It’s that time of year again — time for me to make my annual foray into blogging about sports by blogging about the most epic sports rivalry in the history of a little ol’ place called the U.S. of A. The cadets of West Point and the midshipmen of the Naval Academy have been meeting on the field of battle football field for over a century, aggressively duking it out for both swagger points and the Commander-in-Chief’s trophy but always finishing the game in the knowledge that, upon graduation, they will all ultimately be brothers at arms responsible for the never-ending and solemn task of preserving the United States’ freedom. The tradition, the pageantry, the camaraderie, the enthusiasm, and most of all, the military kinship with which so many Americans scattered around the globe readily identify… This is no ordinary football game, my friends. (Did you just get shivers? ‘Cause I definitely did.)

Today marks the 114th edition of this most glorious and storied of competitions, and Navy has now been dominating the event for eleven years running. Army has gotten close in the past couple years, losing by 17-13 last year and 27-21 in 2011, and you can bet they’ll be looking to finally shake up this rivalry again — while Navy certainly won’t give up the ship without a fight.

You can catch the game, a.k.a. Everything That Is Great About America, starting at 3 PM on CBS. I’ll be on the ground in Philadelphia, engaging in my usual obnoxiously extravagant displays of patriotism and cheering like crazy for my team from the sidelines. As always:

GO NAVY!!! BEAT ARMY!!!

To close, a couple of this year’s spirit-spot samples from what is consistently the most killer hype war on planet earth: