Turning Point

I have never felt this way after a WVU loss and I have seen a lot of them. I want to pull a Nancy Kerrigan and scream, "Why me, Why now, WHY!" I keep taking deep breaths hoping that empty feeling disappears, but it stays and even grows.

Even though I feel like I got hit by a Mac Truck, I can't imagine what the players felt like the next day and my heart goes out to all those warriors. No matter how you feel they "executed" Saturday night, those guys left it all out on the field.

Around this time of the week is when I normally blow up and tell everyone how much I hated the things they did. But, as Charley said the other day, I just do not feel like talking about December 1, 2007. There is nothing that I can say about it that hasn't already been stated on a message board, on the radio, or in your head.

Now is the time for all Mountaineers to come together and show the nation that WVU belongs with the big boys of college football. Both the team and fans will show their true colors on January 2 in Glendale, Arizona.

This team must step-up to win a game in front of millions of people. If WVU is victorious, the Pitt loss is not forgotten but it will be looked at as part of this unpredictable college football season and would propel us back into the discussion as an elite program. A loss and WVU will have to fight even harder next season for respect from the national media.

After a season where the fans were criticized almost as much as the football team, our goal is to move on. It could happen when we take the field against Oklahoma or you may wait until Simple Gifts is played at WVU's first home game next season. Whenever you decide to move on, come back with a vengeance.

We all know that it is not easy being fans of the Mountaineers. Our hearts have been broken by the likes of Notre Dame, Miami, Pitt, Florida, Ohio State, and Penn State, to name the elites. It is easy to be fans of the teams above but it takes true character and a high tolerance for alcohol to be a Mountaineer fan.

One thing we realize as Mountaineer fans is that this Pitt loss won't be the last time our hearts will be broken. For 115 seasons we have traveled down so many roads that wound on seemingly without end. Each time we hit a straight stretch we would floor it thinking, this is it, we are finally going get there. But all we would find is another kiss-my-ass turn.

Despite all the lows we keep coming back for more. We hope, wish, and pray that one day we will stand atop that beautiful mountain and look back on all those Country Roads that led us to where we belong and smile. We come from a state that is Almost Heaven and when -- not if -- we reach the top, this state will finally be heaven on earth.