Texts from Marshall Game Day
September 11, 2010 by Mike CasazzaA few emails found their way to my inbox last week that conveyed a little confusion about Texts from Game Day. Understood, I suppose, since there are bound to be new eyes on the blog.
One gentleman wondered how I could watch the game closely and objectively while sending out all these texts — no, seriously — and two others, while admitting they thought it was perhaps funny, wondered about the purpose.
Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like a newspaper and the airwaves are the proper places to use the traditional means to review and rehash a game … and I have no problem with that, since, you know, I work for one of those newspapers. I also recognize that sort of information is out there, some of it crafted by me, and one might not necessarily come here to get that, but to get something different. I kind of like that responsibility.
Think there’s an immeasurable value to in-the-moment reactions and observations. Collect those, organize them and present the package and you’ve got a pretty thorough and telling way to review a game. Add the, uh, colorful commentary games like Friday’s can produce and you can see why Texts from Game Day works.
Never before has the stream of incoming texts been more reflective of the collective thoughts and emotions, fears and hopes, observations and evaluations, praise and criticism been as clearly and convinvingly conveyed as it was Friday night. And this wasn’t as much about one game as it was about 28. Two-plus seasons seemed very much on the line.
Maybe it’s been a long time since a WVU win produced as empty a feeling. Maybe this, weeks from now, is something the team has learned from. Maybe this is something, again, weeks from now, that is looked back at as when things started to go wrong. For now, it is what it was: an overtime victory on the road where nothing went right until the very end as a quarterback grabbed his team by the right arm and dragged it down the field. Twice.
Time will be spent asking serious questions and examining issues both good and bad. For now, behold the joy — and the purpose — of texts.
(7:09 PM): Players harder to replace than Sands: Noel, Neild, Tavon, Geno (maybe)
(7:09 PM): Has John Holliday killed Colin Dunlap yet?
Continue reading…