Say What You Want About Bob Huggins.....

by: ccorra12

Mon Apr 05, 2010 at 01:17:45 AM EDT

Normally I write political blogs.  Normally I hate writing about sports because, I'm going to be honest, I'm not the biggest sports fan.  However, I am a big WVU fan.  Much like the rest of this state, My family flew our gold and blue flag pretty high on the night of the final four game.

It was heartbreaking, truly heartbreaking to see Da'Sean Butler go down.  He is arguably one of the best players to put on a WVU basketball jersey (with the likes of Jerry West and Hot Rod).  

This is probably old news by now, but Bob Huggins showed first class integrity.  

Up to this tournament, Bob Huggins media persona wasn't exactly the greatest or ideal.  I was an avid bearcats basketball fan back in the day, so I was familiar with Huggins a little bit before his days as WVU's head coach.  I was devastated when he was asked to resign from cincy due to a few DUI's, however I was disappointed about the choices he made.

Those mar his reputation, as well as his lackluster graduation rate with his players.

But this tournament, we have seen a new side to him... this year even.

Joe Mazzulla had what most doctors would call a career ending injury.  He was as good as done.  With a man like Bob Huggins, hell any coach, you would expect him to be dropped and forgotten about...move on to a new guy with good ball-handing.  This was obviously not the case.  No, Huggins saw his potential, he saw he had a dream and had desire.  Huggins gave Mazzulla that chance.  That chance was what helped skyrocket WVU to the final four.  

And if this wasn't enough, the true character showed during the game as Butler lay heartbroken with a badly torn up knee was enough to bring anyone to a quiet teary eye.  The man showed some incredible character, class which I was unaware he possessed.  I always viewed Huggins as a stern, fair, down-to-business coach who won games.  Who cam in and took care of business and left.

My view is changed.  

Congratulations to both the men's and women's basketball teams for making it as far as they did.

Go Mountaineers!

by: Carnacki

Sat Apr 03, 2010 at 19:16:02 PM EDT

It really does seem like bluecollar Mountaineers vs. blueblood Duke. At the park today in Shepherdstown, it seemed like everyone had on WVU T-shirts. Yes, even the parts of the state that many don't want to think of as "real West Virginia" they are cheering for the Mountaineers.

Hollywood in Huntington? Not Exactly the Best Exposure for the State

by: ccorra12

Thu Apr 01, 2010 at 15:31:31 PM EDT

When the state "West Virginia" is mentioned on anything besides local news stations, its typically associated with one thing and one network.

Sports, and ESPN.  West Virginia, as a state, doesn't get a lot of respect.  For example, a recent ESPN article will give you all the evidence you need about a lack of respect.  Just check out these "indexes."  

Final Four Likability Index
Who should you root for? Use our guide

But no, this is not an article in regards to sports.  I don't really like sports a WHOLE lot, however living in West Virginia my whole life (and being a former sports addict for several years) I have grown to love the WVU athletic teams.  

This is about another exposure to our little state, that takes place in Huntington, WV.  I was recently surfuing Hulu.com a few evenings ago.  I'm currently on spring break (from WVU) and was relaxing at my home in Parkersburg.  I ran across a tv show called "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution," and remembered hearing something about it.  The show based itself in Huntington, WV (otherwise known by non-residents of the state as the fattest/unhealthiest cities in the country.  Supposedly the crux of the show is for Jamie Oliver to invade the city and help spread healthier eating habits.

First of all, I like the idea.. but judging by the one episode I watched (I don't have enough patience to watch more than one hour long episode).  

Everyone who lives in West Virginia is familiar with its unfortunate and sometimes vulgar stereotypes.  Toothless, redneck, no shoes, incestuous, un-educated... the list goes on.

