(Last call on the Big East football poll. If you haven’t voted, please do. If the person you just passed in the hallway hasn’t voted, please pass it along. If that person’s neighbor hasn’t voted … well, we shold probably draw a line somewhere, yes? Anyhow, I’ll roll out the results Monday. The poll is released that afternoon at Big East Media Day, and though I won’t be there, I think it’ll be fun to see how the minds match up. And yes, there’s an odd bit of irony contained in that post, but let’s not go there.)

A quick state of the union before we delve into the feedback. To begin, thanks for the pep talk yesterday. Some of your commentary provides a pretty good transition into today’s topic:

Josh24601 said:

There’s a chasm between the WVU sports coverage provided by the athletic department and many of the state papers and the information Mountaineer fans desire and would consume like crazy if it were just provided. Into the breach ventures the enterprising Casazza!

Why MSNSportsNet doesn’t run daily–at least weekly–photo galleries of progress on these projects is beyond me. Last year, UNC resurfaced the DeanDome floor and repainted it exactly the same; the UNC official site posted an extensive start-to-finish photo gallery. WVU’s website does not have a single picture of Mountaineer Field as presently configured. Exactly what the hell does John Antonik do?

(For the record, I think Antonik has run out of places to hang the many hats he wears. He’s also on top of the scoreboard renderings today, which, to be fair, prompted a mea culpa comment from Josh. Hugs and hand-pounds, everyone.) You see, sometimes I just don’t know what people are craving. Don’t get me wrong: I understand the beat and what needs to be conveyed to best illustrate what’s happening with the teams. I do recognize there’s more our there and, admittedly, I sometimes struggle securing those ideas. I don’t lurk on the message boards and, though this might surprise you, my fan friends and I rarely discuss WVU sports.

Sometimes I need help.

Quick example: Someone asked me the other day about the pace of scoreboard construction projects. I didn’t know much and wasn’t sure I cared to enough to change that. The requests kept coming in, though, so I simply wandered over to the Coliseum and Mountaineers Field and snapped some photos.

Wouldn’t you know it, it was the most viewed and shared post of the day, week and month (that didn’t have anything to do with you-know-who). This is not to say I’m out of touch. After all, I care about pet parrots, consumption records at the Fishbowl, unlikely roomates, so on and so forth. Rather, I and we — apologies, Homer — have this great resource here and I need to take better advantage of it. This blog needs to bridge that chasm.

The blog’s been around for a while now and I’m pretty comfortable with the routine. There’s see no reason it can’t be taken to another level. The Daily Mail is discussing a pretty nice addition, in my opinion, and I hope it’s good to go soon. I hope to also incorporate more photos, videos, audio, so on and so forth, as well as those things you’re hungry for that I sometimes miss.

Feel free to fire away with suggestions. Here’s to the future.

Onto the feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, you don’t have the power to change the past that the U.S. Army apparently possesses (what an awful, awful story).

Shannon said:

Mike Casazza – Providing Coverage of WVU Athletics you just can’t find on MSNSportsNet.com.

Now that’s a motto we can all love.  

Eh, but what about this?

Kara said:

This is why God created the Internet.

I think that’d look great at the top of the page. 

Mack said:

Relph lost my respect when I blocked his shot at the rec center once and he called a foul. Of course, if I was a D-1 scholarship basketball player and got my shot blocked by . . . well, me. . . I’d probably claim a fould too.

I’d probably change sports, or at least transfer.  

Chris in DC said:

Why does the basketball team need baskets? In “Hoosiers”, the first week of practice was dedicated to dribbling, passing, and defense. Seems like that worked out pretty well! Of course, a player like Jimmy Chitwood will always make a coach look like a genius…

Indeed, and don’t forget Devin Ebanks was headed to Indiana and Kevin Jones was recruited hard by the Hoosiers. By the way, the team works out regularly out in the rec center. They have many baskets, but the old 3-point line.

p.i. reed said:

they’ll spend the first week or two on the treadmill anyway, won’t they? 

Some will spend longer.

Onto the things you’d like to see this football season…

Josh24601 said:

An explanation of the college football replay system. If “every play is reviewed,” why would any coach ever have to challenge a play? A play that close or curious should cause the booth dwellers to buzz the referee before the coach is compelled to throw his red flag.

Join the club. The whole thing makes no sense to me. I like it when a broadcast has a reporter show up in the review booth for parts of a game to give us insight and we’re left more confused and angered than before because the only thing that feature cleared up is that the people are no better at it than we are. It’s a terrible system.  

