Fortunately for CBS’ live broadcast, Navy men never curse

If your idea of Friday night fun is a quiet evening at home watching wholesome, fresh-faced young sailors applying the eternal virtues of discipline, teamwork and leadership to an intra-squad scrimmage, CBS College Sports is your ticket: Navy kicks off its spring game on the cable network at 7 p.m. Eastern, with a slight twist. The Midshipmen have agreed to let CBS mike up a pair of players, wide receiver Doug Furman and cornerback Kwesi Mitchell, in real time, send its own cameras into the action between plays and interview players and coaches in the middle of the game. The only part of the scrimmage viewers won't have access to, according to producer Dan Scheer, is live terminology in the huddle.

Which is kind of what worries him, actually:

Scheer said the idea of as close to an all-access spring game as possible was first floated to him a couple weeks before the NCAA basketball tournament. Understandably busy with planning, he figured he would wait to begin dissecting how to go about making the broadcast work until after basketball was over.

But the more Scheer thought about it, the more things he scribbled down. Eventually, he sent a list to Navy --- and everything but live access to the huddle, where Navy will use its actual terminology, was approved.

With the vagaries of technology involved, there's no guarantee it will be a perfect night. Furman could get tackled and wind up crushing his microphone as he hits the ground. Weather could play a role. And then there are possibilities no one on the television side can completely account for.

"If somebody curses, I'm in trouble," Scheer said.

Don't worry, Dan — they're sailors! These fine young men would never represent the academy or the country in any setting, on camera or off, that they'd be ashamed to show their mothers.

On the other hand, considering that seven starters and almost twice as many reserves are already scheduled to sit out the game with injuries, the possibility of a couple f-bombs and a c-grenade or two on live television probably can't hurt the ratings, now can it?

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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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