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

More hat news from Mr. DiCaprio

July 5, 2010 by Mike Casazza

That’s from the World Cup Saturday. The funny thing, to me at least, is initially they showed Leo and he was looking off to the side and you could tell he was wearing a hat, but you weren’t sure which school he was endorsing.

“Wait, it’s blue,” I thought. “Maybe it’s the … oh, yep. It is.”

I then called my wife to the television and we just kind of laughed. This is becoming one of my favorite sports sub-plots. Why, I even got two emails this morning from Hollywood-based radio/blog people wanting to know if I knew something they did not. 

Again, I contend it’s just a guy wearing hats, but at some point he’s packing for South Africa and he makes the decision to pack the WVU hat. And as best as we can tell, there’s no correlation other than he rather likes the hat/logo. That’s pretty neat on some level.

Just don’t tell Dale Wolford. Things got oddly heated on the Daily Mail’s Facebook post.

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Robert Sands is not impressed by Robert Sands

by Mike Casazza

Robert Sands is spending his summer in the film room. He’s already acquired and digested the LSU and Pitt spring games as he gets a head start on the opponents he’ll see a few months from now. He’s also tackling another subject with which he’d like to be more familiar.

Himself.

Sands, however, spends far more time studying himself. While fans watch to see the big plays and thunderous hits, Sands is far more interested in correcting his own mistakes.

“I may see a bad habit, like stepping the bucket, which is like a false step. That makes it take longer to break to the ball. I try to figure out why am I doing that. Are my hips too high? Am I too high coming out of the break,” he explained.

It’s a never-ending process, really, for there is no perfect player.

Yes, he has a lot of great plays to admire but that doesn’t dominate the film sessions.

“It’s more ‘Dang, if I didn’t do this I could have made that play.’ It’s isn’t ‘Boy that’s a good play.’ I’ll see a good play, but that’s expected. I’m looking for an area to improve on.”

Friday Feedback

July 2, 2010 by Mike Casazza

Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which has good news for basketball fans. Just chatted with and observed Truck Bryant at Kroger. No boot. No crutches. Just white socks, blue Crocs and a six-pack of Snapple.

Ever the point guard, I believe he was ready for an assist. He stutter stepped toward my parking spot as I loaded soda, dog food and groceries in the back of my Equinox. I waved him off like I was Da’Sean Butler in the final 30 seconds regulation.

And for the record, I also saw the Director of Basketball Operations, Jerrod Calhoun, though I’m certain this was just a coincidence.

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, work with what you’ve got. (Is that called imPalin? … I’m sorry.)

ccteam said:

Not meaning this in a disrespectful way at all, but a head injury would explain in inexplicable outbursts in Morgantown and Cincinnati.

Nothing disrespectful about that. The nature of the BIRI’s interest in Chris Henry was, in fact, his “behavioral history.” That said, no one would say he acted the way he did because of CTE. No one’s sure when he “had” it, just that he did.

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So Mike Garrison and I had a conversation …

by Mike Casazza

You and I have sat here before and realized people who were once thought to be one thing were, perhaps, not that one thing a while later. The Product would be a pretty good example. Ditto for the conference clairvoyant Bill Stewart. We even thought Marv Robon was a lawyer, Mike Brown an agent, Ken Kendrick a good leader, Tevita Finau a living, breathing person, so on and so forth. We could do that all day, I trust.

I’m not saying Mike Garrison falls in that category … but I have to think about it. Maybe, as far as athletics is concerned, he got some things right.

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EA teases you into buying new college football game

by Mike Casazza

My wife actually bought me a PS3 for my birthday, which is ridiculous when I really think about it, but it’s also going to be beneficial. Once we finish the office in our basement and set up a second television and don’t go through custody battles for the flat-screen, this conversation will never happen again.

Her: I’d like to watch “Glee.”
Me: I’d like to kill myself.