Shannon said:

I want to see a win against South Florida.
I want to see the scoreboard blow up with scoring against the Evil Empire (Pitt).
I want to see another BCS berth.
I want to see Pat White go out on top.
I want to see the Big East secure champion’s provision contract with a BCS bowl similar to the other major conferences.
I want to see Lee Corso, Mark May, and Lou Holtz muted. For good measure, add Brent Musburger to that as well.
I want to see Michigan lay a goose egg against Ohio State.
I never want to hear another whistle blown after a touchdown. Football is not hockey.
I want an AD not related to Joe Manchin either in friendship or family relationship.
I want the Mustard Uniforms burned to start the season … but do the burning in Sunnyside.

If the scoreboard does blow up, will the explosion have LED capability? A friend e-mailed me today and simply said: “Tell me you’re excited to see how they screw this up.”  I felt the need to share that.

glibglub said:

I want to see:

• Bill Stewart continue to succeed.
• An injury-free football season.
• The Mountaineers play for an entire season the way they played in the Fiesta Bowl (except for all those second-half penalties).
• WVU run up the score unmercifully on 11/28/08 (Pitt game).
• WVU beat Auburn in a closely contested, well played contest.
• A win over South Florida. Period.
• Pat White hoist the Heisman Trophy in December.
• Noel Devine pick up where he left off.
• Gold football unis and Huggins’ mustard suit consigned to the dustbin of history.
• ACC football continue to flounder.
• Mike Brown explain just what he thinks the meaning of “bombshell” is.
• Wailing and gnashing of teeth in Ann Arbor.
• Big East football officials get their act together.
• Lou Holtz retire from broadcasting.
• The Syracuse football program start to snap out of it, already.
• WVU accept another BCS bowl invitation.

Wonder if Brown’s definition is, in fact, wailing and gnashing of teeth in Ann Arbor. Oh, better yet, I remember an old WCW show when Kevin Nash asked to defend his title against Hollywood Hogan and Ric Flair, who I think was the commissioner, granted the request. The bell rang and Hogan literally laid one finger on Nash, who fell and took the three-count. I bring this up because in becoming a caricature of himself, P-Rod has almost seemed like a wrestler taking a heel turn — “West Virginia’s no special f—— place.” What if on that special Saturday in November he does a Nash and just takes 40 knees against Ohio State and gets into a heated confrontation with the A.D., Bill Martin, only for John Beilein to run out of a tunnel and crack Martin in the head with a steel chair. Beilein then high-fives Rodriguez and they simultaneously tear off their Michigan gear and reveal WVU apparel. It’s then announced P-Rod is the new A.D. and Beilein the new President. Or would you not be OK with that bombshell?

oklahoma mountaineer said:

I hope Stew has hired an agent/attorney to finish his deal….otherwise, we have a serious problem as, hopefully, his mind is on the field. Can someone PLEASE explain to me how this is so complicated — I could have written PRod’s contract, although I realize the deferred compensation part does require more that a passing understanding of the IRS.

Can we PLEASE stop having articles on a daily basis on RRod’s popularity or lack thereof in Michigan.

http://www.charlestondailymail.com/Sports/WVUSports/200807220101

Today’s Daily Mail — these articles do make us the psychotic ex-girfriend….it’s time to move on to 2008 — IRREGARDLESS if one/both made a mistake in breaking the relationship.

He’s going to be fine if he wins and continues to win. He’s a hired hand, not a native son, who has made his bed and must now lie in it…and so do we.

Big points for the sustained use of the “word” irregardless. That will always be funny to me, irregardless of who is coaching the football team. The Stewart thing is really nothing to worry about. In fact, he has no agent to taint the process. You’ll remember at his introductory press conference, he said his agent was his right hand, meaning his handshake was all he needed … though that was notoriously misreported.  

JP said:

@oklahoma mountaineer: agreed. RRod is so last fall, and I don’t give a rat’s tuckus about Michigan. Schadenfreude should be reserved for Pitt and other in-conference opponents.

The mustard jerseys ARE ugly, but they’re selling them for $75 a pop at the Book Exchange so I’m guessing they will be seen at some point this year.

After Wannstache is fired at the end of this season, Mark May is named Pitt’s new head coach so we can beat the stuffing out his his wise arse every Thanksgiving. Betcha some folks will have some batteries saved up for the first game in Morgantown.

A beatdown of every reg. season opponent and another BCS win.

Actually, didn’t Mark May say WVU fans threw frozen fruit at him when he was a player? That never made sense to me. Who freezes fruit? Why Mark May?

thacker said:

Worrying about Bill Stewart is sort of like worrying about whether or not the sun is going to collapse into itself this afternoon. Just ain’t goin’ to happen.

I want to see the university do the 48-28 in all things it does. I want that attitude to infect the entire state. I want Jerry West as AD [so what, that dream will end when every trace of my DNA has rotted]. I want those kids to learn and to have fun for all the right reasons. Yeah. This is West Virginia.

Should we just go ahead and make 48-28 a word? There’s the adjective use, but why not as a verb, too? “I just want to let you guys know, I’m going to 48-28 this fantasy football league” or “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to 48-28 this weekend. You should, too.”