Go Mountaineers!

West Virginia didn't play for a national championship Wednesday night, but we set a few bowl records, including scoring more points than any other team in any bowl game. Ever.

I didn't always 'get' Mountaineer football.  We went to our first game in 1989 when I was a newly-hired reporter at WVVA-TV in Bluefield, West Virginia.  We offered to shoot a night game one weekend, and drove the 3 1/2 hours up to Morgantown.  Once we got there, we started to understand.  There was that sea of blue and gold that flowed into the stadium.  There was a lot of energy, a lot of hootin' and hollerin', and a fair amount of beer being drunk outside the stadium.  We took our press passes and headed up to the press box.  Lined up facing the field, were a series of miniature boxes with lights and cameras and microphones.  You could stroll along those boxes, and in one moment hear the voice of the legendary Jack Fleming, and a few steps later on a big game night, Brent Musberger, when he was with CBS Sports, and various other announcers, all fighting to project their voice over the roar of the crowd.  You wanted to stop and stare, but you were a member of the press too, and shouldn't be quite so mesmerized, but we were.  Just beyond the boxes, was a long buffet table full of all the food you could eat, and a barrel of that fizzy flavored water in blue glass bottles.  It was heaven.  Almost heaven.

Being on the sidelines was even more exciting, and I really enjoyed the press room afterward.  Win or lose, Don Nehlen would be humble, exhausted, and ready to get the heck out of there.  It must be exhausting to coach a college football team.

Years later, when the press passes had long disappeared, we bought our own season tickets in section 213.  There were no VIPs in our section, just a lot of good people who would show up Saturday after Saturday, rain or shine.  Sure, there are probably a fair share of doctor and lawyer-types in the stands, but most Mountaineer fans are regular people.  They are coal miners, teachers, shopkeepers and the like, many of whom risk their lives traveling those windy country roads, and the speed traps on Interstate 79 to make it to Morgantown on game day.  They are truly some of the kindest, most giving people you can find anywhere.

There are no professional sports teams in West Virginia, and until recently only a smattering of Starbucks.  So, when I see the 'flying WV' logo on TV, I see and think about the people of West Virginia, much maligned and largely misunderstood.  West Virginia might not always fare so well in polls, but its people make mighty fine neighbors, and like last night, are capable of just about anything.  Go Mountaineers and may those records stand for a long, long time!