Rivalries

In the fall of 1981, I entered my freshman year at West Virginia University. Yeah, I know, I'm old. Already being a football fan, I was immediately swept up in the atmosphere of the college season. Before then, I had only attended a few WVU games with my father, which was fun but not the same as being a student. I immediately became immersed and loved this new college football world; the tailgating, the band, the hoards alumni, the great atmosphere. What a great sports traditions, and no one does it better than the Mountaineers. During this early time in my college career, I received the students perspective of our rivalries. Back then our rivals were, Pitt, of course, and Penn St. "We hate them!" I was told. "They suck!!" my new friends would say. OK, so I did what I was told, and hated them both. But as I examine the situation now, I see that these were two completely different rivalries. We had not beaten Pitt in 4 years, a long time, but we had beaten them in the recent memory. Penn St. was a completely different matter. They had beaten us 27 years in a row, quite a difference. And we wouldn't beat them till 1984, which made it 30 years. I'll write about that day in a future blog, as I think it is a huge pivotal point in the history of our football program. As was our victory over Oklahoma in 1982. However, after our close call with Marshall Friday night, and our annual game against Maryland coming up, I am thinking about rivalries.

The way I see it, there are four types of rivalries in sports. True Rivalries, One Sided Rivalries, Special Rivalries, and Fake Rivalries. Before I get into the four, let me lay down a few rules as to what I feel constitutes a rivalry. First, you play each other often. At least once a year. The only exception to this rule is the Special Rivalry. Second, The game must have meaning. In other words, it has to count. Rivals are usually in the same division or conference, depending on the sport. Third, there must be history. You should here your Grandfather telling stories of this rivalry. Fourth, they have to form naturally or the fans wont accept them.

Now for the different kinds.

True Rivalries: There are tons of examples of these in all sports both professional and college; UCLA/USC, WVU/Pitt, Michigan/Ohio State, Army/Navy, Clemson/South Carolina, Steelers/Ravens(formerly the Browns, and I love reminding them of that), Redskins/Cowboys, Yankees/Redsox, Packers/Bears, Duke/North Carolina in basketball, etc. The list is endless. These all formed naturally. The teams are in the

same divisions or conferences. The games mean something. The wins are needed. These are very emotional games. There are stories of these games from generations ago. Grandpa talked about these games.

One Sided Rivalries: These are rivalries that are only honored by teams and fans on the losing side. This is what we had with Penn St. until 1984. You get fired up to finally beat the team that pounds you 90% of the time. Or 100% of the time in the case of Penn St. at that time. The perception of a rivalry is viewed solely by the losing side. The winning side usually views the losing side as target practice. There are thousands of these rivalries in sports. WVU currently has this sort of rivalry with Maryland and Rutgers. They will pull an upset on us every once in a while. But most of the time, we dominate them. The Pittsburgh Steelers and the current Cleveland Browns are in this situation in the NFL. As are the Detroit Lions and the entire NFC North.

Special Rivalries: These are the fans favorites. They are rare and very fun. These are the only rivalries where the teams do not have to play often. These are usually teams that have championship history. Lakers/Celtics and Steelers/Cowboys would be good examples. These games bring back great memories and well up huge emotions. They are clashes between titans.

Fake Rivalries: This is a forced rivalry. One that is being promoted out of greed or spite. These rivalries never catch on. Remember, a rivalry has to form naturally or the fans wont accept it. Examples of this can be found in baseball in inter-league play; Pirates/Cleveland, Orioles/National. There is no history. The games have little to no meaning as the teams

strive to reach the post season. The fans do not buy into these rivalries. We have an example in college football as well, WVU/Marshall.

Which takes me to the purpose of this weeks blog. Which I almost titled "The Rivalry That Isn't".

There is one undeniable fact about this annual game: Many of the WVU fans feel that the state government of West Virginia shoved it down our throats. We never wanted it. Our major rival is Pitt, not Marshall. We do not care that they are in the same state. When all this was being set up 5 years ago, I heard that there were state senators in West Virginia who wanted to push through a bill in the state legislature to force WVU to play Marshall every year. I am not sure if this is true, and I am glad it didn't happen. If I were still a West Virginia citizen, I would be pissed if my legislature wasted time on such a thing. They have bigger problems to tackle. But it is a fact that Gov. Joe Manchin pushed hard to make this so called rivalry happen. They even gave it a name, "The Coal Bowl", like that was going to generate interest, and giving it a name doesn't equate it to the Back Yard Brawl. . Gov. Manchin recently announced that "The Coal Bowl" would continue, but athletic directors Oliver Luck of WVU and Mike Hamrick of Marshall have yet to agree to terms for a deal. One of my college friends on Facebook renamed it the "Joe Manchin made us kiss our cousin and play them in football even though we don't want to and can't afford to" Bowl.

OK, I know there is a large part of the state that wants this game. And I figure Marshall probably wants it also. I am sure they make good money on it. And they did almost beat us Friday night. I actually have to be honest, they should have beaten us. QB Geno Smith really pulled it out at the end with two over 90 yard touchdown drives and a two point conversion with only 5:12 left to tie the game. It's not like we did what Virginia Tech did when it lost

to James Madison on Saturday(hee hee). Sorry, but I am still giggling over that one. Getting b

ack to the point, even though Marshall and new Head Coach Doc Holliday deserve respect and credit for Friday nights game, this is still a Fake Rivalry. The fact is WVU has played Marshall 10 times and beaten Marshall 10 times. Those are not the stats of a rivalry. This thing is not real.

And I also think it is indicative of a larger problem that has haunted WVU for years.

WVU has done a great job the since 1980 becoming a major player in the college sport scene. We are well respected in both football and basketball. Teams prepare for us hard and fear us.
We, the fan base, have waited along time for this. Many of us remember when there was no respect. Hell, even in the 1990's I would see our score on ESPN and the letters would be UWV. I even heard them refer to us as the University of West Virginia back then. I never hear that now. That's because they now respect who we are, which is something that the State of West Virginia needs to understand and appreciate. Their little darling grew up. WVU is no longer just a state school. It is a major player and well respected institution on the national scene in college football.

West Virginia, when you are talking about or dealing with WVU, you need to understand that last point. Our university is a major player. It needs to be viewed that way, and treated that way. Our Alma Mater has earned that level of respect.