Hey! Didn't you use to hang out at Falcon Stadium?
Any one out there that's a long-time Air Force Falcon football fan? Do you remember something like the the plane in the above photo at Falcon Stadium? I swear there were others too. Small replicas of a F-4, F-15, F-16 & Space Shuttle that use to putter about in the South end zone during games? I can only find vague Sasquatchesque photos of the damn things and want to confirm that I didn't dream up the whole, wonderful thing.
Nose of a F-15 peeking out behind a Eric Faison INT against Navy in 1990.
Tail fins of a F-15 in this old school Falcons photo.
The sidelines now are domain of photographers, military brass and other hangers-on. It'd be a nice distraction to see one of us get run down by a little jet every now and then. You know, for the kids? Just sayin'.
Falcon Stadium. A great place to watch the football.
Falcon Stadium, home of the Air Force Falcons, is a wonderful place. The views are beautiful. The pregame atmosphere is second to none. The Cadets marching on, THE WINGS OF BLUE parachute team:
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."
And the most awesome of awesomes, the flyby:
A pair of QF-4 Phantoms. They were loud, fast and loud. It's was too cool!
The football team always plays hard, and for the most part, the games are competitive, there's not a bad seat in the house, parking is free (although getting in and out of the Academy is a pain it is still not that bad), and the ticket prices are very reasonable, for $15 for general admission/or upper reserved to $55 for the 50 yard line. But for some reason people avoid the games like they're going to get a poke in the eye if they show up.
Well, Saturday's game against New Mexico must have been billed, "Double Eye-Poke Day!" because a robust 29,726 (capacity 46,692) wandered their way in on a perfect night for baseball, let alone football. Game time temperature was 70. 70 flipping degrees on October 20th!). The game started at 500pm. And yes, that would be a 'night' game, there should be no issues with it going too late, even for the kids (it was over in 2 hours 51 minutes). You'd be home by 900pm. People in this town suck when it comes to sports. We really do suck. Anyhoo, onto the game:
Carrier ran it 68 yards to the Air Force 7. Lead to a New Mexico FG. Moral victory for the Falcons!
It started out with New Mexico's Kasey Carrier running for a lot of yards (that theme continues for most of the game. He finished with 338 yards and 3 TDs on 39 carries)...
Carrier up the middle for another 58 yards. Great hustle by Christian Spears to stop him at the one. Carrier scored on the next play.
...and a quick 0-10 Lobo lead. Air Force made it 7-10 on their 2nd drive and the quarter ended with a pair of punts (technically Air Force's punt opened the 2nd but that's no way to open a quarter is it?).
That's not very nice #90. Not very nice at all.
The game kept slogging along with New Mexico being stopped on a 4th down that was matched by Air Force being picked on a fake field goal. All the while Carrier was racking up the yards.
The play of the game occurred when Lobo quarterback BR Holbrook (who I thought had the last name of 'Oprah' due to me being me and the PA guy mumbling the name) tossed a swing pass that Falcon linebacker, and all around stud Alex Means, deflected, caught and ran 65 yards for a HUGE TD (New Mexico's offense was 90% Carrier. The other 10% was why they lost). After a long missed FG by the Lobos Air Force leads at the half 14-10.
Alex Means pick six was the play of the game. No way Air Force deserved to lead at the half.
For most of the 2nd quarter I was shooting from near the New Mexico bench. Close to halftime I realized I was pretty content, nay, happy, and had no clue why. They game was not that good. Lots of yards, but also, lots and lots of mistakes. There wasn't a ton of good shots. The light was fading. Why did I feel this way? XYLOPHONES! I was right next to the band's xylophones and they had been hypnotically practicing behind me. Dude! This was awesome! I'd never been so happy shooting a sporting event! I felt at one with the universe! Right then and there I fell in love with xylophones! You can't play 'angry' with those soft, little drumsticks. Just look at them! They shout, "chill dude. Everythings going to be all right". If I ever become an action hero I'm going to have a xylophonist follow me around playing my mellow, chill theme music. Super villains wouldn't stand a chance!
Such a peaceful, magical sound. I will now seek the xylophones out at every game. And, you know, just chill to their cool chill beats.
Mello on cool xylophonist. Mello on. (Though that cymbal in background is angrying up my blood).
The spell was broken when I was attacked by the mascot, or at least shocked back to reality when the dammed thing flew 10 feet over my head during its performance at the half, and the xylophones had to go play with the Air Force band and did Gangnam Style (which got the loudest applause I have ever heard for the band at an Air Force game. I guess Falcon fans like Korean pop).
Attacked by a hawk, or falcon, or bat at halftime.