No, now I can retreat into the office and we can both have glee, so to speak. I mention this because the 2011 version of the EA Sports epic spouse-angering college football franchise will be released July 11. To be honest, I haven’t been into the college football stuff for a few years — I’m far too busy to spend a morning recruiting a cyber safety … and I’m far too unstable to deal with the rejection — but the EA folks campaigned me into thinking otherwise. At the very least, I’ve sat here wondering what school I’d begin with or if I might open a school in Cleveland and turn it into a powerhouse. And if you’re a WVU fan, you’ll see this and probably want to begin with WVU.

 Here’s more of a WVU-themed sneak preview, as provided by EA.

Programming note

July 1, 2010 by Mike Casazza

Time-consuming week with a few stories that occupied my time more than expected … and you’ll understand a little better tomorrow. Was thinking of bagging Friday Feedback, but I can’t. I can’t. It’ll be third on the agenda tomorrow with an afternoon release.

I’m absolutely watching Brazil v. Germany Holland tomorrow morning. I’ll have something to occupy your time in the morning and then late morning and/or early afternoon … that is, if you’re going to work tomorrow.

Is anyone?

The story behind the story about building the practice facility

by Mike Casazza

Back in February, former WVU Interim President C. Peter Magrath authored an article for “The Chronicle of Higher Education” in which he explained the challenges of functioning as the interim following a scandal. For perspective, he included a dandy of an example:

“Indeed, at some point all university presidents, and most assuredly those in that position for the first time, will face “the test.” That is a push from a powerful force or person urging the president to take an action that is not only controversial — presidents face that regularly — but something that is unethical or, more bluntly, evil.

My “test” came soon in my brief tenure, not surprisingly in the often treacherous area of intercollegiate athletics. Thanks to my previous experiences as a president and my strong posiiton as an interim, the university weathered the challenge. I had been pushed to allow a major athletics facility to move forward before all the financial support was in place and to agree that its use would not be fully under university control. I refused.”

Unethical? Evil! You can only imagine the reaction when it first met these eyes. And you can only imagine the frustration involved with unwrapping that riddle.

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How Deniz Kilicli spent his summer

June 30, 2010 by Mike Casazza

Someone had a birthday yesterday and there was a soiree at Mario’s Fishbowl, where it was discovered the affable Turk washed down the Final Four experience with an enormous meatball sub.

The Colossal Challenge is just that. Begin with a five-pound meatball sub named the Meatball Deluxe … and the five pounds refers only to the four softball-sized meatballs. Add ciabatta bread, sauce and cheese and figure it’s about seven pounds. If you get it down in 30 minutes or less, you get it for free and your name goes down in history.

Kid’s leaving his mark on campus, yes?

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WVU does best against big spenders

by Mike Casazza

The summer is fun for reasons like this: The college games are in their offseasons and reporters are freed from the routines of their beats. The time can be — and actually sometimes is — devoted to enterprise stories.

And for that reason, we now know 31 of the 66 BCS football programs spend more money on football than does WVU. The Mountaineers devote $15.9 million annually to football, which ranks third in the Big East. With low expenses and healthy income ($28.95 million, No. 26 in the nation, No. 1 in the Big East), WVU is No. 28 nationally and No. 1 in the conference with $13.05 million in net revenue (revenue less expenses).

So the Mountaineers are pretty good with their bottom line. They don’t have the best budget, of course, but they’ve been the best against teams with larger budgets.

Meanwhile, West Virginia has been the nation’s most successful school when playing against teams with bigger budgets. The Mountaineers’ success rate against schools with a greater financial commitment is unprecedented.

In the past five seasons, the Mountaineers played 17 games against schools that they were outspent by and West Virginia was an impressive 14-3 in those contests.

In fact, West Virginia actually fared better in games against schools that spent more than money (.823 percent) than against schools that spent less money (33-10, .767) than the Mountaineers.

Noreen signs

June 29, 2010 by Mike Casazza

(Update: Bob Huggins confirms, says it happened last night.)

Kevin Noreen’s high school coach, John Sherman, tells the Daily Mail his star player has indeed signed with WVU.

“When he visited and saw the  relationship between Bob Huggins and his players, that was the  deciding factor. West Virginia felt like home to him. Kevin feels  good about the Mountaineers’ system and his potential to have a key role in the quest for the national championship.”

And that puts a bow on the 2010 recruiting class.