Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which feels like it’s been here before. Here we are, in the middle of the summer and in the throes of desperation waiting for LeBron James to simply talk. And I use “we” liberally because so few of you and us actually care. But it’s clogging up our timelines and news feeds and cable programming.

(Aside: It’s remarkable what ESPN and its considerable cast sprinkled around the globe have done in filling a week with absolutely no news. None. It’s been mostly hollow, almost entirely inconsequential and very much the sort of things you and I could conjure up, up to and including today’s headline: Dan Gilbert’s Comic Sans letter is an issue! I love the live shots of a boring city or marina scene beneath words describing an anxious city on the brink. But damn if it hasn’t been thorough, even if it was a lot of putting something where there’s nothing and basically redefining the definition and use of “source.”)

Anyhow, across the board, from the sport to the spectacle, from the actors to the reporting, this isn’t my cup of tea. I have a distaste for a lot of it, but that whole Cleveland thing always gets me. So I side-eye it, watching it unfold, cynical as I may be. I even thought it was done yesterday, based on what I’d watched and what I’d learned from people who are around the story’s periphery. It was going to be Cleveland (he wouldn’t consider the Cavaliers unless he’d granted the fans and the owner forgiveness and embraced a willingness to go back), and that’s a pretty cool arc. A lot was going on unseen and behind the scenes and it would all come to the surface when he made the call.

Except it wasn’t happening. And it’s not. For now.  So about 20 chanting fans are camped outside LeBron’s Akron house, never mind he’s in Miami on the way to Brazil. And there are four Rubber City cops there to keep things under wraps. Four! For 20! They’ll need armies from seven nations to control the riot when he picks the Heat. Again.

(No, seriously, he’s going back to Cleveland. I think. And then Mike Gansey will have revenge on Miami for the way that franchise derailed his playing career.)

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, know your audience.

netbros said:

“Our guys don’t have cars. Only a few.”

Unlike those dudes at Kentucky.

It’s good to be back.

Ron – From Morgantown said:

This is why I pushed for games to be played in Morgantown . Why do we have to do all the travel ? I realize most of the teams are in PITTSburgh but that doesn’t mean they can’t come here a couple times a Summer . Anyway I’m glad we cancelled , the less WVU does in the Pitts the better . Travel wise we are 70 miles away but culturally its closer to 700 miles .

There are a bunch of rules, but the league has to have one location. There can’t be home courts or alternating venues. Could they have a league in Morgantown? I don’t see why not, and there are plenty of colleges within the legislated 100-mile radius that could participate, including some in-state Division II schools.

avb31 said:

Making that defense look good just speaks to the talents of Mr. Dougity Dog.

He’s the best. Sneaky strong asset for WVU.

SheikYbuti said:

On the bright side, the editing didn’t need to be quite as clever on behalf of the defense this year as it did last year. Our ultimate goal is no editing at all, and only minimal CGI.

And in 2015, just a little air brushing here and there.

Dann White said:

All true gentlemen.
Karl Joseph has been a bright spot since he arrived on the scene. As a true freshman he played like a 3rd or 4th year man and he is deserving of this award if he continues to perform at that level. Good job Karl!
Now let’s hope a few good men on this years squad can rise to the task before them.

I’m keeping an eye on Joseph and his new position. He’s playing Cook’s bandit spot, which isn’t a major change, I don’t think, even in a newish defense. That frees him up to be more of a ball hawk who eyes and mans the line of scrimmage. It takes him away from the free safety spot. If we’re being honest with one another here, he could struggle in deep coverage and with angles. That’s sort of removed now and his strengths are concentrated in a new spot. They really need a free safety to make this tick, though.

smeer said:

Now if Coach Bradley can just coach Brandon Golson into spending a little less time admiring his crumpled QB handiwork and a little more effort into FINDING THE BALL he so gloriously dislocated from said QB!

That’d help, but five forced fumbles is pretty strong. I thought Golson wore down a bit last season, but he played a ton when he didn’t need to play a ton. Depth at linebacker this season should help that a bunch.

JP said:

I’ll get over the loss of Mr. T if they play Yakety Sax after opposing team turnovers or penalties.

No. Exclusive intellectual property of this blog. By the way, that’s not too popular outside these confines. Who knew?

