The buildup to the 115th Army-Navy game at M&T Bank Stadium got an early start at the Inner Harbor this morning.
ESPN's College GameDay came to Maryland for the first time and more than a thousand screaming Mids, Cadets and college football fans greeted the show, many of them there before 7 a.m. to get into the pit in front of the set. Many carried signs instead of their usual training weapons.
The show, which began at 9, featured live interviews with the stars of the 1963 and 1964 Army and Navy games, quarterbacks Rollie Stichweh and Roger Staubach, and the coaches of today's game, Army's Jeff Monken and Navy's Ken Niumatalolo.
The GameDay crew, led by Chris Fowler along with Desmond Howard, Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso, perfectly orchestrated the two-hour show. Signs have become a big part of the atmosphere, and the Mids and Cadets were armed. Among the better ones:
"Even Soldiers Pick Navy"
"Jameis wrote Navy's honor code"
"Eat Mor Sqwid"
"Corso leaves celery for Santa"
The moment everyone was waiting for, when Corso picks his winner of the game, didn't disappoint. Saying he's waited 47 years for this, Corso, a former Navy assistant coach, donned Bill the Goat's head.
At least half of the crowd went wild.