As the soap opera of college football teams abandoning their conference's continues, the discussion of West Virgina leaving the Big East on an invite from the South East Conference has become hot topic. Though the idea of having Alabama or LSU coming to Morgantown on a regular basis is attractive, I think it would be overall a terrible move for Mounties. Here's why.
1. The Mountaineers while being a consistent top 25 program, would probably sink rather than swim with the sharks in the SEC. Although one could hope WVU would rise to level of competition presented in SEC, more than likley they would remain a second tier team for many years. What really would be the recruiting edge? "Come to Morgantown and you'll have the chance to compete for a national championship because we're in a BCS conference." Reality check because we already are.
2. The Money. Yes, revenue would go up, but WVU already has one of the most profitable teams in the nation thanks to the Mountaineer Sports Network. For the 09-2010 season WVU raked in 29.46 million dollars turning of profit of 15.3 million placing them as the 24th most profitable program in the country. Granted practically every SEC team turned bigger profits,(all but Ole' Miss and Vanderbilt,) How much more would WVU reasonably make by switching conference's? Travel expense would jump since the teams are farther away. Fans are going to be less likely travel to say Florida, LSU or Bama all in one season. And quite frankly, if your losing more the fare weather fans don't give a rats hind end.
3. Big East basketball. While the SEC definitely has the edge in football they are not even close in basketball. With Bob Huggins being firmly in place as the head coach of the Mounties we have a real shot at capturing a national title and doing it out of the best basketball conference hands down. Can imagine going from playing the conference tournament at Madison Square Garden too the Alexander Memorial Coliseum at Georgia Tech?
If athletic director Oliver Luck is half as savvy as he thinks he is WVU isn't going anywhere. WVU along with PITT, Louisville, Cincinatti, and TCU coming in next year, are going to assure the Big East retains it's BCS automatic bid. If you make plenty of money, Have the same possibilities to play in a national title game, and are competing for your conference's championship every year, why would leave just cause it sound bigger. If you don't believe me, just ask ol' Rich Rod how it worked out for him!
Friday, August 26, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
It is Marshall for whom the bell tolls
As the countdown to game time ticks away, the question looms large. Will Marshall ever beat WVU? The answer, probably, just not this year. The Thundering turd, (oops, freudian slip!), HERD, under the leadership o Doc Holladay will someday be a relevant team. As it stands now however, WVU didn't try and book Podunk St. for their first game because they knew they'd have Marshall to tune up on. While I'm still far from being on the Dana, "we're gonna score 60 points a game", bandwagon, I will all but bet the house WVU carves up Marshall like a thanksgiving turkey.
First half- Expect the usual first game nerves to produce few point in the first quarter. Penalties will eat the Mounties up and Marshall will take an early 3-0 lead on a field goal. As the nerves subside the tide will turn in the second quarter WVU 17, Marshall 3 at the half.
Second half- blowout city. The only thing you'll remember after this is Geno Smith running for 100 yards while passing for near 300! Tavon will check with two receiving TD's and WVU rolls, 56-10
First half- Expect the usual first game nerves to produce few point in the first quarter. Penalties will eat the Mounties up and Marshall will take an early 3-0 lead on a field goal. As the nerves subside the tide will turn in the second quarter WVU 17, Marshall 3 at the half.
Second half- blowout city. The only thing you'll remember after this is Geno Smith running for 100 yards while passing for near 300! Tavon will check with two receiving TD's and WVU rolls, 56-10
Monday, August 22, 2011
College Football 2011 week six predictions!
Calling all you prognosticators, palm readers, and hack psychics. While we all love to make game day predictions and feel like we should running our own betting information pools after we end up being right 50% of the time, I'm throwing down the gauntlet now. Rather than take the high road and and give the predictions for week one, I'm gonna throw down like a WWE wrestler on crack during the featured match on Monday night Raw, and give you the top 10 rankings as they will be come week 6 of the season!
1.Oregon- After Oklahoma takes not one but two big losses,(@FSU, @Texas), Oregon will be sitting pretty after their big win over LSU week one.
2.Boise St.- Yea, I hate them too, but theres no way around it, with their high pre- season ranking and soft early schedule they will stay in the mix.
3. FSU- After taking down Oklahoma at home the seminoles may have the juice for a run at the national championship.
4. Stanford-Andrew Luck, need I say more.
5.Texas A&M- This is going to be a banner year for the Aggies. After beating two teams ranked in the top 15 they will be seeing stars on more than just their uniforms
6.Nebraska- By virtue of the domino effect the corn huskers will find themselves still alive in the top ten
7.Virgina Tech- 6-0 and an ACC championship just waiting for them to grab it
8.TCU- How did Boise show up twice? High ranking, weak conference, weak, that's all I can I say, weak.
9.Mississippi St.- Huge wins at Georgia and home against LSU.
10. This really isn't # 10. I've saved this spot to cast the light on the home team Mountaineers. With a very talented quarterback in Geno Smith and new head coach Dana Holgrenson on the hot seat to score points, where will WVU be come week six? 4-2. Losses to LSU and then a heartbreaker to UCONN. Sorry WV fans, but hey mediocre coaching will get you a twenty year contract! What's Hugs doing? I haven't gotten the usual off season debacle report yet, where he became light headed because of his medication and passed out on some stripper, who he was just giving CPR to, and broke three ribs and his nose in the process.
