When most people think of football on Sunday, they think of professional teams grinding it out on the gridiron. However, on the eighth of November, an annual tradition was continued at Valley Fields that many students may not be aware of. For the past several decades, the men and women of Marquette’s Army, Navy, and Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps have gathered to play several games of flag football against one another.

Despite being played in front of a small audience of ROTC instructors and students, these games carry the weight of bragging rights for the winning teams for an entire year. “The games mean a lot because they are a means to compete against our counterparts in a less formal environment, pomp and circumstance aside.” said the Navy ROTC team captain Cletus Ketter.

“Competitions are displayed on a much larger scale on national television between West Point and Annapolis. However, it means just much to the ROTC cadets and midshipman who are itching to take the field and show the other branches who deserves to be the best man to man and in the need. In the end, we will be the same rank as the players on the Academy that are seen on television.”

What these matchups lack in hype and a big stage, they make up for in intensity and passion. All of the teams have very athletic competitors, who leave all of their emotions out on the field. The ROTC flag football games generally become tackle football and the refs do not stop the cadets and midshipmen from having their fun. Unlike the intramural games, pass rushers and blockers can use their hands and fumbles are live.

This year Navy dominated the competition. They secured wins over both Army and Air Force in the women’s and men’s games due in a large part to a strong interest from their freshman class. In fact both Navy teams did not give up a single offensive touchdown all afternoon. With these victories, Marquette’s Navy ROTC will be able to hold win back “the Jug” from Army. “The Jug” is just what it sounds like, a trophy jug which the winner gets to hold onto until the next time they lose. They were also able to win back “The Boot” (which is surprise, surprise a mounted boot) a trophy the Navy midshipmen have withheld from Air Force for the past several years.

Meanwhile, the female Army team was able to post a crushing shutout win over the female Air Force team while the male Air Force squad overcame a surging Army team. Each of the matchups featured all the exciting plays of any college or pro football games including option reads, diving catches, a pick six, ankle breaking cut backs, and even a shanked field goal. Okay, so maybe it is not the same level of talent, but it is just as exciting nonetheless. These events may feature the traditional competition between rival branches of the military, but in the end they are all in good fun because every competitor is really playing for the same team.

As for the men’s soccer team, the season ended abruptly in a tough loss to Georgetown with a score of 1-0. Under the leadership of new Head Coach Louis Bennett, the men’s final season record stands at 1-16-4 overall. One major highlight from the season occurred early in November when the team was featured on the nationally aired Fox Soccer Channel, due to the quality of the Marquette coaching staff and the overall humanistic attitude of the team. Players to watch next season include freshmen Tim Jallow and Billy Von Rueden, who were included in the top 100 freshman list, sophomore Andy Gill and junior Mike Carlson. Although the season record was less than desirable, the men’s team worked hard and will hopefully continue to come together and produce a better outcome next season.

The women of the Marquette Golden Eagles volleyball team have had an outstanding season so far, currently ranked No. 6 nationally, and are still pressing forward towards victory. Currently, the ladies have an overall season record of 17-13, and are working hard toward victory in their upcoming tournament to be held in Orlando, Fla., to take part in the Florida Disney Classic where they will face No. 7 ranked Florida and No. 11 ranked LSU. One of the highlights of the season was the shocking upset of Pittsburgh, who is ranked No. 3. The 2006 team was led by head coach Pati Rolf. The Golden Eagles will be losing four seniors after this season but is looking ahead to the future with many talented players such as freshman Leslie Bielski and juniors Kimberly Todd and Monica Renfrow.

The alumni used a very strong defense to blank the current men’s team in the first half, though it seemed that the current Marquette team started off unenthusiastically, underrating their former teammates. The current players seemed unorganized and slow to the ball. At the end of the first half, the score remained 0-0, but the alumni team had a mental advantage.

As the game progressed, the alumni team took the reins and began to play with some enthusiasm. The alumni team strung together many talented pass sequences when they had control of the ball, and the Golden Eagles could not seem to overcome their passing.

