Picture Nos. 2, 3 and 4 are problematic.

I mentioned this Friday night and then again for Tuesday’s paper. A number of people have asked me “Why did you leave the Truck handshake out?”

Fair question. Easy answer. I didn’t leave it out. I didn’t see it. I can’t report what I did not see. In honesty, I didn’t think it happened.

From where I was sitting, all I saw was Truck run over and Truck get pulled away by assistant coach Larry Harrison and presumably before anything happened. I was in a section above where Adreian Payne sat and couldn’t possibly see the handshake. The people I was with — the same people who openly wondered if the signs and T-shirts were legal; I couldn’t ease their worries — all thought we’d seen the same thing. I even used the blog title “A night when WVU tried to avoid NCAA violations” for that very reason. 

Not convinced, I asked around after the event and then again Monday and was told nothing bad happened and all that did happen was just as I said I saw.

Whoops.

It’s not a death penalty infraction, to be sure, but it is technically against the rules. It is a secondary violation.

Be very careful what you read about this ordeal. I’ve been directed to multiple blogs and message boards and have seen some patently absurd things to paint WVU as screwed. I’ve seen some completely bogus things to indicate WVU is innocent. Remember only this: Level of the school’s involvement.