In the 3rd Air Force opened with a fumble. New Mexico scored to make it 14-17. The Falcons answered right back to make it 21-17. Then a Lobo punt. And the quarter ended with Air Force driving to the NM 1.
Proof that Air Force did tackle Carrier at least once.
First play of the 4th Air Force goes in front 28-17 on a run by Wes Cobb. Time to blow. There may only be 29,000+ there but they all leave early and I don't want to get stuck in the parking lot.
Even this 'thing' couldn't ruin my vibe.
Just as I got to my car the Lobos answered on another TD by Carrier, but missed the two point conversion, making it 28-23 with 12:08 to go. Game not over. Air Force then fumbled the ball right back and it started to look (or sound since I was now listening on the radio cruising down a near empty I-25) bleak for the Falcons. They couldn't stop Carrier. Hadn't all game. So what happens? New Mexico runs Lamaar Thomas on a 4th and 4 at the Air Force 16. Not Kasey Carrier.Remember that other 10%? And he's stuffed. Air Force's ball. 4 1st downs later it's an Air Force victory! Probably should have lost, but probably should have beat Michigan and Navy. Go Falcons!
Two games left. Nevada on Friday and Hawaii November 16th. Come on out. Enjoy a game. You might even find Waldo.
So come on out to the Nevada game on Friday. Or maybe not since it's suppose to be in the 30's at kickoff, and Nevada is really good, and have the nation's #1 rusher in Stefphon Jefferson, and he might just run for 500 yards against this defense. But if you do come out look for me around halftime over near the Nevada bench chilling (or freezing) to the cool sounds of the xylophones.
Air Force hosted Colorado College Friday night at the Cadet Ice Arena. Coming off last year's 2-1 victory, hopes were high for the Falcons to roll the Tigers once again.
Three panes of glass cracked within the first 15 seconds of the warmup. Not a good sign.
Three panes broken. One pane replaced. Two panes duct taped. Again, not a good sign.
After a 19 minute delay the game got under way with Air Force coming out like a house on fire (whatever the hell that means). A ton of pressure that was rewarded with a goal from Jason Fabian at the 3:32 mark.
Fabian buries the puck from just left of the slot!
And there was much rejoicing! Yeah.
The Falcons continued to dominate through the first 10 minutes of the 1st but could not find the back of the net. Heck. They could not find any part of the net. They only put 3 pucks on goal the entire period. And even though the ice tilted decidedly in CC's favor for the last 10 minutes, Falcon goaltender Jason Torf turned away the 8 shots he faced and Air Force went into the break up 1-0. Could we be in for another upset?
Jason Torf watches stuff happen at center ice.
Between periods the Air Force mascot, The Bird, was skating (barely) around tossing t-shirts to the sellout crowd.
The Bird. Not throwing t-shirts, but carrying a flag before the game. No shots of the t-shirts because why the hell would I take pictures of a dude in a bird suit throwing t-shirts? Why, you ask, did I take this shot? SHUT UP! That's why.
Well The Bird was late getting off the ice. And The Bird is not the strongest skater in the world. And, I don't think The Bird has been to too many hockey games, so he was skating towards the gate where the Tigers enter the ice. And the gate is small, just big enough for one to enter/exit at a time. And the CC players were waiting to go out. And the CC players just got their asses handed to them in the locker room by Coach Scott Owens for a crap 1st period. So, the CC players were ready to burst out and kick some ass...
CC players heading to the ice. Big,strong and pissed off. Hope nothing gets in their way...
...And here comes The Bird. To the net. He pauses. Watches the players start to come through the gate. The Bird times it, poorly, and skates through the oncoming Tigers and stops against the boards right next to the door. Surely he is going to wait for the rest, about 10 players, to come on the ice before he tries to exit. Surely? Nope. More players skate out. The Bird attempts to exit. DENIED! And is bounced back out! Next player flies out. The Bird tries again. DENIED AGAIN! Back to the boards! (PengoSports heard that during all of this excitement Coach Owens was screaming at the Scorer's Box to "do something about that fu*kin' bird or he'd take care of it". Don't worry Scott. Someone was about to do 'something' about it). Third times a charm? The Bird decides enough is enough and bores through the door. An unknown CC player (unknown because everyone kind of looked away, knowing what was coming up, out of embarrassment) just railed The Bird. I mean, crossed checked the living shit out of him right into the door. It looked kind of like this but instead of a video game Crosby, it was The Bird. Just use your imagination okay?
The Bird righted himself and slurked off to his locker room while the rest of the Tigers made it on to the ice. The night was decided right there. CC just destroyed Air Force, outscoring them 6-1 in the final two periods. Thanks Bird.
CC had more size, more speed and, after the Bird incident, way more motivation.