I love you, Doug! said:

And please ditch LOUD NOISES.

It’s been called to the gallows. Not sure of its fate, though. I could do without a lot of that stuff. To me, it seems like people have to stop what they’re doing, which means stop screaming, to watch the clip and then they have to react to the clip. Then it’s back to cheering. 

overtheSEC said:

FTFY

“The committee pointed out Tennessee plays “Rocky Top” after touchdowns, first downs, turnovers, between every quarter, during every timeout, and if a player makes it through a whole game without being arrested”

Yeah, my bad. Had to work with an inch count. Thanks for the fix.

I love you, Doug! said:

Back when I was a kid watching Charlies games at Watt Powell Park in Charleston, they’d often have a greased pig content. One time, a particularly quick and greasy pig was eluding every participating fan’s grasp, turning them in comical circles in deep center field. The Charlies’ swift and rangy outfielder, a switch-hitting Dominican named Miguel Dilone, assessed the situation from the dugout, turned his cap around backward and took off from the infield with long, light strides, tracking the crafty pig to the warning track. One or two quick cuts later, Dilone had the pig in his arms and was trotting back to home, as the crowd went wild.

WVU could do something similar at football games.

Oh, wow. So much to process there. I like it. There’s perhaps more precedent than this, though. This was years ago, and it was hilarious and surprisingly controversial, but an emu was running around campus and, for real, terrorizing people. I mean, chasing and assaulting people. This was a thing. WVU didn’t know what to do, but it had a giant and aggressive bird raising hell. I wrote in a column that football players should be commissioned to catch the thing because it’d be excellent preparation for Marcus Vick. Much to my surprise, that actually gained some traction. Eventually, a facilities employee ended up corralling the thing and breaking its damn neck. And then Vick, a Hokie, which is a bird, threw a bow at Gibby. Karma?

smeer said:

one piece could change the entire landscape for men’s soccer and other men’s college sports – remove football from the numbers for title IX. There is hardly an equivalent for women and football. take it out and then mandate schools keep all other sports equal. With the High Five, will schools be more willing to add sports or will they just more into the money makers?

Not the first I’ve hard that this summer, but it’s perceived to be a split atom — hard to do and pretty destructive. I suppose if this autonomy thing grows and grows, and we have every reason to expect it will, the football schools will be just about entirely on their own … but still part of Division I. I can’t see that happening, but, yeah, that’d have the described effect. 

Mack said:

Soccer is doing it the right way, which means the american media is going to hammer it for years. It is virtually impossible to build a sport from nothing, but soccer in America has done just that in the last 20 years. There is no question that MLS is light years ahead of where it was when it began in the 90′s. It still has a long way to go but you build interest and little by little you have more money and little by little you have better players, etc.

Watching MLS now is about like watching minor league baseball. The play is generally inferior but you watch for the instance to see a Jozy Altidore before he becomes a big deal and goes to Europe.

Agreed, and there are a few parallels with baseball. But detractors think this has to happen overnight, or that it should have happened last night, to be considered a major sport. That’s not fair. Soccer had virtually no presence in America when it got the 1994 World Cup. It’s totally, totally different now and that can’t be ignored or even diminished solely because it happened across 20 years. The items Marlon pointed out — average crowds, dedicated stadiums, big-name or big-business owners — were really strong, but the fact is the MLS needs its Bird and Magic, so to speak, to break through. That makes this post-World Cup period so important and interesting. Guys like DeAndre Yedlin, Darlington Nagbe, Will Trapp, Omar Gonzalez and others are in the MLS and can become huge stars in the league .. or they can become better players by playing overseas.

Mack said:

I think soccer is most like baseball. If you don’t know any of the players or teams and you just turn a game on, it’s going to be very difficult to follow. If you have a team and they’re playing a meaningful game, it’s great.

That’s the big parallel with baseball. It’s probably the same with any sport with a roster, but the pace of the games is what binds these two.

Simple Jack said:like

Tennis, golf, and lacrosse fans don’t constantly push for their sport to be a major sport in America. I don’t understand why soccer fans need their sport to be as popular in America as it is in the rest of the world to feel validated.

