate to anything other than a good stretch in my mind. If I want to work on my swing, sure, but that's not the time to work on your swing just before a round. I usually do a few stretches on the tee box, and then I'm off on my round.
Six of one, half of a dozen of another with me...normally, I'll split a bag with whomever I'm playing with. With me, it's just about ball flight and distance on high i's. Maybe five or six with the driver.

I'm not putting on the practice green to see if I'm making them...that's all about the stroke.
 
Six of one, half of a dozen of another with me...normally, I'll split a bag with whomever I'm playing with. With me, it's just about ball flight and distance on high i's. Maybe five or six with the driver.

I'm not putting on the practice green to see if I'm making them...that's all about the stroke.

When I told my wife how much Dustin Johnson won yesterday, she responded "well why aren't you out there doing that". I just grinned, looked at her, and said "because of you". Ha ha.
 
I wondered what the back story was on this. I figured there had to be some sort of similar pressure, even if it came from within the academy, re: the no contact in practices. Just makes no sense otherwise. Niumatalolo is a very respected coach (by other coaches), and it just wasn't adding up. If he had nothing to do with the decision, I applaud him on taking the heat the way he did. Not sure I could have done the same.
 
Navy has been having no-contact practices. They were going to get mauled from the start.

They are attributing the no-contact decision to the state of Maryland and its officials.



Some background on the no contact practices we've been running. TLDR: State of Maryland busybodies would love to shut our season down over COVID. They can't just up and do that, but they can make life miserable for us. Here are some of the issues at play.
#1: USNA is located two blocks from the Maryland State Capitol and not much further than that from Annapolis City Hall. We've bent over backwards to accommodate a good working relationship with both, but there is a lot more baggage here than the usual "institution vs townies" drama. While the city and state governments have no official power over USNA, they can make life very difficult for us. The USNA "Board of Visitors" is a rotating group of individuals whose ostensible job it is to oversee the Academy. They are appointed by POTUS, VP, Speaker of the House and Chairmen of HASC / SASC. There are usually several MD politicians on the BOV. They bring no value whatsoever, but can make our lives miserable. Former US Senator Barbara Mikulski was notorious for demanding briefings and information and unscheduled tours and giving unsolicited and wildly unrealistic advice. The names change, but the vibe is the same. They want us to be at their beck and call. We don't do that, but we also can't antagonize them. Ditto with our at sea training - Chesapeake Bay is an internationally navigable waterway, so Coast Guard can squat out the MD water cops, but USNA is located on the Severn River - we have to go through MD water cop territory to get to our training areas. They can make life difficult for us. For the most part, the MD water cops like us, and vice versa, but they answer to the state politicians. So occasionally they let us know, its our Academy, it's their river. It's silly, and pointless, and pathetic, but it happens. Right now with COVID, there are a lot of MD politicians who are begging to be antagonized to justify an over reaction, and we can't afford to give them a pretext. More at stake here than a football game.
#2: Aside from MD, Big Navy has a microscope on all things COVID. USS Theodore Roosevelt got pulled off of deployment for COVID outbreak; Commanding Officer eventually got relieved; Secretary of the Navy also eventually got relieved. The outbreak was not Big Navy's fault, per se, but the response to it was incoherent. Did not spark fear in our enemies. Did not spark confidence in our allies. We can't afford to screw up again on the COVID front. More at stake here than a football game.
#3: University of Maryland is 20 miles away from USNA. They are not playing football this season, at least not right now. The relationship between UMD and USNA has always been contemptuous. Way more baggage here than the usual institution vs townies. If you want to see hate and discontent, watch a UMD vs. Navy Lacrosse game. We beat them far more often than we should - they are a perennial top five team, with a dozen or so national championships. UMD has cleaned up a lot over the past two decades, but back in the 80s and 90s it was hideous - easily the filthiest campus I have ever seen - trash everywhere, and low rent call girls working out of sorority row. If they can't play, they don't want us to play, and the UMD alumni association would love nothing more than to see a COVID outbreak at USNA and lean on the state regulators to shut us down.
#4: A lot of hate and discontent from the state on how we handle our "home" games against Notre Dame. Big Navy kept Notre Dame open during WWII, they have paid us back by keeping us on the schedule ever since. It's a no cost H/H series. We play away games at ND stadium, but we don't play our home games against ND in Annapolis - no sense in limiting attendance to our 40K seat stadium when we can sell out an NFL stadium for that game. So for a long time we would play our "home" games against ND in the NFL stadiums in Baltimore, and in DC before the Redskins moved to that dump at FEDEX Field. But we also played our "home" games against ND up in NY at the NFL stadium there - this year we were scheduled to play in Ireland - and in the recent past we have played ND in the NFL stadiums in Jacksonville, Florida, and San Diego. It's fun for our alumni - move the home game around the country, good for visibility, recruiting. Point being, MD politicians are not happy that we moved our "home" games against ND out of MD. They made some noise about it, and we more or less ignored them. A lot of low grade static from them ever since. They have no leverage here, they know it, and so they want to exercise leverage over us in other areas. It's grade school playground posturing, so on the one hand we ignore it - but we can't afford to be unaware of it.
#5: While USNA itself is federal property, Navy and Marine Corps Memorial Stadium is located about 2 miles from campus, on private property owned by the Naval Academy Athletic Association (NAAA). The MD regulators just denied USNA request to have the Brigade of Midshipmen attend the game; the game will be played in front of an empty stadium. Nobody there other than players, coaches, staff, media. Our take on it is, we have to let them flex on the small stuff to keep them out of the important stuff; so nobody challenged the prohibition on putting 4000 of our people in our stadium, with more social distance between them than they get Monday through Friday.
I could go on, but you get the drift. There are a lot of busybodies in the State of Maryland who would love to use COVID as a pretext to exercise undue influence over USNA. The AD and Coach Ken decided to bite the bullet and minimize the risk. No contact practice is the result. Does it really protect against COVID spread? I doubt it; it's performance theater of the absurd to mollify the busybodies. Nobody likes it, but it's the price we pay to get beyond the reach of the busybodies. I think by this point everyone understands, or should understand, that playing football presents demonstrably less risk to the participants due to COVID than due to CTE, and as evidence continues to build to support that conclusion, the busybodies will have less leverage. But if USNA had experienced a COVID outbreak over the last month, the state regulators would have been chomping at the bit to shut us down.

I think this classifies as whining.
 
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