Air Force tried. But for the last 50 minutes forgot to play like a team. And got schooled for it.
The PengoSports 3 Stars of the Night:
3rd Star - Scott Winkler, Colorado College - 2 Goals
2nd Star - Andrew Hamburg, Colorado College - 4 Goals
1st Star - The Bird, Air Force - Fired up an entire team.
CC celebrates another Andrew Hamburg goal. And the death of a bird mascot.
I'm going to just link this. I'm not posting the picture on PengoSports. If you have read our disturbing news accounts of the Real Life Mystery of the Urinal Deuce and the REVENGE of the Urinal Deuce you will still be shocked and awed by what you are about to witness. Ready? Okay.
This is from Reddit, and to quote the chick that found it, "Reddit, I walked into the women's restroom and immediately thought "OMG what died in here?"...then I get to the stall...I have NEVER seen something like this in my life and honestly didn't even know something this big could have come out of someone. I am totally grossed out right now. WTF?" Read the entire thread here. Very funny. Disturbing, yet funny. This may have been the monster that Mrs. Crabtree from Walgreens was telling me about. The one she had to fish out with her hand.
Please read the entire thread on Reddit. It is well worth it. Trust us on this one.
Air Force coach Troy Calhoun received an ear full from Wyoming coach Dave Christensen after the Cowboys fell to the Falcons 28-27 last Saturday. As they left the field we saw Calhoun smiling and Christensen upset and wondered what was being said. Troy would only say that it was "probably not a conversation I'd have with my mom." Well here's the video and Coach Calhoun was correct (unless his mom happened to be a very, very salty pirate). Warning, very NSFW language.
It was Military Appreciation Night in Laramie. Nothing says thanks to the military like the old "FU*K YOU!" Christensen later apologized to the Wyoming fans and the Mountain West Conference for the tirade, but funny enough, not to the person at the receiving end of his rant, Troy Calhoun. Class dude. Real class. How about apologizing for being 1-5? PengoSports has a feeling this video will haunt Coach Christensen for a long, long time. Or at least until he's fired sometime in the near future. Bye, bye Dave.
UPDATED - Coach Christensen was suspended for one game & fined $50,000. By the way, he was NOT suspended for the game after the tirade, but the one after the video went on YouTube. Message to all coaches - "You can be a prick, but make sure you're only a prick away from recording devices." Class Wyoming. Nothing but class.
It's the USA vs Antigua & Barbuda in exciting World Cup qualifying action!
Looking to watch tonight's World Cup qualifier between the United States and Antigua & Barbuda? Better have beIN Sports, channel 312 on Comcast (right below the Pay-Per-Porn channels. Dish - channel 408. DirectTV - channel 620 ). It is LIVE starting at 455pm MDT.LIARS!!! DIRTY FILTHY LIARS!!! COMCAST ONLY HAS THE ESPANOL VERSION! WANT TO WATCH THE USA GAME? SUCK IT! DAMMIT COMCAST! PULL YOUR HEAD OUT AND GET THE ENGLISH VERSION OF beIN SPORTS BEFORE THE NEXT ROAD QUALIFIER!
What you will see tonight if you have beIN Sports (except it's men's soccer. Although I do believe many of the boys will be wearing skirts).
beIN Sports carries soccer. Lots and lots of soccer. Matches from Spain's La Liga, Italy's Serie A, France's Legue 1. Also World Cup qualifier matches from South America (CONMEBOL) and North America (CONCACAF). Plus other soccer stuff. In fact, it's all soccer stuff. So if you like the soccer it's a good channel for you, oh, unless you don't speak languages other than English. Yeah, they broadcast in the games in the language of the countries they get the feed from. Really, it's not so bad. After a while you don't even notice someone is talking. So you might as well start watching and, who knows? You might even learn something. Or not.
Nice vid of a dude throwing a candlestick at a lady-zombie:
Pretty good form and an "A" for accuracy! Too bad she's a zombie and that whack to the head didn't even slow her down. Now, if only the Broncos could sign her they might not fumble so much.
Air Force vs Navy. Saturday @ 930am (YES! 930am. Stupid CBS. Probably want to show some SEC game at a reasonable hour. Stupid SEC. Think they're so tough because they win all the national championships. I'd like to see how they'd do if there was a 16 team playoff. Really. No, really. Okay. I just want a 16 team playoff. Screw the SEC, and Big 10, PAC 12, Big 12, ACC, etc...just give me a playoff and I'll be happy).
Almost everyone on defense was in on this tackle vs CSU on September 29th. The Falcons beat the Rams 42-21.
The CSU defense getting owned by Air Force's O-Line!
It's a service academy game. Great pomp. Great pregame. Great rivalry. Usually a great game. Be there!
