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

Friday Feedback

May 22, 2009 by Mike Casazza

Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which appreciates the idea I’m seen as some sort of Mountaineers mystic.

rekterx said:

Is Mike playing the prophet by mentioning a third party? Did he think the third party was going to emerge today and make today a “big day”?

The thought plickens.

Mike, you should be a mystery writer.

Whoops. My bad. That third-party thing wasn’t the big thing I thought might be coming. And that big thing might not be big, just something we might enjoy.  That’s all. Sorry to stir up something that was, so far, nothing.

As for the third party, I know nothing, but I just think there’s a resolution out there and it might need some sort of a mediation to reach the promise land that is common ground.
After all the crap that apparently happened in the past within the athletic department, this is too big and too delicate to let history repeat itself. Do we need a mushroom cloud over the Coliseum?

Along those lines, it’s possible everything works itself before Jack Bauer is called to the scene.

Onto the (funnier than normal) Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, learn from your mistakes. Seriously.

Karl said:

Here’s my brilliant idea — rennovate Stansbury Hall and use that as the new practice facility. For those who don’t know, Stansbury was once the WVU Fieldhouse, the very home court Jerry West and Rod Hundley used to defend in the “golden age” of WVU hoops. Now, it’s a run down, underutilized building with a few classes and offices, or at least it was last time I was there. The hoops court is open to students now, and many of them have no idea who’s shared that floor over the years.

The predictable thing to do would be to raise a pile of dough and build some warehouse-looking monstrosity out in Evansdale. Any unimaginative school can do that, and most do. But what about a little adaptive re-use, a nod to the university’s rich history? For half the money they’re talking about, you could do some great aesthetic work on the outside, replace the court inside, even modernize the class/office spaces in its upstairs.

I don’t like this idea. I love it. In fact, care to elaborate, Karl?

Continue reading…

Not my fault or my doing

May 21, 2009 by Mike Casazza

WVU’s run at the Big East baseball tournament has gone exactly as one might expect. The starter preserved the bullpen and the bats came through today as the Mountaineers avoided elimination by beating Pitt. Bad.

Of course, this came after the bullpen blew it and the bats were silent Tuesday just as someone was writing how good the bats and bullpen have been and would have to be. Again, things going just as one might expect.

Moving on…

by Mike Casazza

Laptop was infiltrated by some bizarre virus I’ve finally chased away. As for this big day, that was one sidestep and something I thought might happen has not and probably won’t. Not right away, at least.

Something that did happen, though, was Huggins once again making a case for the basketball practice facility.

“If you look around, we’re about the only team that doesn’t have a practice facility,” Huggins said, pointing to the new wrestling building, the gymnastics building, the football facility, the indoor and outdoor tracks.

But $26 million?

“If you are going to do it, why not do it right the first time?” he asked.

Hmmmmm …

“Obviously, you could build it cheaper, but do that and two years from now you will be wishing you did it right,” he argued. “The Coliseum – they did that right. Buildings that were built 10 or 15 years after the Coliseum now look antiquated but it is still a good arena.”

I don’t think this is a divisive issue in the athletic department in that it will create a split, drive a wedge in the middle and slame it with a sledgehammer like what preceded the Product’s exit. I do, however, think this is a defining moment for someone over there.

Clearly, there’s a basic difference of philosophy as to when and how the already planned construction will begin. Perhaps a common ground is reached, but doesn’t it seem like there will be a winner and a loser here? Someone’s idea is going to trump someone else’s — even if a yet-to-be-identified third party enters — and that someone is going to have a lot of sway from that point forward.

The beginning of a big day

by Mike Casazza

I think so, at least. There are a few things to go with, but let’s start with a little reading between the lines.

Yesterday WVU football added UNLV for a tidy $750,000 — $740K in cash, $10K in tickets — to complete the 2010 schedule. Neat, though I’m livid it’s a home game and the Mountaineers won’t return the game to Vegas. Oh well.

The bigger news came in extending Maryland two years through 2013 and then switching home dates with Florida State for 2012-13. WVU now plays host to Maryland in 2012 and travels to College Park in 2013. The series was set to expire in 2011. WVU travels to Tallahassee in 2012 and plays host to the Seminoles in 2013.

Obviously, WVU didn’t want to play both Maryland and FSU at home one year and then on the road the next, so the switch makes sense.

It also makes it easy for WVU to schedule seven home games in both 2012 and 2013. That, of course, is big.

And why? Let’s talk leverage and logistics.

