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

WVU aiming high

June 9, 2010 by Mike Casazza

Clara Grandt runs and Katelyn Williams jumps at the NCAA’s track and field national championships today in Eugene, Ore. Williams does her thing at 7:45 p.m. ET and Grandt does the 10,00 meters at 10:15 p.m.

Karly Hamric and  Keri Bland are in a semifinal for the 1,500 meters at 7:45 p.m. Thursday with the final coming at 1:18 p.m. Saturday. Marie-Louise Asselin’s 5,000 meters race is 9:40 p.m. Friday.

Should one finish in the top eight, she’ll help WVU’s already formidable footing in the Division I program of the year standings. The Mountaineers finished No. 6 in cross country and had five top-eight finishes and a program-best No. 10 team finish in the national indoor meet. A top-eight this week earns WVU inclusion into a pretty elite group.

LeBlanc ready for some futbol

by Mike Casazza

The beautiful game takes center stage Friday and while the World Cup seems more of a global game with an impact that transcends your neighborhood, your local youth league and even your WVU, it’s truly a time when it might affect all three.

So says, so hopes Marlon LeBlanc, who at 34 years of age would like to be coaching quite a bit longer and ride the wave and reap the benefits of soccer’s growing popularity in the U.S.

“Plenty of professional players play college soccer now, albeit not all of them for four years because some decide to play soccer in the professional leagues, but college does help bridge the gap now,” LeBlanc said. “Most of the kids who get here now have aspirations of being pros when in the past it was not as clear-cut.

“Now there’s a legitimate league in the United States paying salaries that are still not at the level players make in Europe, but certainly at a level where they can consider going pro and making $60,000, $70,000, $75,000 a year and working their way up to those big six- or seven-figure contracts.”

San Diego … which means a WVU reunion

by Mike Casazza

As reported by you earlier, Jedd Gyorko was picked in the MLB draft Tuesday by the San Diego Padres, who have a proclivity for selecting Mountaineers.

Gyorko said that the possibility of playing with former WVU teammates Vince Belnome and Joe Agreste in the Padres’ organization makes him eager to get started.

Belnome was selected in the 28th round by San Diego in 2009, and Agreste was signed as a free agent.

“That is one of the first things I thought of when I got drafted by the Padres,” Gyorko said. “It seems like the Padres and Mountaineers are well connected, and I’m excited to see those guys and have a chance to be teammates again.”

Worldwide Leader asks the question

June 8, 2010 by Mike Casazza

A small range of responses to the Daily Mail’s suggestion last week Bob Huggins might be/have been a candidate, if only in name, for WVU’s AD position:

– “You’re crazy!”
– “Where’d you get that?”
– “You need to tell me where you got that.”

I’m not sure how to reply to any of those, but enough people have spoken it and heard about it that it’s at least worthy of discussion and deliberation. ESPN relents to Jack Bogaczyk’s point it might not be the right timing and/or fit for WVU and Huggins, but feels free to wonder “Is Bob Huggins athletic director material?“

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Jedd Gyorko tries again

by Mike Casazza

Surprisingly available as the MBL first-year player draft enters its second day at noon, Jedd Gyorko will again wait for his phone to ring with a pro organization on the other end.

He was diplomatic yesterday in not caring who drafted him and not certain or worried when he’d go — “I’ve heard things, but you never know.” — but I got the sense he figured to be gone by now. And so did everyone around  him.

I see no way he doesn’t go today — though it was pointed out to me by a “friend” today that my hunches are sometimes off: “Alex Chan, Kevin Pittsnogle, Mike Gansey and Jarrett Brown are not surprised.”

Remembering Mike Cherry

by Mike Casazza

Acting the title is easy — I do it all the time and, as I sit here this morning, I realize not nearly enough. And for that reason, typing the title was not easy. We lost Mike Cherry, a fantastic sportswriter and a better person, early Monday after a brave two-year battle against cancer.

If you ever knew Mike or read his stories or simply want to know why so many people were so sad yesterday, please read this. In doing so, know two things:

1) Every word is true.
2) It could have been three, four, five times longer … and there still would have been a long line of warm memories and kind words waiting to get in print.

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Insert “story ’bout a man named Jedd” line here

June 7, 2010 by Mike Casazza

I’m not going to do it. For all the time I’ve covered Jedd Gyorko in high school and then in college I’ve exercised great strength in avoiding that route. I will, however, be keeping an eye on the Major League Baseball draft tonight.

Gyorko will be drafted “unless Hell freezes over,” as one person told me, before Darrell Whitmore’s call arrived at No. 46 and in the supplemental round in 1990. That means tonight.

Fresh off workouts last week for the Red Sox and Giants, who pick Nos. 20 and 24, respectively, Gyorko met the media Monday and was remarkably, though predictably calm.

“I wouldn’t say I’m nervous,” he said. “I’m more excited to see what the future holds for me. Who knows what happens? It’s just a waiting game now.”

Marshall students show the green

by Mike Casazza

Thundering Herd co-eds pay rougly six times more for athletics than to their WVU counterparts. This despite a MU athletic budget that’s less than half of the one in Morgantown.

Looking at the money Marshall sends from its university side to its athletic department, about 19 percent of its overall tuition revenue goes to fund sports, according to the center’s data. 

In other words, if Marshall eliminated its fees for the athletic department, it could cut student tuition by nearly a fifth. But then, its athletic department would lose about half the money it uses to operate each year.

Suddenly, this Larry Scott fella holds all the cards

by Mike Casazza

That was certainly the most eventful 72 hours of the post-Big Ten + ? / pre-expansion era and Larry Scott, the first-year commissioner of the heretofore conspicuous-by-its-silence Pac 10 is now a known name.

Rather than extend a hand to introduce himself to the nation, Scott cocked his arm and seems ready — to say nothing of empowered — to throw a haymaker.

The most significant news came from the Pac-10 meetings, where presidents voted to give the first-year commissioner Larry Scott authority to move ahead with expansion. With the Pac-10 seriously considering a move to 16 teams, the conference essentially gave Scott permission to hand out invitations to potential new members without consulting its university presidents.

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Cain goes west

by Mike Casazza

Not too long after visiting WVU, Kyle Cain got an eyeful of Arizona State and all it had to offer. The 6-foot-7 forward, late of the signed NLI to Rhode Island, decided he’d be one of the Sun Devils.

“I didn’t have a favorite coming out to ASU,” Cain said. “But once I got there I liked everything about it. The campus, the facilities. Coach Sendek told me ASU wanted me and needed me, and that was big for me because I wanted to go somewhere that needed me. Once I got home and thought about it, and compared the schools, I knew I wanted to be a Sun Devil.”

It’s pretty much just what he was looking for: He’ll be part of a five-freshman, one JUCO first-year class on a team that has just one returning post presence. That is to say, he’ll have the chance to play and to be a part of a group that will presumably be together for many years.

As for WVU?

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