Fair, but short of Peak Tiger Woods, nothing you mentioned was as popular as the USMNT was the past six weeks. And none of those get clubbed like soccer. Is it push or is it push back? 

smeer said:

Simple – there may be some that feel that way, most just recognize that the most popular sport in the world ought to get more than a yawn from the US. the sports you name are not nearly as huge on a world scale. lacrosse – not even close.

most are not trying to feel validated – they’re simply trying to get myopic Americans to wake up to futbol like the rest of the world woke up to our basketball. It’s a beautiful game. My Ugandan son taught me that.

My issue is with the “soccer sucks” crowd. I’m not going to tell you to like it or to even watch it. It’s not for everyone. I don’t like the NBA. But I recognize the talent and the gifts on display in the NBA. Sure, Brazil 0-0 Mexico wasn’t high scoring, but there’s no way that game sucked. Still, people saw the score and pounced and had no idea what happened in the theatrical 90-plus minutes. I’d prefer those people to at least consider the possibility it was a very good match.

Simple Jack said:

Smeer, I actually kind of enjoy watching soccer, but I’m turned off by the sense of entitlement that it “ought to get more than a yawn” from American sports fans. Why? Why is it “myopic” for Americans not to like soccer? Why can’t we choose to ignore a sport? Europeans don’t get down with American football. What if soccer just doesn’t fit our culture as much as it fits the culture “in the rest of the world.” If I go to Europe and argue that they are missing out on American football because it is the “most popular sport in North America!”, do you think they are myopic for not becoming fans? Also, I’m not sure soccer is “The Sport” in the rest of the world as much as it is “The Sport” in Europe and the countries formerly colonized by Europe.

I will grant you this: Imperial Soccer Fan is the worst. Again, I’ll never force it on someone. I was like that with Brussel sprouts. Hated them, despite people insisting I eat them. Years later, I tried them on my own. Now I love them. Or, I used to before the Round of 16 game. Give me time.

Mack said:

I don’t know that many soccer fans. But the impression I get is that the discussion of soccer becoming a major sport mostly comes from non-soccer fans who attempt to minimize any progress that soccer makes.

MLS currently draws attendance numbers that are certainly large enough to consider it a “major sport” in the United States but my understanding is that the TV ratings aren’t nearly there. My guess is that soccer has the demographics that advertisers like, (predominantly younger, affluent males).

My feeling is that as long as MLS exists, it is a success. It doesn’t have to be the NFL because nothing will ever be what the NFL is. It doesn’t even have to be Major League Baseball or the NBA. But 12 years ago (during the World Cup) I predicted that soccer would surpass hockey in this country. I think that has already occurred, or is at least neck-and-neck. I think over the next 20 years, soccer will surpass the NBA.

The NBA, NHL, MLB, and NFL had the luxury of flourishing when there were very few options for one’s entertainment dollar or television time and, thus, could indoctrinate a fan base. ANYTHING trying to grow in this day and age has an insane uphill battle. As much as Americans love football, the XFL, USFL, and Arena Football League have all essentially folded in the past 30 years, which goes to show how difficult these things are.

I enjoy soccer and I even enjoy the MLS though I haven’t had the chance to watch it for a little while. I’m perfectly fine with soccer staying under the radar considering every single game is available to every American if they choose to pay for them. If the other sports were under the radar, then I wouldn’t have to listen to year-round ranting and raving about Bret Favre and Tim Tebow, “The Decision,” or a million other things that take away from the actual games that are played.

Right. Moving on…

Dann White said:

“Now, with me being solidified at one position and being at cornerback, I’d like to work to be the best cornerback I can be,” he said. “People can call it a shutdown corner. I just call it doing my job. If there’s a time out there where a receiver one game doesn’t catch a ball all game, I feel like I’ve done my job. With me doing that, I’m doing nothing but helping everyone else around me, from the safeties to the corner on the other side of the field.”
Amazing! This is a quote from a university student. The only thing more remarkable than that is; “so high is his potential for his second season that he, too, was invited by WVU coach Dana Holgorsen to the conference media days”.

I’d never heard the kid talk. I was pretty impressed. Booming voice, too.

JP said:

“Season tickets through WVU are $1,100 in Touchdown Terrace and $365 in six seating zones around the stadium. Four of those zones require donations of $125, $250, $425 or $500 to the Mountaineer Athletic Club.”