1.Oregon- After Oklahoma takes not one but two big losses,(@FSU, @Texas), Oregon will be sitting pretty after their big win over LSU week one.
2.Boise St.- Yea, I hate them too, but theres no way around it, with their high pre- season ranking and soft early schedule they will stay in the mix.
3. FSU- After taking down Oklahoma at home the seminoles may have the juice for a run at the national championship.
4. Stanford-Andrew Luck, need I say more.
5.Texas A&M- This is going to be a banner year for the Aggies. After beating two teams ranked in the top 15 they will be seeing stars on more than just their uniforms
6.Nebraska- By virtue of the domino effect the corn huskers will find themselves still alive in the top ten
7.Virgina Tech- 6-0 and an ACC championship just waiting for them to grab it
8.TCU- How did Boise show up twice? High ranking, weak conference, weak, that's all I can I say, weak.
9.Mississippi St.- Huge wins at Georgia and home against LSU.
10. This really isn't # 10. I've saved this spot to cast the light on the home team Mountaineers. With a very talented quarterback in Geno Smith and new head coach Dana Holgrenson on the hot seat to score points, where will WVU be come week six? 4-2. Losses to LSU and then a heartbreaker to UCONN. Sorry WV fans, but hey mediocre coaching will get you a twenty year contract! What's Hugs doing? I haven't gotten the usual off season debacle report yet, where he became light headed because of his medication and passed out on some stripper, who he was just giving CPR to, and broke three ribs and his nose in the process.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Dying- To Play Football
Over the last five days there have been three reported deaths due to the start of high school football practice. All of them have occurred in southern United States where heat index's are jumping off the charts. The truly sad part of the deaths are that they where all highly preventable.
Football coaches are all faced with the daunting task of taking kids, who may or may not be in physical condition to play an extremely violent and exhausting game, and preparing them for the season ahead. To often though they lose sight of the fact that less than 1% of these kids are ever going to play a single down of competitive ball after high school. They get caught up in the notion they are in their own little NFL and that every game is life or death. This mentality permeates the practice field and causes these overzealous coaches to push their kids in the hopes that they acclimate them into superstars on Friday night. The tragic result is a handful of kids die from hyperthermia every year.
Hyperthermia is the condition by which the body becomes so overheated the normal mechanism for cooling the body down, sweating, becomes unable to regulate the core's tempature. Early waring signs of hyperthermia are nausea, vomitting, dizziness, confusion, pale blue skin, swollen lips, and dry skin. The methods for reversing the process are simple enough. Immersion in water, finding shade, re-hydradting, spounging the head, neck and extrmities, are all effective means. There is however, a point of no return where so much damage has been done to the brain and internal organs, that death will be the result.
Considering what science knows about heat re-lated death it is inexcusable that these tragedies continue to occur. The simplest of measures could save lives-
-Move the start of practice back 2-3 weeks.25% of deaths occur during the first 3 days of practice in August
-Move the time of day practice occurs, wait until nightfall
-86% of all deaths are linemen. Move them indoors for the hottest parts of practice!
-Make sure coaches are informed of the warning signs leading up to hyperthermia
-Make better access to water and do not limit how much the athlete intakes. The body knows what it needs!
Hopefully the tragic deaths that have occurred will not have been in vain. Hopefully coaches across the country will realise that athletes are not demonstrating weakness when they complain of heat and fatiuge durings August practices. They are merley demonstrating the lengths of the human body's capabilities.
Football coaches are all faced with the daunting task of taking kids, who may or may not be in physical condition to play an extremely violent and exhausting game, and preparing them for the season ahead. To often though they lose sight of the fact that less than 1% of these kids are ever going to play a single down of competitive ball after high school. They get caught up in the notion they are in their own little NFL and that every game is life or death. This mentality permeates the practice field and causes these overzealous coaches to push their kids in the hopes that they acclimate them into superstars on Friday night. The tragic result is a handful of kids die from hyperthermia every year.
Hyperthermia is the condition by which the body becomes so overheated the normal mechanism for cooling the body down, sweating, becomes unable to regulate the core's tempature. Early waring signs of hyperthermia are nausea, vomitting, dizziness, confusion, pale blue skin, swollen lips, and dry skin. The methods for reversing the process are simple enough. Immersion in water, finding shade, re-hydradting, spounging the head, neck and extrmities, are all effective means. There is however, a point of no return where so much damage has been done to the brain and internal organs, that death will be the result.
Considering what science knows about heat re-lated death it is inexcusable that these tragedies continue to occur. The simplest of measures could save lives-
-Move the start of practice back 2-3 weeks.25% of deaths occur during the first 3 days of practice in August
-Move the time of day practice occurs, wait until nightfall
-86% of all deaths are linemen. Move them indoors for the hottest parts of practice!
-Make sure coaches are informed of the warning signs leading up to hyperthermia
-Make better access to water and do not limit how much the athlete intakes. The body knows what it needs!
Hopefully the tragic deaths that have occurred will not have been in vain. Hopefully coaches across the country will realise that athletes are not demonstrating weakness when they complain of heat and fatiuge durings August practices. They are merley demonstrating the lengths of the human body's capabilities.
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