Loosening Up, but Not Letting Up

Navy's Kettani Leaves Lasting Impression Among Teammates

For once, Eric Kettani did not have time to stop and talk. As soon as practice ended Monday night, the loquacious Navy fullback ran off the field, past the reporters he often regales with one-liners and random trivia, and sprinted toward the locker room. He had less than 90 minutes to clean up, change and prepare for his last -- and toughest -- exam of the fall semester.

The next day, however, Kettani was back to his normal, chatty self. The senior economics major had survived his five finals: business cycles, labor economics, naval law, introduction to international relations and thermodynamics -- the latter being a three-hour ordeal that Kettani described as "the hardest final of my life." Now he was ready to begin final preparations for his last game with the Midshipmen -- today's EagleBank Bowl against Wake Forest -- and to have some fun.

"The best part of bowl week is you just focus on football," Kettani said. "You don't have to worry about going to class or waking up early. It's time to relax with your buddies, go to some events and get some nice gifts."

Kettani and his Navy teammates have gotten used to this routine; this is the sixth year in a row that the Midshipmen have played in a bowl, easily the longest streak in program history. In Kettani's career, he has traveled both far and near for bowl games: to San Diego twice for the Poinsettia Bowl (2005 and 2007) and Charlotte for the Meineke Car Care Bowl (2006).

This week was a little different, though, as the Midshipmen traveled back and forth between Annapolis and the District; they practiced at the academy but stayed at a hotel in downtown Washington. The offensive players watched the fifth season of "24" to help pass the time on the bus.

"For everything that these kids go through, I want them to enjoy themselves," said Coach Ken Niumatalolo, who went to the 1989 Aloha Bowl as a player at the University of Hawaii. "The classes they're taking here at the Naval Academy are a little different than what I took at the University of Hawaii. They don't have 'the geography of Honolulu' or things like that. . . . I'm always in awe of what these guys do."

During the school year, the Midshipmen are restricted in what they can wear and when they can leave the academy grounds. This week, the players were given liberty at night; Kettani, 21, spent his first free evening at Sign of the Whale with teammate Kevin Synder, whose father, Shep, treated a group of players to dinner.

Kettani spent another night watching the documentary "Kids + Money" on HBO -- something he can't do in his own room in Bancroft Hall.

One of the meeting rooms inside the hotel was turned into a game room, complete with Guitar Hero and Rock Band, foosball and billiards tables, pop-a-shot, skee-ball and a Wii and Xbox. (The football program owns the Xboxes, but only brings them out for bowl games, and rented the rest of the gear.)

The game room was closed Thursday morning, however, because President Bush was speaking at the hotel.

"Our kids weren't too happy," Niumatalolo said. "But I told them there's not much we can do when the president is speaking."

Teams are permitted to hold a maximum of 15 practices before their bowl game, and some programs treat them as an extension of their spring football practices, giving reps to younger players and installing new wrinkles. Navy does not, in part because of the rigorous exam schedule.