Continue reading…

Oh, that Lane Kiffin

May 20, 2009 by Mike Casazza

We got a puppy over the weekend, an eight-week-old beagle that’s hardly a handful, but not so innocent, either. It’s kind of fun and funny to watch her go through life’s trial and errors and do silly things — run and abruptly stop on linoleum, climb hardwood stairs, scale and fall off furniture — because she just doesn’t know any better at this point.

I am similarly intrigued by Lane Kiffin, who has fallen off every sofa, end table and chair since arriving at Tennessee. On Tuesday, he took a header off the recliner. 

The issue arose when a post was made to Kiffin’s Twitter account after high school prospect J.C. Copeland committed to UT on Tuesday.

The post, which was on twitter for approximately 45 minutes before it was removed, read: “It’s a beautiful day in Knoxville, Tennessee today. I was so exited to hear that J.C. Copeland committed to play for the Vols today!”

The appropriately advised Oll Twitter is having no such trouble.

Uh oh

by Mike Casazza

Mountaineer mascot Rebecca Durst and Marshall’s Marco, Trey Parker, are — holy crap! — longtime friends.

Durst believes it might have been the second day of kindergarten.

“We were just walking down the hallway and I decided to kiss him on the cheek, so I did,” she said. “Then he ran and told the teacher.”

How dare they be civil! Cue the comments.

scraigWVU

I just threw up in my mouth. If the EERS have a bad season I am putting the blame squarely on the shoulders of this young lady. Just like the 4-7 Natalie Tennant year.

This has ruined my day.

You’re in luck. If that ruined your day, your day wasn’t going to be very good.

Seriously, neat little story.

Does the name Timko ring a bell?

May 19, 2009 by Mike Casazza

There are two history-making, tennis-playing sisters at Chartiers-Houston High in Pennsylvania named Karli and Tanya Timko.

Their mother, Shari, was an All-American gymnast at West Virginia University where their father, Mike, was a quarterback. Their grandfather, Ronnie Retton, was the captain of West Virginia’s 1959 NCAA runner-up basketball team, playing in the same backcourt as Jerry West, and their aunt, Mary Lou Retton, won the gold medal in all-around competiton in gymnastics at the 1984 Olympics.

Their pedigree does not come with added pressure. Instead, it functions as a support system.

“We were at our section tournament and [Mary Lou Retton] was sending us text messages like, ‘You can do it girls, kick some butt!’ ” Karli said. “She was really nice.”

Back to the history. The Timkos are the first girls team to win a WPIAL title in boys’ tennis … and it doesn’t stop there.

The sisters will be looking to put the perfect ending on their fairy-tale story when they attempt to become the first girls to win a PIAA boys’ title in any sport this Friday and Saturday in Hershey.

The girls have already garnered national attention — The Associated Press and national media outlets ran stories when they won the WPIAL Class AA boys’ double title –and could be among the first girls in the country to win a boys’ state high school tennis title.

“From my years of experience, [the girls’ success is] unique,” said Steve Milano, the executive director of the U.S. High School Tennis Coaches Association.

Kids will be kids

by Mike Casazza

… and recruiting will be recruiting.

Both Scout.com and Rivals.com have Pickett as an oral commitment to the Mountaineers, but Thompson said that isn’t exactly how the conversation between the player and the school went.

“It’s not true,” Thompson said. “He told them he was highly interested and was going to visit. He said he wasn’t committing, just going up there to visit.”

Logo battles atrial filbrillation

by Mike Casazza

And if you know only a little about his champion spirit, you know he’s going to win.  

“An athlete is well aware with what’s going on in his body. I knew there was something wrong,” the Hall of Fame guard told The Associated Press. “I wonder if they tested me now, would they have said I couldn’t have played?”

For the first time Monday, West discussed in detail his five-decade battle with the condition that led him to retire from the Lakers’ front office nine years ago. It’s a disease that disproportionally affects the elderly, but the man whose silhouette graces the NBA logo said he has been dealing with it since his 20s.

“I pretty much have kept it hidden over the years,” West said.

Continue reading…

One more highlight video

May 18, 2009 by Mike Casazza

Finally, a Casey Mitchell package. You have to take these things for what they’re worth — juco is not regarded for its defense — but there’s a lot to see and a lot to like here. It seems to me Mitchell really likes to and is able to use the left side of the floor.

He gets a lot of run-outs, too, which Huggins will like, and he scored against a few junk defenses likely designed to stop him. The box-and-one was one such option, but note how he works around that at the 5:33 mark.