Want something to cheer for? Root for Army-Navy playoff chaos scenario

There have already been a lot of unforgettable images from the baseball playoffs so far. But this one hit me different. 

This was maybe 15 minutes after the Yankees had eliminated the Royals on Thursday night, Game 5 of the AL Division Series. The Yankees were celebrating on the field at Kansas City’s Kauffman Stadium. And sitting alone, the last solitary figure in the home dugout, was Bobby Witt Jr., best player for Kansas City, second-best player in the American League, one of the 5-6 best players in the sport. 

Witt had a miserable series, 2-for-17. Maybe it wouldn’t have made a difference if he’d gone 10-for-17, but he would’ve surely liked the opportunity to find out. Witt watched quietly from the dugout. A few teammates patted him on the back as he studied the Yankees celebration. But soon he was alone. 

“That’s where I want to be,” Witt would explain later, of the victorious dogpile. “I just try to take it all in when I can.” 

That was something to see. 

But this was even better. After a while, Giancarlo Stanton — the Yankees clear MVP in this series — looked over and saw Witt. He left the loud celebration at the pitcher’s mound and walked over to the Kansas City dugout. He offered a few words of condolence and his hand. 

Those few seconds captured the essence of sport. The respect. The competition. And yes, the sportsmanship. 

In his own way, Stanton displayed every bit as much respect and sportsmanship in that moment of triumph as Francisco Lindor had in his a little over 24 hours earlier when, after cranking a series-deciding grand slam, he put his head down and dashed around the bases without any histrionics, without a shred of desire to show up any of the Phillies. 

We forget sometimes that you can be both intense and civil at the same time. You can celebrate victory without rubbing it in. Honestly, you can. 

And it seems like a good time to remember this because slowly, quietly, the Army and Navy football teams are weekly authoring what may well become an astonishing story by the time the weather grows cold. Both teams are undefeated. Both look like they may be on a collision course toward facing each other in the American Conference title game on Friday, Dec. 6. And that’s when the fun might begin. 

Army/Navy has always been, at its root, a paragon for pure sportsmanship. On both posts, the prevailing sentiment year round is simple. 

At West Point, it’s “Beat Navy!” 

At Annapolis, it’s “Beat Army!” 

And they go about that business ferociously, passionately, and at the end of every game every year, regardless of who wins, there are more hugs and more tears than any sporting event all year. Rivals who are also brothers. I don’t care how jaded or cynical you are, you’ll feel a lump in your throat if you stand on the field after an Army-Navy game. 

But this year adds a twist. If both teams continue as they have, it’s at least possible that the winner of that game will earn the final at-large bid to the 12-team college football playoff as the highest-ranked Group of Five representative (something that will be helped along if both service academies win their games with Notre Dame later this season). And that would be something. 

But eight days later, Army and Navy would play again in the actual Army-Navy game, which this year will be held in D.C. And since Navy already beat Air Force last week, that means the winner of that game would win the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy. So it is possible that one team could qualify for a shot at the national title one week, and the other would win the CIC, symbolic of service-academy dominance. 

I already knew the answer to this question when I went and asked a bunch of folks on either side of the rivalry (that I had the great good fortune to cover for five years earlier in my career) which — if you could choose one — they would prefer. And the answer was unanimous, and best exemplified in the word of Jim Cantelupe, a former Army defensive back in the ’90s: 

“It would be amazing to win a bid to the FBS playoff, but not at the expense of the CIC! Which is always the number No. 1 goal of the Army team coming into the season. With that being said, let’s get both! Go Army! Beat Navy!” 

You want something to root for? Root for this. 

Vac’s whacks

You really can’t make this stuff up, but as loyal reader Sal L. Lamander points out, Robert Saleh was fired on Oct. 8 — which also happened to be the 80th birthday of one Robert R. “Ray” Handley.

The Liberty made it a little extra hard on themselves by gagging away Game 1 the other night the way they did, but if there’s a team built to essentially win four games in a best-of five the way they have to now, they seem capable of doing it. 

To those who yell at peak volume to just let ballplayers act as ridiculous as they want after hitting home runs … can we at least agree that the Dodgers’ celebratory silliness is the bridge too far? Can we reach across the aisle on that one? 

Still hoping CBS changes its mind about “Blue Bloods,” which returns for the last time next Friday. 

Whack back at Vac

Alex Burton: As of this morning, Aaron Judge still has one less meaningful October swing than Al Weis. Astounding. 

Vac: I’m willing to bet what we saw from him in Game 5 against the Royals was the equivalent of Clapton or Townshend tuning their guitars before the lights go up. 

Dan Sonntag: I think it’s time we start thinking of the Lindor trade in the same vein as the Hernandez trade a generation ago. I would also suggest Mr. Cohen leaves some space on the front of the roof at Citi Field because I don’t think we’re ever going to see another Met wear No. 12. 

Vac: So who is Neil Allen and who is Rick Ownbey among Amed Rosario and Andres Gimenez? 

@BillPriceNHL: The only people dreaming of a Subway Series are the media, bandwagon fans on each side or the people who somehow “root for both teams.” The last thing either fan base wants is to reach the World Series only to lose to the other team. 

@MikeVacc: I guess I don’t want to believe that … but I can also see where there’s a lot of truth to all of that. 

Ron Novrit: You were right on about Woody Johnson. He is another look-at-me team owner that has no clue about running a sports team. For the good of the franchise, he should sell it and the new owners should move it somewhere that it will get a completely new start. 

Vac: As always, the problem with pining for an owner to sell is you never can tell that the new guy won’t be worse than the old guy. As Leon-Hess-to-Woody-Johnson sort of underlines nicely.