When the Music Stopped
by westvirginnyreb on Sep 20, 2011 6:02 PM EDT
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PrintLet me say first that I don't give a fig about a reconfigured Big East Conference. That is not "landing on your feet" or whatever Mr. Luck's characterization was back when he was pretending that we had (any) options. The good teams bolted the conference for the ACC years ago while West Virginia stuck around and lent its strong brand (which was never really A-list, but always more than respectable) to a bunch of schools with zero football history (Rutgers, UCONN, Temple) or faded glory (Pitt , Syracuse). Who are now all bolting to the conference that stole Virginia Tech (yet WVU's was always a better football program than Virginia Tech's).
This conference realignment business is like West Virginia's history in miniature. Historical orphan. Miles from nowhere. Spurned by people, teams and states with whom we share real historical, geographical and cultural affinities while continuing to pretend that the state is in the Northeast. As if West Virginia were essentially more like Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey than Tennessee, Kentucky or Virginia. Talk about eyeballs and TV sets all you want to. West Virginia's historical assignment, the severing from Virginia accomplished, was to supply lumber, coal and strong backs to industrial capitalists-not to attend their parties. And our cousins in the deep south, well, their historical memory is long (if not entirely accurate) and myopically selective.
Now, of course, we can rest easy in the knowledge that geography counts for even less in the realignment scenario. Kansas State and Baylor, indeed. We get heaped in with a bunch of leftovers.
I thought there was a plan. Lord, they must have shafted Mr. Luck. Be nice if we could find out someday how it all didn't go down.
I suppose he kept things so close to the vest for the pride of the state. Maybe he knew that the other conferences weren't serious. But how did we go from being "almost in" the SEC twenty years ago, to an afterthought today?
Better take some satisfaction in beating LSU.
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I'm still trying
there is in mine, too…unfortunately, it’s the theme from “The Godfather”
by westvirginnyreb on Sep 20, 2011 6:26 PM EDT up reply actions
Keep Your Chin Up...
…everything is just “sourced,” at this point, which means very, very little these days. I prefer to hold out until actual somebody’s are saying actual words to actual news outlets.
Now is the time boys to make a big noise.
No matter what the people say,
For there is naught to fear, the gang's all here,
So hail West Virginia, hail.
Good Point
What had me spooked was the CBS affiliation. Just a knee-jerk reaction from an old timer, I guess. It was the gold standard when I was growing up.
by westvirginnyreb on Sep 20, 2011 11:17 PM EDT up reply actions
I would be very surprised if the SEC rejected WVU
I know people have been reporting all sorts of minutia about the situation, but I find it hard to believe that Mike Slive and company would limit their options like that.
That doesn’t mean that WVU will end up in the SEC, but I think it means that the situation is fluid. It’s all political behind closed doors and if the SEC has to wait the situation out for a year or so in order to land someone like FSU then they’ll do it. But I think there are not too many done deals out there except for what the ACC did and the SEC adding A&M.
There is too much instability in the Big 12 for that thing not to fall apart sooner rather than later. And so all option are being evaluated because the next moves will likely stick for several decades at least. We fans are impatient that things haven’t fallen into place by now, but the business is just too messy to happen quickly.
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