Welcome to the — wait for it — 200th Friday Feedback. A bicentennial! How about that? Has it really been 100 since we turned 100? And since I’ve been doing this for five years and five months, have I really skipped out on 70 or so Fridays?
No fanfare or celebration today. I’ve got a better one in mind. Allow me a brief and sincere moment of gratitude, though. Hardly much time transpires between occasions when people tell me how much they enjoy this place and how much things make them think and laugh. I know I’ve told this story before, but a frequent reply I offer is, “Yes, thanks, but I really have almost nothing to do with that.”
And then, almost without fail, the person says, “Yeah, it is great.”
Yes!
Let’s move on, onto more important matters, like agenda-driven pushing and pulling that surrounds WVU’s Tier 3.
Another media mogul, Bray Cary, is reportedly seeking a piece of that deal. Cary runs West Virginia Media, which could become an IMG subcontractor.
Payne is an investor in Cary’s West Virginia Media.
Now, Raese plans to send a letter that raises a number of concerns about the pending deal, Gwynne said.
“We are closely watching this process,” Gwynne said in a telephone interview Thursday. “Obviously over a long period of time, basically 73 years except for two seasons, we have managed those rights for the West Virginia athletic department.”
Raese’s letter is expected to go to WVU President Jim Clements, Republican Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and David Raese, who is John Raese’s brother and business partner and the publisher of the Morgantown Dominion Post.
Payne dismissed the whole thing.
“John Raese has proved his ass over the years and this is nothing new,” Payne said in a telephone interview Thursday.
Stop the fight! Throw one under Payne’s chin, as was the case Wednesday, and Payne bounces one off your dome.
I have feelings and thoughts on this — Example: Would Payne, understanding the visibility and certain scrutiny of this process, leave himself so exposed and vulnerable to objection? — but I’m not taking sides here. I’d rather just take this all in. Much as I’d like to think Payne just defused the situation, I doubt anyone will be willing to take the final, unanswered punch to the nose here.
Also, that story is easy reading and it happened on @ryrivard‘s second-to-last day with us … and they ought to let him go home early today. Significant loss for the good guys. Ry was, and presumably will be in his next stop, very connected and very dogged and he helped me out a bunch through the years without fear or hesitation. Here’s what I came to know to be true about him up here: When someone had a voice mail from Ry, people held meetings before returning the call.
Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, know your signs.
Jeff in Akron said:
Here’s the thing, “IF” Murray is the best all around player on the WVU basketball team; a team that is ranked 311 in field goal percentage, 189 in points per game, and 96 in rebounds per game. How much mileage can a player get from NBA scouts being the best player on a team with those stats?
It gives Mike’s final quote increased meaning, “I don’t want to leave like this,” he said “I’m not leaving like this.” Seems to me that’s a fairly accurate statement, on many levels.
That has to be the reality settling in, but I do wonder about the depth of Murray’s pledge. It sounds so good after a strong game and while surrounded by the crowd and it changes the talking points. Murray isn’t stupid.
Continue reading…
