Twenty-one years ago, when I was researching "A Civil War," one of the many young men from both teams that I met and admired was a Navy senior named Mark Hammond.
Like the Army seniors of this year—and of the past 11 years—he went into his last Army-Navy game with one final chance to sing his alma mater second.
That was the year the Cadets drove 99-yards—converting a 4th-and-24 pass along the way—to beat the Mids, 14-13, for their fourth straight heart-stopping victory.
The next day, after returning to Annapolis, Hammond went to Hospital Hill—the Naval Academy cemetery.