Army West Point Athletics
Thursday, Sept. 30 - Random Thoughts
September 30, 2010 | General
A pleasant Thursday afternoon to everyone. Brian Gunning with you on this wet and ugly day here on the banks of the Hudson. If you live on the East Coast, you too have probably seen the elephants and zebras lining up two-by-two outside your window.
Never fear, though, the weather forecast for Saturday's football game with Temple is sunshine and temperatures in the mid-60s - just an overall gorgeous day for football. Although, I'm not sure it would make a difference to the players here at West Point. Like Coach Ellerson last week when asked about the heat down in North Carolina, "It's a good thing the Army is an all-weather outfit."
I've been bouncing around all over the place today. That's what I love about this job. In the span of a few hours, I got to work on some football projects, some basketball items and even tried to solve some internet issues. With that catch-all spirit in mind, here are my random thoughts for the day ...
- Those of you reading this who count on the AKO web site to watch a live stream of Army Football home games, we are desperately trying to correct the issues we've had the first two weeks. I think we may have stumbled on the solution. I'm by no means the technical expert on this thing, but I do belive the right people are talking now. If you're still having trouble on Saturday, reach out to Tracy Nelson who will be writing the live, in-game blog. She might have an alternative solution for you.
- We're only two weeks away from the start of basketball practice. Head coach Zach Spiker will officially begin his second season on the Army sidelines on Friday, Oct. 15. I was able to update the roster this week, so you can check out the many new players on this year's squad. We delayed releasing the newbies a little because Coach Spiker wanted to make some personnel decisions before making the information public. There are seven rookies on this year's team to replace the seven seniors that graduate in 2010. They'll have some big shoes to fill in filling in for the winningest senior class in 30 years.
- The Cubs should forego "winning the press conference" and take the interim tag off manager Mike Quade.
- Keep an eye out for Kevin Gleason's column in Saturday's Middletown Times Herald Record. Kevin was here this week working on a piece about how the Black Knights are dealing with their early-season success and comparing their "Go 1-0 Every Week" mantra to the 1996 squad.
- I think another win or two and my job is going to get even more hectic. You can slowly start to see the 3-1 start open some people's eyes. After beating Duke, there were a couple of more interview requests in the pipeline, and if the team continutes its success in the early going I think a lot more folks will come out of the woodwork.
- Vision Quest might just be the best movie ever made about high school wrestling.
- Both backfields have some injury questions heading into Saturday's football game. Army slotback Pat Mealy missed the second half of the win over North Texas and all of the win at Duke with a knee injury. He should be ready to go this week. Temple star running back Bernard Pierce injured his ankle versus Penn State last week and Owls' head coach Al Golden has prounced him a "game-time decision."
- I'm going to start calling freshman slotback Jonathan Crucitti "The Hatchet." I was re-watching the Duke game on ESPN3 the other day and his blocking on the edge was quite impressive. He chopped down Duke defenders like the second coming of George Washington. It got to the point where he didn't even have to make contact. There was a play where the Duke defensive back took himself out of the play avoiding Crucitti.
- I'm not sure what we ever did in the office before Shak brought in the one-cup coffee maker.
- If you're in the area, be sure to put on your galoshes and head over to the West Point First Class Club tonight for the weekly "This Week in Army Football" radio show. The facility puts on a "first-class" event and Coach Ellerson and Rich DeMarco are always entertaining and informative about this weekend's match up. If you can't make it, you can still submit a question.
- Congratulations to men's soccer coach Russell Payne for picking up his first career win last night. The Black Knights scored a 2-0 win over Rider at Clinton Field. I have a feeling that getting that first victory will help open the door to a lot more W's for the team.
- Stay dry and ...
GO ARMY!