A new one added to the list is apparently unhealthy.  Watching the show, in the morning at an elementary school kids were being served pizza for breakfast.  (I can personally vouch for this happening at my elementary school, an unfortunate truth)

The most astonishing part of the show, was when the host went to a classroom of I believe 2nd or 3rd graders, and persisted to show them various vegetables.  None of them seemed to get any of them right.  Granted, knowing what an eggplant looks like at that age is a longshot.  But a tomato, none of them could identify that what Oliver was holding up was a tomato.  This to me is sad, and sheds a poor light on our great state.

Let me be clear, this is not an attack (nor is it meant to be) on the wonderful people of Huntington or their children/education system/ etc.  This is simply to point out flaws and places that need improvement.  Its unfortunate that this is what people associate our state with.   The great strides we have made are put on the backburner when shows like this display the kinds of things on this episode.

I take pride in the state of West Virginia, but I also recognize where we need to improve.  Clearly judging by this show, although editing out of other parts may have proven a different story, improvements need to be made in our health and well-being.

We need West Virginia to be associated more with positive things, and less with negative things like having the most unhealthy city in America.

West Virginians love their Mountaineers

by: Carnacki

Wed Mar 31, 2010 at 08:36:10 AM EDT

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- So many employees at the mines and factories throughout West Virginia asked off their shifts when the Mountaineers played their NCAA tournament regional semifinal last Thursday that Coach Bob Huggins was told by Gov. Joe Manchin (D) that play-by-play of the game was piped over speakers so people would still go to work.

"You don't understand unless you've ever been to West Virginia how much it means to the people," said Huggins, a West Virginia native.

There are no major professional sports teams. There are no major cities. In a state of more than 1.8 million residents, it does not get any bigger than the Mountaineers, who have reached their first Final Four since 1959.

snip

"Of all the places I coached -- and I coached at a lot of different places -- the passion that West Virginia fans have, the passion that the people of the state of West Virginia have for the Mountaineers, is unlike anything else," Hahn said.

'Why not West Virginia?'

by: Carnacki

Mon Mar 29, 2010 at 16:50:00 PM EDT

Almost basketball heaven.

West Virginia is in it to win it. And here, in perhaps the craziest NCAA tournament of all time, why not West Virginia, why not these Mountaineers?

You come from a place like West Virginia and you're always being told what you can't do. It's too rural, too poor, too, well, too just West Virginian. If you're going to succeed you have to leave, go off to somewhere bigger and fancier. It's how it's worked for generations. The possibilities are limited at home, limitless away. So off they go - many of the best and brightest seeking success elsewhere even as they carry their home state pride with them forever.

It's not coal that is West Virginia's greatest export. It's people.

So now comes Huggins, son of West Virginians, born in West Virginia, a graduate of West Virginia and he's puffing out his chest and saying the exact opposite.

There isn't anything West Virginia can't do, he says. And we're going to do it from right here at home.

A redemptive road for the Mountaineers

by: Carnacki

Sun Mar 14, 2010 at 11:43:18 AM EDT

Dana O'Neil at ESPN:

"I'm standing here, 56 years old and compared to when I was 26, I didn't understand,'' West Virginia assistant coach Billy Hahn said. "I didn't realize everything you have to go through and overcome in your life and when a moment like this finally comes, there aren't words. There just aren't words.''

And then Hahn covered his mouth and blinked hard to make sure the tears stayed tucked in the corner of his eyes.

For West Virginia, a 60-58 victory over Georgetown delivered the first Big East tournament title in program history -- and the school's first league tourney title of any kind since the 1984 Atlantic 10 crown.

But for the players, the coaches, the school and the state, it delivered so much more.

The Mountaineers basketball team is littered with players and coaches who have sped down the path of success only to run full throttle into hurdles and obstacles. There have been arrests and suspensions, injuries and illness, even seemingly career-killing firings.

Yet the fans have never abandoned their players or coaches.