Thirty minutes into the second half, the alumni still hadn’t let a shot get through. In the 70th minute of play, however, the current Marquette men were able to score when Bryan Dahlquist placed the ball beautifully into the back of the net off of a corner kick from freshman Mike Plager.

The game took a turn for the better after the goal was scored for the current Marquette men, who found a spark of inspiration and began to play as a team.

The alumni team fought back from the one-goal disadvantage, and brought the game back to an even playing field in the 83rd minute when Derek Gutierrez, a four-time letter winner from 2000-2003, scored the second goal of the evening off a penalty kick. The score remained even for the remaining six minutes, and the game ended in a 1-1 tie. On Saturday, the men were blanked 1-0 by Providence. The match was a highly contested defensive struggle which the only score by Providence came in the 40th minute.

Marquette’s best chance came in the 77th minute off of a free kick, but they failed to capitalize. The Friar’s defensive style was able to limit Marquette’s chances to score. Marquette also saw a shot off of a free kick in the 55th minute, but it was saved by the Providence keeper.

Marquette fell to 1-8-1 overall and still remains winless in Big East competition. The team returns to action Sept. 27 at Notre Dame.

6:58 p.m. Arrive at Anodyne Coffee House,1208 E. Brady St., which was one of the eight or so local places I could find that carried Fox Soccer Network.

6:59 p.m. Somewhat disappointed, but not surprised, that this is not going to look like a scene out of a commercial during the World Cup with rowdy, shirtless, body-painted psychos. I’m still feeling pretty cool in my Team Italia soccer shirt though.

7:04 p.m. Introduction of team lineups for both the St. Louis University Billikens and Marquette Golden Eagles.

7:07 p.m. Ball drops/kickoff. I’m not really sure whether I should use the hockey or football term.

7:09 p.m. Announcer reads my mind and explains that the clock counts down from 45:00 rather than up from zero as in World Cup soccer or WIAA soccer.

7:12 p.m. SLU player down. I find out that the clock stops in college play, eliminating any chance for stoppage time. Hearing British announcers say “stoppage time” is about my favorite part of soccer.

7:27 p.m. SLU takes a 1-0 lead, thanks to Courtney Hulcer’s goal. Marquette is behind for the first time in the young season.

7:36 p.m. Hear the term “assist” used for about the 10,000 time in the broadcast. I begin to wonder if “dime” and “dish” are exclusively reserved for basketball.

7:46 p.m. Katie Kelly gets the better of Maureen Hughes in a serious collision.

7:55 p.m. Halftime; SLU outshot MU 11-0 in the first half.

8:11 p.m. Start of second half and in-game interview with Coach Roeders. MU looks much sharper initially.

8:13 p.m. MU gets a corner kick taken by Kelly.

8:13 p.m. GOOOOOAAAAALLLLLLLLLL by Lauren Weber.

8:27 p.m. As I finish my second Mountain Dew it occurs to me, what is a Billiken? (Turns out a Billiken is a version of an ancient Asian figure created by an art teacher in Kansas City, Mo., in 1908, and it became associated with SLU sometime between 1910 and 1911.)

8:57 p.m. End of regulation, meaning the last two times I have worn the Team Italia shirt the game I was watching went into OT (the World Cup Final was the other game).

9:01 p.m. Start of two 10:00 OT periods that will end in sudden death (or “sudden victory” or “golden gold” for those of you in the PC camp who believe using “sudden death” in sporting events is somehow contributing to America’s desensitization to violence.)

9:05 p.m. Laura Boyer makes a save for MU.

9:10 p.m. Great effort by Michelle Martin to keep the ball in play.

9:12 p.m. End of first OT.

9:15 p.m. Start of second OT.

9:16 p.m. Hear for the millionth time that SLU’s Alex Twellman comes from a long line of great soccer players. She is obviously the equivalent of John Lucas III, or Eli Manning.

9:25 p.m. Second OT ends. The game ends in 1-1 tie, making MU 2-0-2.