At 3:30 a.m. tomorrow, their white hats glistening like stars in the predawn blackness, the 4,400-strong U.S. Naval Academy brigade will begin assembling outside Bancroft Hall, the 1,700-room Beaux-Arts dormitory on the Annapolis, Md., campus.

Meanwhile, at that same time, on the parade grounds of the majestic U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., more than 4,000 sleepy Cadets in their flapped, gray overcoats also will be massing.

Within 30 minutes, the two contingents will be aboard 82 buses, eating boxed breakfasts and singing traditional songs as, from north and south, they converge like invading troops on Philadelphia.

The Cadets and Midshipmen will be at the colorful center of the daylong rituals surrounding - overshadowing, some say - the 109th football meeting between the service academies.

They will get into formation several times, stand in security lines, parade, salute, sing, chant, cheer, and party. They will ride on buses, hail cabs, stare up at the Navy jets and Army helicopters, and stand on their feet during three hours of emotional football.

"It's a very long day," said Lt. J.D. Walker, who, as the Naval Academy's logistics director, is charged with supervising the brigade's day. "It's a fun day, but there's an awful lot of standing around in cold weather."

Stripped of its national football significance long ago, the Army-Navy game remains a tactical wonder.

Thousands of future officers have to be assembled several times; transported hundreds of miles; fed; ticketed; and, most important, displayed for a sellout crowd and a national TV audience, for whom the spectacle of this patriotic pageant of pomp is as appealing as the football.

Whether it's the pregame parade, the postgame singing of the alma maters, or the many traditions and antics that take place during the preceding week, Army-Navy remains a cherished piece of Americana.

"There's just nothing else like it," said Andrew Kerr, a Navy senior and a Northeast Philadelphia native. "No other football rivalry comes close."

A running tradition

The "Running of the Game Balls" has been an Army-Navy tradition, like bonfires, pep rallies and pranks, since 1975.

Navy's runners will start the 1241/2-mile journey today at noon. Vans will accompany both groups, helping speed their trips.

Runners from the first Army van were scheduled to take turns with the ball until a 3 a.m. switch-off in North Jersey. A third van will take over this morning in Flemington, N.J. They will cross the Delaware River to New Hope, then make their way to Broad Street and the Linc.

Unlike Army, Navy won't reveal its runners' route.

"Security concerns," explained Judy Campbell of the academy's public affairs office.

Cadet senior Spencer Garrison of Yardley, whose family has operated a Fishtown grocery for nearly a century, said: "We've gotten it down to an art the last few years."

"It's definitely our most logistic-intensive event," team captain Paul Knudsen said. "We have to coordinate crossing the state lines. We have to switch off with the state police."

The Navy runners are from the 13th Company. It's thought that getting the "unlucky 13th" off campus before the game is a good thing. They will reach an undisclosed firehouse near Philadelphia tonight, where they will rest until concluding their run in the morning.