The Sock 'Em, Bust 'Em Board Because that's our custom

The one where you make a prediction

June 12, 2008 by Mike Casazza

There seems to be an annual debate about the appropriate time to start talking about college football. June? Summer? Fourth of July? Summer practice?

Is it ever too soon?

I’m frankly more fascinated about that conversation than the actual ones about football.

My parameters, you ask? Any time on or after June 21 — start of summer — unless in the case of a significant injury — ie, Patrick White gets hurt striking a Heisman pose at a Memorial Day BBQ. Brief exceptions will be allowed when a grill, a picnic, a pinata, a beach or a game of Wiffle Ball is involved.

I will not argue this.

Well, that was before I received an e-mail last week from the Big East’s Director of Communications, Chuck Sullivan:

The process is very simple and shouldn’t take more than a few minutes of your time. If you could just project the order of finish of the eight BIG EAST schools (Cincinnati, Connecticut, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, USF, Syracuse, West Virginia) and send it to me in an e-mail, I would appreciate it.

The results of the poll will be distributed at our annual media day event in Newport, R.I., July 29. If you need more information on that event, please feel free to let me know.

Oh, I don’t need any more information about that media day. It’s basically the biggest elbow-rubbing shindig on the Big East’s social calendar. There are two elements to it. There’s the news you get with the preseason poll and the player awards, both of which will likely be dominated by WVU this season. Then there’s the other stuff for which there is no value. If you can’t track down a Matt Grothe in the regular season, that’s your shot to corner him for a few minutes of conversation. If you want to pick Tom Jurich’s brain, you may do so at a clam bake. If you need to snicker at Bill Stewart’s golf game, there’s an outing for that.

Basically, it’s an opportunity to see and to be seen — and believe it or not, people are watching.

Anyhow, since the Big East office is soliciting preseason predictions, I guess it’s meaningless to say it’s too early to talk football. I did a little research before submitting my poll and it seems to me that Nos. 1 and 8 are fairly obvious, but that Nos. 2-7 are really debatable. You could arrange and rearrange those six teams a number of different ways and it wouldn’t look bad. Not for you or for the conference.

So have at it. Let’s see your predicted order of finish and add a few comments where you see fit. Send it to your friends and co-workers. Let’s get a bunch of voters and make this our poll.

Your guess is as good as mine

June 11, 2008 by Mike Casazza

WVU Board of Governors members Parry Petroplus and Stephen Farmer were deposed in Morgantown yesterday as part of the WVU v. Rich Rodriguez lawsuit. Deputy Director of Athletics Mike Parsons and Chief of Staff Craig Walker were deposed today.

No doubt the highlight comes tomorrow when outgoing President Mike Garrison sits in the crosshairs … at a top secret location!

Black bars obscure the location in a deposition notice at Monongalia Circuit Court, but nothing can hide the potential for conflict as the questioning unfolds.

Rodriguez has asked Garrison to bring every document relating to his coaching contract, and the university has branded many requests as irrelevant or repetitive.

On a sore spot, Rodriguez wants to see every communication Garrison received from the West Virginia University Foundation or its Mountaineer Club since Dec. 15, 2006.

Remembering the request for a secret location was made well before Garrison announced his plans for resignation last week, you can understand the confidentiality. Then again, what could a couple dozen protesters do if they knew where the deposition was? How could they affect the proceedings?

“Um, yes, Gumby’s? Yeah, this is Mike Garrison. I’d like 15 large pepperoni pizzas delivered to the Hotel Morgan. What’s that you say? The usual? I don’t get it…”

Regardless, one wonders where it’ll be conducted. My bet is Dr. John’s, where pitchers of Red Death could be consumed during breaks. Your thoughts? 

Update(s)

by Mike Casazza

From the writer’s perspective, you don’t mind the idea of Augustus Gilchrist transferring to WVU. Gifted player, to be sure, and he’s probably going to take you deep into March and one of those faraway cities that serve as sites for Sweet 16s and Final Fours. You’re also going to get some good stories because Gilchrist, who was just granted a release from his letter-of-intent at Maryland, has quite a tale.

The story at UM goes that Gilchrist would have been eligible to play this season, but that NCAA transfer rules would have been prohibited him from playing until the second semester. As it is, it certainly looks like he’s going to have to wait a little while to play because he is once again transferring. Take a guess who is among his finalists.

Also, have to clarify something from yesterday. The Fulmer Cup standings were updated following the post here and, well, Missouri better get busy.

Move along, nothing to see here

June 10, 2008 by Mike Casazza

It occurs to me that a lot of the NBA mock drafts I’ve seen have WVU’s Joe Alexander going in that 12-15 range and that most believe the Portland Trail Blazers will nab Alexander with the No. 13 pick. Makes sense — among the many workouts Alexander says he has scheduled is one with the Blazers.

He has to decide whether he’ll stay in the draft or stay in school by June 16, which is interesting because he has plans for the following day. 

Quote Brocato: Nevermore

by Mike Casazza

The TiVo did not do its job last night in that it failed to record Joe Brocato’s fantasy camp experience. Fortunately, we have the Internet and footage of what the modest anchor called “my public humiliation in a game that requires much more skill than I possess.”

He’s a touch too hard on himself — you should have seen some of the other campers — but it does give a great glimpse of the concept that will surely expand in years to come.

Their cup runneth over

by Mike Casazza

Hey, WVU is No. 2 … and not at all in a good way.

