Smitty's Hurricane Thursday: Roundball Edition

Welcome back to the home of the Mountaineer Magic going down in the form of malt liquor. As shown above, it seems Hurricane Thursday fever has spread to the Capital Wasteland DC area along Pennsylvania Avenue after a hard fought 95-53 victory over the Glenville State Fightin' Rob Summers/Mazzullas. I had no idea Obama hated the Pioneers so much, but I'll take it. The crowd seemed to be what was to be expected for an exhibition against Glenville (including one Pikachu), but with a number of the fan base looking to take their minds off the state of WVU football, it isn't unheard of to have decent attendance inside the Coliseum when the home schedule starts up. Thus, Hurricane Thursday will shift to a few lighter notes that I have always felt would be changes for the better for the program and atmosphere. My top three starts.... meow.

1. WVU Coliseum New Proposed Nickname: The Oliver Garden

I have been trying to get this viral for about three years since the 3OT game in the Pete. We stopped for gas on the Green Tree exit, saw the Olive Garden, and the rest is history. It works on several levels.

1. Obvious reference to our fearless leader, Oliver Luck
2. Slight reference to the Italian heritage around the area (an admitted stretch)
   
3. Garden = Arena. Now that we don't play in Madison Square Garden, we'll just play in our own
4. WVU doesn't have a nickname for any of the sporting venues
5. It makes me giggle

Personally, #4 and #5 are the main reasons for this. I think it's both witty and fills the sports venue nickname void that we have been lacking. I already mentioned the Pete(rsen Event Center) and this is a helluva lot better than "The Bucket." Even still, when we are going into places like the Octagon of Doom and, what I commonly call it, Allen f$*king Fieldhouse, we need a little extra push for the home games. Plus, who wouldn't want unlimited breadsticks during games? Bottomless pasta bowl? In the Oliver Garden..... when you're here, you're family.

2. Start Playing the Alma Mater Before Tipoff

Prepare for the double negative: There is absolutely no reason not to have something exactly like the KU pregame minus the whole Rock Chalk part. Right before the rolling out the carpet sequence, it would take a whole two minutes to have that night's singer perform both the Alma Mater and the Star Spangled Banner. That being said, WVU needs to hire a permanent singer for events in the Oliver Garden. Take the hockey tradition of having a house vocalist and it will guaranteed provide more tradition to the games. Personally, my first call would be to this long-haired fellow. He seems pretty good at it.

PS - If you do decide to add the Alma Mater to the run down, don't leave out "Sock em, Bust em, That's our custom. West, by God, Virginia." < /getoffmylawn >

3. Bring Back the Student Section Layout

A WVU fan in a Shaggy Bevo thread correctly compared the two student sections both before and after the remodeling. Before and after. Now, imagine that first picture going all the way to the back wall. Players throughout the Big East have rated WVU as the hardest place to play just because the sheer height of the student section would make it look like it would go on forever. The new system doesn't make a whole lot of sense. If you happen to get in a few people ahead, you may get a bracelet for the lower section. If someone is right behind you, they might be beyond the cutoff and have to sit all the way at the top? The old system had a linear seating policy with how soon you got to the game with actual seats. Plus, there's no where to put your coat so everything gets trampled and the packed sardines look to it on the outside is exactly how it feels in there. Lastly, wtf with the two row buffer that are just tarped over. Who are we, Baylor? The Jacksonville Jaguars? Take the tarps off, bring the old student section back and have one big unit instead of having a chewed off piece of something decent and the rest sit down the whole game because they can't see a damned thing.

4. This isn't Really a Change... but....

Keep doing the cool J-Flow dance/Meetin' with Keaton videos, but please don't ever do this: