OPINION

By Steve Greenberg

updated 9:27 p.m. ET Nov. 2, 2007

On November 2, 1963, amid the chaotic escalation of civil war, South Vietnamese president Ngo Dinh Diem was assassinated. A world away on that same date, Navy -- a top team filled with players who would soon serve their country in Vietnam -- played a football game in South Bend, Ind.

Middies 35, Irish 14.

"I still remember it vividly," says the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback of that team, a man named Roger Staubach. "I think we all do."

Forty-four years later, it remains the last victory for Navy in what has become sports' most one-sided series since Globetrotters-Generals. Only no one is laughing; there are no buckets of confetti when a football factory squashes a service academy an NCAA-record 43 times in a row.

"I am tired of people saying it's the longest losing streak," Staubach says. "I just hear it all the time."

Roger that. The time has come, then, to put it to rest once and for all.

On Saturday afternoon, 4-4 Navy will have its best chance since '63 to win a football game in South Bend. Perhaps it wouldn't mean much in the grand scheme of things. But if wackos from Gainesville to Eugene get to live and breathe this stuff 365 days a year, then I am going to root like hell for the Middies for three hours. Feel free to join me.

Roll up the score, Navy. Anchors Aweigh!

Poor Joe Bellino. The 1960 Heisman winner beat Notre Dame, too, but he had a prior engagement the last time Navy beat the Irish. "I was in Vietnam during Roger's junior year," says Bellino, 69. "I think this might be the year. Wouldn't it be a wonderful experience for those kids? I know I scored quite a few touchdowns against other teams, but I can remember with minute details the times I scored against Notre Dame."

Notre Dame was a bad team in 1960, the last time -- until 2007 -- it started a season 1-7. But don't feel bad for the Irish, who have gotten all ( OK, and made some of) the breaks against Navy. Like in 2003, when they won on a field goal at the final gun. And in 2002, when Navy lost an 8-point lead with 5 minutes to play.

The worst of them all was in 1999, as Notre Dame, down 24-21, was driving for the winning touchdown. On fourth-and-10 with just over a minute to play, the Irish picked up, oh, 9 yards. First down, Irish! Huh?

"A leprechaun came out and measured that play," Staubach says. "Unbelievable to this day. We had that thing won."

Ah, well. All of that just melts away if the Middies can take care of business on Saturday. What would a 65-year-old Pro Football Hall of Famer with two Super Bowl rings tell them if he could stand in that locker room before the game? "My heroes are military guys. I love the Navy, and I love Navy football," Staubach says. "This Notre Dame thing has kind of haunted us through the years. I would ask every one of them to give that little extra to win this game."

You can get behind that, can't you?

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