Justin's Blog

The 2006 mid term elections are finally over. I’m happy to see that the Democrats have taken back power. Bush is now effectively a lame duck. It’s about time we got back to the system of checks and balances.

I thought it was interesting to see Bernie Sanders from VT win a seat in the Senate. He ran as an independent, but calls himself a socialist. We’ll see how he does in Washington.

I was glad to see some of the races here in WV turned out the way I had hoped. It seems that coal baron Don Blankenship had the opposite effect on the people he backed. Most were not elected into office. In my county Cindy Frich was the incumbent and lost her seat, the other 3 candidates he was pushing lost as well. Way to go Don, WV isn’t for sale!

Perhaps the biggest and arguably the most important race for WV was the US Senate race between Robert Byrd and John Raese. Byrd won again. This makes his 47th year in the US Senate. He will be 95 years old at the end of his new term. Here’s what John Stewart had to say about the WV senate race on Tuesday’s Daily Show:

That’s it folks. It’s time to start taking down all of the election signs and time to quit showing election TV commercials. We’ll be at it again before you know it when the Democrats take power in the White House in 2008.

P.S. Happy Birthday Mom!

The Good – WVU – Mountaineer Field:

The Bad – Louisville – Papa Johns Cardinal Stadium:

The Ugly – Boise State – Broncos Stadium:

This week is the week every college football fan hates. My team is on a bye week. No Mountaineer football to watch this week. How bad has it got? I’m watching a crappy ACC match up, Clemson vs Virginia Tech.

I think what makes things so bad this year is the lousy home schedule WVU has. Check out our home schedule:

I’m not talking about the quality of opponents (although we have had better), I’m talking about the spacing between games.

We started the year with 3 home games in 12 days. That was great. We then started the dry spell of football here in Touchdown City. The next home game was 30 days away. The Mountaineer faithful are now being forced to wait another 28 days for the next home game. That is 2 games in 2 months, 58 days to be exact! Today is day 42.

Lets assume that I will make it through this. We then end the season with 4 games in 21 days, 3 games at home and 1 at Pitt. That’s right folks, 3 games in November and 1 game in December. That’s going to be some cold football.

So what keeps a Mountaineer fan going? Our #4 ranking in the AP, Coaches, and BCS polls helps. A 7-0 record helps. Having WVU coverage on TV, pay-per-view, radio, satellite radio, news papers, magazines and the Internet helps.

Speaking of Internet coverage, YouTube has done wonders. In honor of the upcoming WVU vs. Louisville game, here’s a YouTube video of the Mountaineer locker room following our come from behind, triple overtime win over Louisville last year. This video really shows the team chemistry we have. Please ignore Hollywood Joe, he’s a Marshall fan and a defector.

When I was watching the WVU vs ECU football game last weekend, I thought it was kind of weird that there was a guy in the end zone the hugged Reynaud after his touchdown. Treah and I laughed about it, but didn’t think much more about it.

Tonight I came across a post on the blue gold news messageboard that was started by the guy that got the hug. He gives a great description as to what happened.

It was me…eermaninNC. I know your wondering how I got on the field in the first place. Well that little secret I will take to my grave. But I will say this. If you guys are as die hard as I am…you would have done the same!!! I spent the whole game on the field after gaining “access” to the sideline. I had no press pass, no photo pass, no “all access” pass, no bench pass. NO NOTHING. Just good ‘ole fashion ingenuity!!! Now…about the hug.I probably hit Reynaud harder than any ECU player did all day. I could tell once he got to about the 20 yard line, he was probably locked in at the “fat guy” in the yellow shirt in the corner of the end zone. At the point, I just waved him in as if he was landing on a runway. As he got closer, I started to realize he probably wasnt going to stop before he got to me. At the point, The wheels in my head started turning as to how I was going to get out of the way. I figured, since I had already called my brother, my wife, and my parents to look for me in the corner of the end zone, I might as well prove to them all, that I really was there. Hey…one shot, national TV, what the heck. Make a spectacle of yourself and see what happens. Just good old fashion fun and excitement!! That’s the best part of being a mountaineer fan huh? Well as it goes, I shook Rich Rod’s hand as he left the field, and wished him luck. I even was asked by a NC state trooper if I was with the traveling party. When I responded that I was ( which wasn’t a total lie….I did travel to a party) he asked me if a small kid could have a NIKE receivers glove that had been left on the sideline. I told him “no problem”. At that point, I figured I better head back to the “Southern Fried Tailgate” and take the ribbing from the guys over there that were watching on TV. My wife told me TV did nothing for my figure ( I am 6’0 – 265). She also told me I am a sick human who is eat up with stupidity. I told her “good night dear”, I wouldn’t have it any other way!!!

For those of you who missed the game, here’s a video of the touchdown.

P.S. Man do I love YouTube.com

Last night was WVU’s first home night game of the season. If you haven’t been to a night game at Mountaineer Field it is something I highly suggest. The atmosphere and energy in the place is so much different. I believe we are undefeated under Coach Rod in night games at Mountaineer field.

The Mountaineers definitely didn’t disappoint anyone and kept our streak alive. WVU rolled over Maryland 45-24, and had 28 points in the 1st quarter.

Steve Slaton had 149 yards in the 1st quarter. He ended the night with 195 yards and 2 touchdowns. At one point in the 4th quarter he was over 200 yards, but then had a couple negative yard plays. His performance put him in the lead for the most rushing yards in the country with 503 yards in 3 games. ESPN is now projecting that he will have over 2000 yards by the end of the season. He is also ranked 3rd in the country in scoring. All this and he is only a true sophomore (no redshirt).

Maryland had the chance to have Steve Slaton on there team. They offered him a scholarship, he committed to play football there, and they pulled the offer later on. The coach said they had to many running backs. The guy he picked in Steve’s spot has now flunked out of school. Big mistake.

Maryland also had the chance to have our big full back Owen Schmitt. He spent a year at a Division III school. At the end of that season he decided he was good enough for Division IA. He made a highlight film and sent it out to schools. Maryland told him to spend 2 years in a Junior College and they’d take him in his senior season. Owen declined and decided to come the WVU.

The series record between WVU and Maryland is 27-26 with WVU having the lead after last night. Maryland backed out of the contract with WVU for the next 2 seasons claiming that it wasn’t in the program’s best interest to play us in the next 2 years. Supposedly we’ll be playing them again in 2010. I don’t trust anything an ACC school says. So I’ll believe it when I see it.

A couple bad spots on the night were that we had 95 yards in penalties called against us and our defense seemed out of it. They allowed 333 total yards and 211 of that was from passing. Our passing defense really needs to step it up a notch. At one point I noticed that Maryland ran the same pass play to the tight end 3 times in a row. Each time resulting in 5 or 6 yards. Our guys couldn’t stop it. They also scored a passing touchdown to the tight end with our closest defender being 10 yards away.

All in all it was a great night and a big win. It ended our streak of 3 home games in 12 days. Now I have to wait until October 14th before we play at home again. What will I do?