Army Strikes!

Rather weak in my opinion for the losers to steal the trophy they failed to win on the field.

Navy's Commander-In-Chief Trophy Stolen

By Jon Gallo

Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 30, 2005; 12:06 PM

The Commander-In-Chief's Trophy, awarded annually to the winner of the football competition between the three major service academies, was stolen Monday night from the Midshipmen's locker room inside Ricketts Hall at the U.S. Naval Academy, Navy spokesman Scott Strasemeier confirmed this morning.

The Midshipmen face the U.S. Military Academy this weekend and though Navy athletic officials are unsure who took the trophy, it is common for Army and Navy to pull pranks on each other in the week leading up to the game.

The three-sided, 2 1/2 -feet tall trophy that weighs 170 pounds was taken after it was moved to the team's locker room for motivation Monday afternoon. The Commander-In-Chief's Trophy is normally kept in a locked, glass case in the Rotunda area of Bancroft Hall, the school's dormitory.

The Midshipmen face Army on Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. Because both teams defeated Air Force this season, the winner of the teams' 106th meeting will win the trophy. Navy has won the award the past two seasons, and Army has not won the trophy since 1996.

Navy school officials discovered the theft along with a note that read: "Before we win the football game on Saturday, we thought we would take the trophy. By the time you read this, it will be halfway to West Point," home to the U.S. Military Academy.

Phone calls to Army sports information director Bob Beretta were not immediately returned.

"Navy has launched an investigation," Strasemeier said. "We don't know who did it. Someone broke into a building and stole it."