-Air Force coach Troy Calhoun, defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter and freshman quarterback Tim Jefferson were among those who tried out an F-22 simulator at the Falcons’ team hotel Monday.
They got instructions from Col. Jim Hecker (a former Air Force strong safety who graduated in 1989) and then carried out missions.
Jefferson took out some enemy fighters and also went on a bombing run.
“It was fun – it was amazing,” Jefferson said. “It was one of those things where you just sit back and say, ‘Wow’ and just be astonished at everything it can do.”
Since he was about four years old, Jefferson has wanted to fly. He thinks he wants to fly cargo planes because he hopes to fly commercially when he leaves the Air Force. But he looked pretty comfortable in the simulator.
“That’s from video games,” he said. “They say they made that plane off of video game skills, so it kind of came as a natural to me.”
-How ridiculously amazing is the F-22? According to Hecker, its stealth makes it borderline unbeatable. “Imagine playing a (football) team that couldn’t see your receivers,” he said. “It’s just not fair.”
-Neither Houston nor Air Force will practice tomorrow. Both teams will be on hand at the Fort Worth Convention Center, however, for a kickoff luncheon at noon.
There also will be a press conference featuring both coaches and two players from each team (senior tight end Travis Dekker and senior outside linebacker Hunter Altman from Air Force and sophomore quarterback Case Keenum and senior defensive end Phillip Hunt from Houston). I’ll pass along all the good lines.
-Ran into former Falcon outside linebacker John Rabold tonight. Rabold is in Pensacola, Fla., working in acquisitions. He’s still staying in shape, however, and keeping alive his dream of one day playing in the pros.
-No food/restaurant review today as a reader asked me not to go all Peter King on you readers of this blog. Don’t worry, there won’t be a regular “Coffeenerdness” section. Though I have been toying with the idea of a “Whiskeynerdness” section. Stay tuned.
Just because a guy from Chicago doesn’t want to hear about Fort Worth restaurants doesn’t mean the rest of us don’t. I think he was just kidding, especially with his Susie Kolber reference. You should consider at least walking through Billy Bob’s, also. It is one of the many things that make Fort Worth so unique. It is billed as the world’s largest Honky Tonk and had a battle with Gilley’s in Houston for years over that title as they each kept expanding. Thanks for the reporting, and I look forward to the Blog Dog prediction!
Definitely do a whiskey section … I hear that Colorado Whiskey is good stuff.
Good to hear about Rabold
Jake-
Any response to Air Force being called “reheated holiday leftovers” here:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/6186244.html
I probably doubt that was his intent to provide “bulletin board” material, but he’s been peeved for a while that all they got for bowl season was a rematch.
I’ve been following his blog for a while, and in my “unbiased” estimation, yours is far superior to his.
Thanks for the updates. Go Air Force!
Scott -
Thanks for the kind words! I don’t think the writer was trying to stir anything up at all. I think it was just an assessment of a bowl game re-match. I think most (nearly all?) fans would have liked to have seen a different opponent.
Which, I meant to say yesterday on the blog, very nearly was Notre Dame. According to several sources, the Armed Forces Bowl was very close to landing the Irish. Would have been interesting.
I think guys like Jim Hecker are one of our strongest recruiting tools (next to the players themselves). Its great to see Troy bring those guys into the program.