enjoying it while it lasts

there's hype and hope on the eve of a top 25 matchup between no. 2 louisiana state university and no. 16 west virginia.

i'm just taking a second to drink it in before a game most experts and the rest of the country expects to be a beatdown.

we're front-page news at our hometown charleston daily mail, the first read of the day at pre-snap read (and then some), top of usa today's sports section and cycled through the lead at sports illustrated's home page (above) and college football page.

i and the rest of the mountaineer faithful are basking in the attention with an odd mix of tenuous hopes or audacious certainty of an upset.

today, there is still hope.

i'm trying to enjoy this moment of potential before what could be a bone-jarring and potentially heartbreaking crash to earth. (on the other hand, it could serve as the yummy appetizer to a feast of pigskin ecstasy.)

it's been a long time, but there's an odd comfort in donning the cape of underdog once more.

why couches are burned

back in 2002, a sort-of humor columnist wrote this in the charleston daily mail to ensure the history of couch burning in morgantown was set straight:

Couch burning isn't new

As a responsible furniture owner, let me just say I was shocked by the reports of rampant couch burning by West Virginia University students after last week's upset of Virginia Tech.

What's the matter with these kids? Don't they know how much a good sectional couch costs?

Besides, in my day, burning things meant something. Sure, we wanted to burn sections of something - sections of town.

Those were the days when the legal drinking age was 18, our nearest rival, the University of Pittsburgh, was only a few years removed from their last national championship and cocky, future Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino stood behind center. We wanted to knock off someone big - anyone big.

By the time I got to school, our record against powerhouses such as Pitt and Penn State was dismal enough that I was told should we ever beat one of them, we would burn down Morgantown's legendary bar district, Sunnyside.

It was almost like a high-stakes bet, as if a big-time victory were so dear, we would sacrifice the thing nearest and dearest to an undergraduate's heart to achieve it. In this case, it was a row of wonderfully low establishments serving up our favorite frothy beverages.

That first year, down fell Oklahoma. Then, later, Pitt. And eventually, even Penn State.

Each time, as if from a congress of pigskin shamans, the incantation arose: "Sunnyside burns! Sunnyside burns!" But it never did.

Impromptu bonfires were lit, put out and re-started. And, yes, upholstery somehow got involved then, too.

Still, my friends and I knew that the handful of truly determined firebugs weren't in their right minds, just addled, excitable and in need of attention. We stood back and tried not to get in their way.

Once in a while, one of us would hoot. Mostly, we just raised our plastic cups, basked in the glow of a satisfying victory and worked up the nerve to talk to coeds. We were nerds.

Now, with zoning having mostly washed away the neighborhood's sudsy reputation, Sunnyside is but a sad shadow of its former glory, its value as the payoff to a big bet diminished. There's no sacrifice in what's essentially a stretch of sidewalk leading to off-campus housing.

Legends die hard. I can only guess that's the motivation behind this generation's celebratory pyromaniacs.

It makes for good copy. A blurb and a roll of the eyes on SportsCenter.

But in the presence of people who didn't attend my school, I feel like someone sitting with the in-laws' family at a wedding reception and watching a drunken, distant relative make a fool of himself. There's great love - and great embarrassment - at what should be a very happy occasion.

Nobody likes being in the hot seat.

Copyright 2002 Charleston Daily Mail

sucker punch

i was a little embarrassed after west virginia u held on to beat maryland saturday and kris wondered why i had a look of concern on my face.

i told her i was thinking about housework when i was really worried about news that the university of pittsburgh and syracuse university were headed for the atlantic coast conference and abandoning the one they helped establish, the big east. (wvu's conference.)

i was pissed when three of the big east's original football powers (ca. 1994) -- miami, virginia tech and boston college -- were poached back in 2004 by the acc. it seemed like a stab in the back, especially by tech, given that wvu helped champion its bid to get into the big east in the first place.

so while it was nice to see its strategy pretty much imploded -- only tech has been of any help to its football image -- and its latest move seems a puzzling lateral, it's a shame to see a once-proud conference get knee-capped, especially by one its founding members.

still, that leaves the mountaineers with none of the marquee names the football side made its bones with. all we're left with are cast-offs from conference usa.

i'm sure after all the shouting is over, things will shake out over the next few days and there's a good chance we'll find a nice home, but for now, it feels like wvu has been left holding the bag.

boy oh boy

you'd think after a nice, 12-hour night's sleep, you'd be in a good mood.

after waking, he was quite pleasant and chipper. but i think all that restfulness makes him not want to take naps. then, he just gets pissed.

made for an amazingly unproductive afternoon.

speaking of pissed, also today -- boy barges into bathroom as i've commenced to empty my bladder.

turns out trying to keep the lad from the commode now requires two hands. hilarity ensues.

yep. definitely not one of our better days.

coal bowl

so here it is, two weeks late, mind you, but here, my first beer served at mountaineer field at good ol' west virginia u.

(ideally, would've been a miller lite, but the crowd made it tough to go searching for a vendor who sold it or anything else.)

my first season opener in i don't know how long. and my first wvu-marshall football game ever.

i work very hard to not get sucked into the back-and-forth that surrounds the game basically because i can dish it out, but can't take it.

it keeps me composed.

anyway -- the crowds were mostly polite to each other, aside from the sophomoric shouting from the undergrads in the parking lot at the school's guests.

the game had its usual shock -- this time, a punt return for a touchdown. but the team got untangled by the second half and seemed to be on its way to a comfortable lead when the big storm hit.

yeah, more weirdness. spectators were ordered from the bleachers because of lighting strikes.

kris' dad and i hit the road at this point because the idea of a delay, then another waiting for game traffic to dissipate did not portend a speedy trip back to parkersburg.

back in the day, i would have hung around and commiserated with other damp fans until the game re-started.

turned out we made the right decision. after two re-starts, the game never was completed and was called at 10:24 that night.

we listened on the radio to the what turned out to be the last touchdown while getting gas in clarksburg.

final: wvu 34, marshall 13.