Maybe it's because the citizens of West Virginia get it. They've spent their whole lives ridiculed as rednecks and unrefined lumberjacks, mainly by people who have never even visited the state. Their flagship university? It has earned more distinction nationally as a party school than as a pillar of academic excellence or athletic success.

So when Da'Sean Butler scored yet another buzzer-beater to guarantee a lifetime of free drinks in the state, the sing-along to John Denver's anthem, "Take Me Home, Country Roads," was as much a thumbing of the nose to the rest of the world as it was a statewide celebratory exhale.

Make sure you read the whole column. When you look at WVU's record vs. Top 25 opponents, it's better than Duke's.

WVU wins Big East championship

by: Carnacki

Sun Mar 14, 2010 at 01:06:21 AM EST

Remembering the Northfork Blue Demons

by: bluemcdowell

Wed Jun 11, 2008 at 19:18:22 PM EDT

It's really quite surprising that Northfork's nickname is the Blue Demons, considering the fact that McDowell County is in the heart of the Bible Belt and even more so Pentecostal country here in McDowell County, West Virginia, with one of the largest percentages of Pentecostals not just in West Virginia but in the entire United States as well.

Growing up here in McDowell County and a lifelong resident I had a dear friend who was personally affected when Northfork High was closed and consolidated after the 1984-85 school year.  His grandparents were central in the fight to try and stop Northfork's closure.

The McDowell County school board in an attempt to save millions of dollars in expensive repairs to schools back then decided to close and consolidate Northfork High and transfer its students to Mt. View High School in Welch for the 1985-86 school year.  

Northfork's supporters won the first stage after hiring a Parkersburg lawyer for $150,000, all of it yes 100 percent of it was raised by those very same Northfork supporters themselves, when the Current Circuit Judge from McDowell County who is still in office today and was back in 1985 as well, Booker T. Stephens, ruled in their favor.  

However the West Virginia State Board of Education ruled against them and so did the West Virginia State Supreme Court the highest state court in West Virginia as well.  I think it was the West Virginia Supreme Court but I am not sure.  But the Booker T. Stephens' ruling was eventually overturned by all West Virginia state courts after his decision.  That I do know.

Almost all Northfork players, especially on Northfork's basketball teams both men's and women's, were African-American.  There were sadly a significant number of whites who were not supportive of Northfork's successes sadly because of that fact alone.

Northfork's business community though both white and black-owned were very supportive of the basketball and football teams here thank God.

For many athletes especially the African-American ones basketball was seen as a way to leave the poverty and and lack of employment here in McDowell County far behind them.  Most of them sadly were forced to leave and many of them have sadly not returned back to McDowell County even to visit, mostly because of the painful memories their ancestors experienced here in McDowell County.

Northfork was a AA school during the 70s and 80s at that time.  Northfork was so talented at the time that their teams usually went 12 deep on the bench instead of just 7 or 8 like most high schools even than most larger AAA ones at the time.  Their fast-break hard-nosed pressing defense was very revolutionary and very unique as well.

Northfork's men's basketball team more often than not defeated much larger AAA schools with much higher student bodies by quite substantial margins of victory.  Northfork was almost unstoppable at home, where they won 95 to 100 percent of their games.  

In fact a huge rivalry here in southern West Virginia during the late 70s and early 80s was between the the Blue Demons and AAA powerhouse at the time the Princeton Tigers and famous Virginia Cavaliers' grad, college baskeball star, and NBA player Jimmie Miller.  I think Miller himself said that Northfork was by far the best and most talented team he ever played against, and that even included the NBA and college basketball as well believe it or not.  Northfork was almost always the best team in West Virginia in all three classes:  AAA, AA, and A.  

Northfork also had a Hall of Fame Legendary Coach at the time named Jennings Boyd, who was a white coach with quite an uncanny and unheard of ability to relate very well to African-American basketball players.  Coach Boyd ran a very tight ship.  He forced his players to wear suits and ties on gameday before the game's tip off.  If he spotted a male player and a femal  in the same house at the same he'd most definitely discipline him 100 percent certain.  