^^ This is the problem, at least for people like me. Unless you have vast amounts of liquid assets, buying season tickets for a family of four is at least as expensive as taking your family to Disneyworld for a week. I think the required MAC donation in addition to the actual ticket price is bunk. WVU should use that Big XII tv money to make the tickets less expensive if it wants to boost season ticket sales.

Great idea, but it’ll never happen. That said, WVU hasn’t raised its prices in three years.

Joe Dryler said:

The elephant in the room is 6-14: that is our record since 10/13/12. And there is very little national buzz about WVU this season and lot of low expectations locally. Additionally, there is not one guy who makes you want to go see WVU win or lose. So, all this translates into less season ticket sales, right? There is a reason 2012 was so high, just about every one of these metrics was reversed.

Now I tend to think WVU is back on the way up for all the reasons discussed around here and I am excited to see this team claw back into the Top 20, or at least set the stage to do it in 2015. But, sizzle and the excitement of winning big games (or being left out of getting tickets in the Fall) gets people to shell out big bucks for season tickets in July, and there is just no sizzle heading into 2014.

I hope everyone understands that I recognize the BIGGEST factor in the lagging sales is the team’s record and identity.

Big Al said:

I think most would agree that the cost of season tickets + required donations is an expensive proposition, particularly if you also include the cost of a hotel room (2 night minimum), food, transportation, etc. for 7 weekends in the fall.

My perception is that many fans do a modified cost/benefit analysis, i.e., if I make the sacrifice to spend this much money on the live football experience, how many games are the Mountaineers going to win? When the Mountaineers are predicted to have a good year, season ticket sales go up, regardless of the expense. If the Mountaineers are predicted to have a down year, it is easier to just not spend the money and watch the games on TV.

Bingo. And truth be told, do you know who understands this very well? WVU. Hands are tied, in many respects, but that doesn’t mean the Mountaineers aren’t working at it.

KeatonsCorner said:

I just bought 2 season tickets for 700 bucks…………… 6 games for 350 a piece. Roughly 60 bucks a ticket per game……. no donation. I see no issue with our ticket prices at all. Our more seasoned population in WV are simply stuck on the “when I was your age” kick again, until we get a winner again……… then just like basketball in 2008-2012, ticket sales will escalate yet again.

WVU is unarguably a bandwagon fan base for the most part.

Also, other power house schools make students PURCHASE ticket packages too, which promotes them to invest into season ticket packages as well. Our pay 200 bucks or whatever it is and get free admission all year long to every sport.

Well, obviously, not everyone can swing that or can limit their purchase to just two. But more to the point, I don’t think the single-game price is bad. I would guess that many find it to be agreeable. The Mountaineers compare pretty well nationally, too. The donation levels get people, and it’s not easy to get a good seat without that donation.

Thebighelmet said:

I stated years ago when the ticket prices were starting to rise that the real Mountaineer fans were being pushed out. What we have now is a bunch of wealthy fair weather fans. They will only come to games if we are winning. I would love to come to all of the game. I simply can’t afford it anymore. I will always be a Mountaineer fan. Now I will have to do it from my home for most of the games.

Man, I got crushed for voicing the same, but it was and is accurate. And it’s not a unique thing. Similarly sized and situated places have the same issues.  

I love you, Doug! said:

Literally, “Outliers.”

The Mountaineers, on the outside while within the Big 12.

Karl said:

That’s realignment in a nutshell. The six Texas and Oklahoma schools whose alumni bases are the same geographic area do well. The geographic outliers, who have a much tougher time sending fans to games, fare poorly. I’ll bet the Kansas and Iowa schools weren’t the same drag when they were playing Nebraska and Missouri every year.

Good points. And the distance and the lack of familiarity are the main reasons the Mountaineers have such a sinking effect on road game crowds. I’d be curious to see the figures for the schools you mention, but also the schools that have changed leagues. I bet the other movers have better percentages than WVU, but mostly because no one moved quite like WVU. Let’s see what happens with Maryland and Rutgers now.

Drew said:

New from Malcolm Gladwell: The Holgorsen Effect.

Enjoy the weekend!