By Ray Cardello for December 14, 2025, Season 33 / Post 32

As a football fan, the Army-Navy game does not always live up to its hype. The teams are not usually outstanding, as, let’s face it, football is not why these athletes are here. This yearly event is a ritual in which the athletes representing two of our service academies get together to play for bragging rights for the year. This was the 126th time these two teams have met in December to play the game. As a Patriot, this game has all the elements to satisfy every emotion I can call on for sixty minutes of action. The play is not just with the guys in helmets and pads beating the hell out of each other on the field, but the shots of the Cadets and Midshipmen in the stands, dressed in their finest dress uniforms, and acting like true fans. This stadium is packed with our best and brightest. Not in tech or medical fields, but in securing our future. These are the men and women who will be tomorrow’s leaders of the most lethal killing machine on earth, the United States Military.

This year’s meeting held greater significance for me than those of the past. I have always looked upon this game with intense pride, knowing these men and women, who have placed service and country ahead of personal goals, will battle each other today, but be ready to fight together as one to keep every one of us safe in our homes. This year, like none in the past, I ask myself, is it too late for these elite athletes and warriors to protect and preserve this grand experiment called the United States of America? I am saddened and afraid to think it is.

There was a promo that ran before the game that showed young children and families from decades ago, when life was supposedly carefree. We were naive enough to believe it, even though we had drills in elementary school to get under our desks to shield us from nuclear attack. Damn, those were some supernatural desks. Through every challenge, we were united by a patriotism that we were born with. It feels like that part of our DNA is missing today, and the American spirit lives only in our memories and history books.

Our new generation of leaders, and sadly, some of our veteran politicians, too, have lost touch with American pride and excellence that made us the envy of the world. It also made us the most hated entity on earth by some people who wake up each morning with hate in their hearts and the urge to kill Americans, and we have dropped our guard and let these people into our backyards. We had always kept our enemies at bay, outside our borders, but now we let them walk freely across our borders, or even fly them in to resettle them in select areas of the country. We thought they might come in and repay our hospitality by becoming Americans, but we were kidding ourselves. They came in to become the power players, taking over neighborhoods, cities, and states, and now they are looking toward the big prize: taking down the mighty United States.

This observation is not hyperbole or the overreaction of an aging patriot. You can see their progress every day on the 24/7 news stations, and what you do not see is any resistance to their efforts, except for President Trump’s actions. Sadly, what you see is feckless and spineless local and state officials turning their gaze away from the enemy we have let into the hen house and towards the evil fascist, Nazi, white supremacist man in the White House. They are suing him and passing stronger sanctuary laws to prevent Trump from protecting them from the enemy that is now living amongst us, and themselves, who are too blind to see the truth. These communities, which we set up in Lewiston, Maine; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Columbus, Ohio, as well as dozens of others, are becoming active cells taking over the government through the voting booth. We are just a couple of weeks from a Democratic Socialist, a communist, taking the reins of New York City. The biggest and most powerful city in the world will now be under Islamic control. The enemy did not have to defeat us in battle; we invited them into our house.

This was a lot to process as I watched Navy score a late touchdown to win the game. It was why I choked up as I watched the two teams sing their fight songs in front of their respective fans. These are courageous men and women, and they will leave this venue to continue their quest to be protectors of democracy. I pray their efforts are not in vain, but I fear the worst. I get emotional very easily, it’s a curse of being Italian, but I should be jubilant this week as I got news that I have beaten cancer. The tears today were not for my victory, or for the game I just witnessed, but for the plight of a country I love and see drifting away.