And to think, this doesn’t appear to take into account the arrests of Charles Pugh and Evan Rodriguez. That would be worth a whopping seven points — yes, there’s a points system! — and push the Mountaineers into the top spot.

Marshall, by the way, won it all in 2006. ‘Twas a slow year in criminalism.

Broadway Joe?

June 9, 2008 by Mike Casazza

Everyone — and I mean everyone — may have their opinions, but the fact of the matter is Joe Alexander hasn’t made up his mind about his future. He has one week to do so as the stay-or-go deadline comes June 16. At his fantasy camp this past weekend, WVU Coach Bob Huggins said Alexander told him earlier in the week he was torn and very attached to his teammates, coaches and experiences at WVU.

As it is, though, he remains busy with NBA tryouts. At an audition with the New York Knicks lat week, he at least shed a little light on those plans for what seems like a busy week.

Not surprisingly, Alexander said D’Antoni had the prospects do a lot of shooting during the workout. “Coach also wanted to see us run up and down the floor, so we did a lot of running.”

Alexander, who said he has tryouts scheduled with the Suns, Milwaukee Bucks, Golden State Warriors, Sacramento Kings and Portland Trail Blazers, said his main goal is “to show the scouts that I have guard skills. . . . That’s something people didn’t get to see during the season. I can handle the ball. I can shoot the NBA 3, and I can take people off the dribble.”

Tune into WDTV

by Mike Casazza

If you live in the region and can catch the WDTV evening news, you’d be advised to tune in tonight. Sports anchor Joe Brocato participated in the Bob Huggins Fantasy Camp over the weekend and had a camera crew along to document his experience. He’ll share it with the world, er, area tonight. If you don’t live in the area, it should be up on the Web site sometime soon.

I found him Saturday afternoon alone in a hallway on the ground level of the Coliseum during the lunch break. He was catching his breath and absorbing the air conditioning and offered only this as an explanation: “Don’t ask.”

So I didn’t. Pictures are worth a thousand words. These should be worth a million.

Talking points

by Mike Casazza

…from the weekend that was. For your use in elevator rides, trips to the water cooler and other awkward moments on a Monday.

> Hey, did anyone do something to get arrested in Morgantown this weekend?  

> If this football thing doesn’t work out, Patrick White is going to play baseball.

> Excue me, Joe Alexander? Tyler Kuhn would like to speak with you.

> Despite the news on Friday, the work is really just beginning at WVU.

> Do not, by the way, underestimate the way Garrison’s resignation affects athletics. Remember, the school’s top two coaches were huge supporters and Director of Athletics Ed Pastilong is probably still planning to retire. I’m also fairly certain this was noted at the University of Michigan.

Friday Feedback

June 6, 2008 by Mike Casazza

We interrupt the sound of corks popping in Ann Arbor, Mich., for the Friday Feedback. (By the way, let’s keep an eye on Hoppy Kercheval. He and his show have been so good, a true point of reference and a base for judgment throughout the episode, but I worry he’ll miss it so much that he’ll end up spending his idle hours rocking in a chair, going on and on about Garrison and bringing up points he never got to make in print or over the air.)

Before we begin, let’s go over something we failed to recognize. Viola Pugh, mother of dismissed football player Charles Pugh, is not happy.

“I’m not saying my son is an angel or totally innocent, but he’s not the only culprit in this situation,” she said.

She said an unidentified woman mentioned in the criminal complaint against her son is a “very good friend” of his and that she used the cards to make several purchases, including women’s clothing and perfume.

“Everyone’s making it seem like he did all this, but from what I understand the name on the card is a woman’s name. How in the heck is Charles going to make all these purchases with a card with a girl’s name?” Viola said.

Responses came quickly and a lot of people didn’t particularly care for the defense of her son. One such reaction came right here from foul shot, who said:

It is best that Stewart cuts off this dead wood as it identifies itself.
The article regarding the mother and her making comments regarding “the good friend” is just sad. It would be a guess that her passing the blame and not taking responsibility is much the way her son was raised.
This may be why he is in this predicament now.  

I mean no offense to foul shot here. In fact, I can understand the reasoning for such a reaction. However, I can’t say how Pugh was raised and how his upbringing contributed to all of this. Furthermore, I’m not sure it’s really relevant to the story because that’s not where she was going.

Viola Pugh, who was so bothered by the developments that she called early Wednesday morning, is a mother defending her son and acknowledging his error. I think a lot of people would act similarly. She knows her son is not without guilt and would like others to realize he isn’t the only guilty one. She is, perhaps understandably, upset that her son is the only known participant right now while an ongoing investigation incorporates two other people of interest.

She told me the name of the unidentified white woman and her relationship to Charles. I told her I knew that already. She told me one rather alarming reason the unidentified white woman’s name was being withheld. I told her I’d heard that, too. We then discussed how the unidentified white woman’s name couldn’t be published because it wasn’t mentioned in any available documentation related to the case and how it was a different set of circumstances for her son because he is a public figure. Viola Pugh knew and understood all of this and whatever information she shared was certainly the result of informed conversations with credible people involved in the process. She wasn’t crazed or irrational. She was upset and emotional. The point she makes about the alleged purchase of women’s goods is, at the very least, provocative.

(EDIT: Uh-oh. It would appear that Viola Pugh has taken her message to the message board. Obviously, I could have done without that. It alters the intent of the following sentence.)

You may now for your opinions.

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, sometimes you have to swallow hard when you make a mistake.

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