Coach Boyd stressed a "team" game instead of an "individual" one.  He believed in teams with 12 good players instead of teams with 1 or 2 superstars.  Thus despite all Northfork's tremendous successes and state championships only 1 Northfork men's basketball player, Russell Todd, ever played NCAA Div. 1-A college basketball.

But Todd in fact was a superstar.  He was voted one of WVU's top 10 players if not the top 5 in West Virginia Mountaineers' men's basketball history.

Northfork won 10 men's AA basketball championships and a record 8 straight from the mid 70s to the early 80s from 1974 to 1981.  They also won state titles in '71 and '84, the next-to-last year before Northfork High was closed for good.

Northfork's Lady Demons also won 3 AA West Virginia state championships.  And Northfork even won a West Virginia AA Football title in the early to mid '70s as well, and Northfork grad Tom Beasley even was a star player at Virginia Tech, and won several Super Bowl rings as Mean Joe Greene's backup on those great Pittsburgh Steelers' Super Bowl championship teams in the mid to late 70s.  

But Northfork's players were not only great on the athletic field but excelled in the classroom and as private citizens as well.  Coach Boyd and the rest of the Northfork coaching staff along with their parents made 100 percent certain of that.  

Most of Northfork's terrific athletes left southern West Virginia for good, never to return back even once, not even to visit.  Sad but true.

Also sadly Northfork's gymnasium due to a lack of maintenance is falling apart at the seams.  The destructive July 8, 2001 and May 2, 2002 floods here in McDowell County did almost irreversible damage to the school building.  Sadly very few remembrances and keepsakes of Northfork Blue Demons' championship teams survived those destructive floods.

In fact, Northfork's gymnasium often was often crowded and packed to the seams, most of time at standing-room only.  At that troubled time of our history during the late 70s and early 80s,   Northfork's successes on the basketball court were most definitely a welcome escape during those troubled economic times when many coal companies had just started trimming their work forces in droves during the 2nd half of the Carter presidency and even more so during the Reagan years.  The UMWA whose endorsement normally determined whom carried West Virginia's electoral votes until 2000 was also losing it's influence both in power and in numbers, and sadly still is losing its remaining influence today.

In fact our Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama whom happens to be African-American has struggled in the polls here in southern West Virginia McDowell County included, simply because of ignorance - some of it willful and intentional - his religion, his "small-town" comments, Rev. Wright's GDA comments, his "Muslim-sounding name," and sadly of course the color of his skin as well.  I don't even know if he can carry McDowell County right now even with our rich and historic Democratic tradition.  Most of my Democratic friends Pentecostals and evangelicals especially are very leery, scared, and skeptical of him even though I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is just the perfect fit for McDowell County....

and not just McDowell County but the rest of Appalachia as well.  

Obama grew up in a quite modest household with modest economic means...

Hillary Clinton and John McCain on the other hand can't understand and comprehend the great folks of McDowell County nearly as much since they were born priviledged.  

A Double Sad But True Is In Order For That One.

Barack Obama is the perfect candidate for McDowell Countians white and black to help us out of this abyss both West Virginia and the rest of the country as well are currently in at the present time.

Sadly Mt View High School still has not won even a single West Virginia state title in any sport either AAA or AA despite the Northfork area's tremendously talented athletes.  

Let's keep McDowell County Democratic Blue in 2008 and vote Barack Obama for President.  

WVU land Ebanks

by: Carnacki

Tue May 20, 2008 at 23:07:27 PM EDT

High School superstar, and YouTube favorite, Devin Ebanks will be bringing his game to Morgantown this winter. Ebanks has the skills that NBA scouts salivate over. At 6'8'', he passes the rock like a point guard, and his jump shot splashes the net constantly. This makes him one of the rare big men who can play guard (e.g.: Magic Johnson and Tracy McGrady).