The Utah football team plays the Air Force Academy this weekend in Colorado Springs, Colo. For the record, I hope Utah wins. The Utes have more riding on the game than Air Force does. Also, I would point out that my older brother attended the Air Force Academy.
That being said, I would like to explain why I have the utmost respect for the football players at the Air Force Academy.
To illustrate my point, I will recount an experience I had during last year’s Utah-Air Force game here at Rice Eccles Stadium.
Air Force and Utah battled a game into a chilly night on national television. Keith Jackson and ABC came to broadcast the game.
Air Force ended up winning the game 23-14. Afterward, I went down to the field to do my post-game interviews. I went to Falcon linebacker Corey Nelson, who blocked a key field goal in the second half to preserve the win for Air Force. After asking him questions about the game, I chatted with him while he awaited a television interview. I needed to go to finish other interviews, so I said good-bye to Nelson and began walking away. He turned around, looked right at me and said, “You take care of yourself, you hear?!”
That made me feel so good about myself. What an all around nice, polite guy!
I then went to ask former Utah star Stevonne Smith some questions. As I approached him, he just said, looking down, “What?” I was a little perturbed by how blunt he was toward me. I asked my questions and went back up to the press box.
I then saw Deseret News writer Linda Hamilton. I asked her if Steve Smith was known to be a jerk. She immediately defended Smith’s character, calling him one of the nicest players she had met. I stood there, listening, thinking perhaps I caught Smith at a bad time. (His team did just lose, for crying out loud).
I then told her about my experience with Corey Nelson, and other cadet football players, telling her how nice and polite they were. She then said something I’ll never forget: “Oh, well, they’re supposed to be that way.”
Many people do not understand what the Air Force Academy is about. When my mom told one of her friends at home that my brother had just graduated from the Air Force Academy, the friend then asked what school he would now be going to. She didn’t know that the Air Force Academy is a military university. When he graduated, he walked away with a bachelor’s degree in his hand.
All of the service academies?Navy, Army and Air Force?are tough schools. They have regulations and are active military personnel and live by strict rules.
The service academies have something called the Commander-in-Chief Trophy, given to the service academy that beats the other two schools in football that year.
One year, Notre Dame had played and defeated all three of the service academy teams. Some argued that Notre Dame should be given the Commander-in-Chief Trophy, but former Navy coach Charlie Weatherbie responded by saying, “If those [Notre Dame] boys went through what these boys go through every day, we’d give it to them,” he said.
Why in the world should I be writing about Air Force football when I attend and work for the University of Utah? I love my country. I have an enormous amount of respect for those who fight for the welfare of this country.
The cadets at the Air Force Academy, as well as all of the other service academies, are the nation’s finest. They are preparing to be our nation’s leaders. In the prime of their lives, they serve their country without regard for their own personal enjoyment. They sacrifice their personal freedoms so we can enjoy ours. That is why I respect the Air Force Academy.
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