Mountainlair

And We're Out

noreply@blogger.com (John Radcliff) — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 12:08:00 +0000

Moving day has come. We'll be over here at Eers To You. Come join us.

Mild TBI and Sports Related Injuries

noreply@blogger.com (John Radcliff) — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 14:17:00 +0000

We here at Mountainlair care as much about the athletes that wear the Old Gold and Blue when they leave as when they get here. It's important to remember the person as much as it is the athlete that wore the uniform. Otherwise, the young men that play for WVU would just be hired guns, disposable after their eligibility is used up. That's unacceptable, because once a Mountaineer always a Mountaineer. Just as I'm sure it's true all over the world of college football.

I bring all this up because I was contacted by CareMeridian about posting something regarding Traumatic Brain Injuries. Whether one person reads this or a million, the important thing is that our university has an obligation to the men that put on the uniform. An obligation to provide them with the best possible equipment and treatment to make sure they remember every second of their time in Morgantown.

Mild TBI and Sports Related Injuries

Athletics are a fun and healthy way to stay active that millions of people take part in each day. However, some of these activities can take a toll on the physical body of the individual. Contact sports like football, boxing, soccer, and hockey can cause damage that can change a person’s entire life and sometimes can even be irreversible. An example of this type of sports injury is traumatic brain injuries. A TBI can permanently alter someone’s life and can even require long-term rehabilitation and care from special facilities like CareMeridian and these injuries are often too common when taking part in sports.

According to the Brain Injury Resource Center, an estimated 300,000 sports related brain injuries occur each year. Most of these injuries are not classified as severe. Many of these mild TBI’s or concussions may appear unthreatening, but in fact they can often cause significant damage if not treated properly. The hidden danger of a concussion comes from the fact that it is usually passed off as nothing more than pain and soreness inflicted from the sporting activity, which is why they can easily be a repeatable injury. Consequently, concussions are often regarded as very hazardous and should be given thorough and constant attention.

Concussions are head injuries that are caused by blows to the head that usually cause the brain to move violently within the skull. For a sport like football this type of injury is common and unfortunately, at times ignored. Many athletes shake off the pain that’s caused from the head injury, because the immediate effects are often unnoticed. Yet, without treatment, a simple injury can cause a lifetime of suffering. The NFL has a concussion rate of 61% and this type of injury not only sidelines the player impacted, but can end their career. Some NFL players, like quarterbacks Troy Aikman and Steve Young, retired from the game rather than take on the risk that comes from the injury, but others are not so lucky. Many retired football players and athletes battle memory loss and constant migraine headaches that result from head injuries.

Participating in athletic competition (football, soccer, basketball, etc…) is inherent in many different peoples’ lifestyles, but comes with risk of injury. Mild TBI is among the most common forms of sports related injuries, which also include fractures, tears, bursitis, sprains and more. As an enjoyable means of human interaction and competitive lift, sports will always be an integral ingredient of modern day society. Ultimately, it’s important to be aware of mild traumatic brain injuries (symptoms, treatment, etc…) and the frequency of occurrence on the field of play.

Moving Day is Almost Here

noreply@blogger.com (John Radcliff) — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 12:08:00 +0000

We'll be moving to a new blog in the next few days. We'll have a link and all that when things are ready. It should be fun, the new site will be loosely based around drinking and sports. Two things that go great together. Until then, here's some moving music.

Talent Show

noreply@blogger.com (John Radcliff) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 17:32:00 +0000

In my waxed up hair and my painted shoes
Got an offer that you might refuse
Tonight, tonight, we're gonna take a stab
Come on along, we'll grab a cab

Seriously, these things just write themselves. If you haven't seen Joe, Jonnie, and Da'Sean doing the Night at the Roxbury dance yet, here's your moment of Zen. via Deadspin

Color Me Impressed With Truck Bryant

noreply@blogger.com (John Radcliff) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 01:38:00 +0000

If you asked me what I thought would happen in today's game, the last thing that would have come to mind was how impressed I was with Truck Bryant. Looking at his stats for the game tells you very little about how important he was. Missouri earned the respect I had for them coming into this game by leading the nation in turnovers forced. In my mind, I could just see him getting his pocket picked over and over. Instead, what I saw was someone that just focused on ball security and running the offense. He had a lot of help from Joe Mazzulla and Da'Sean Butler. But West Virginia did a great job with ball security and patients in the offense once they beat the press.

I've bagged on Truck a little bit since I first saw him play for West Virginia. I've been driven to madness by watching him rush down the middle amongst the trees. I may be wrong with that, though. For instance, I don't know that Huggins hasn't asked him to do that. It's just been hard to watch at times over the past couple years. But today I thought he did exactly what he needed to do to help the team to win, and if you're going to mention the bad you have to see the good as well. Well done, Truck!

There was a lot more dairy goodness to speak of. Particularly Da'Sean Butler. The dude is just a machine. It's hard enough to bring the ball up the whole game under pressure. It's even harder to get involved with the offense after the ball crosses the time line. Butler got WVU into an offensive flow to start the game and kept them ahead the whole game. The more I think about this game, the more I'm really impressed with everyone. The only thing that was odd was all the offensive rebounds the Tigers got. But we'll take it. Survive and advance.

Unsatisfied

noreply@blogger.com (John Radcliff) — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 03:05:00 +0000

Look me in the eye and tell me I'm satisfied

Headlines tomorrow will question the validity of the Big East. This much is sure. All of it will be deserved. What we don't know is if someone didn't dance themselves onto the hot seat. I don't have anyone in mind. That picture up there is totally random and without premeditation.

The bad news is that the Big East was 1-3 today, and that one isn't anything to brag about. The good news is that there are four more teams playing tomorrow and no one should sneak up on them. That message should be loud and clear. I hope the Mountaineers stayed up late enough to see the post game interview with Thompson. You never ever want to make your boss look like that. Seriously, ESPN News is calling it "Georgetown's Historic Upset" right now as I type this. How bout Ohio's historic upset? You know, a little something for the effort.

We're using Replacements song titles as a lead in for all of our posts during the tourney or until we use them all. You'll have to jump to the 40 second mark for the song.

Let's Dance

noreply@blogger.com (John Radcliff) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:52:00 +0000

It's the most wonderful time of year for any college basketball fan. I love it and I think collge football could learn a lot from the way CBB crowns it's champion. Having said that, I have almost no interest in picking winners, brackets, etc. It's just not my bag, baby.

Having looked at Morgan State and what they did this year, I don't know how useful a statistical breakdown would be. I know there are people out there that do those sorts of things. God bless their little hearts, because I have no desire to get into it. But being in the tournament has to have some sort of special posting angle. And the best that I can come up with is to have a mini bracket of some of my favorite bands. You pick the band and I'll wrap each post around the title to songs of the band you choose.

Your choices are:

Pink Floyd

Midnight Oil

The Replacements

Spoon

Ovada-Who? This is my band and I think we have enough song titles that I could do three weeks of posts and have fun with the tournament.

Leave your choice in the comments below and we'll pick a winner.

Hey! Big East Champs!

noreply@blogger.com (John Radcliff) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 03:18:00 +0000

I wanted to hold off on this until I had something to say about it. I still don't. But in a good way. For this team, this year, despite the record there seemed to be a lot of close games and I was never quite sure they deserved the ranking they were getting. I would be lying if I told you that I haven't been a glass half empty guy through the snopocalypse of 2010. Luckily, I've kept that to myself.

I saw a tweet from another Big East blogger that said, "WVU beat the #11, 8, & 7 teams to win the BE tourney. Two locks and one bubble team. Take that every other conference." You have to see that as a positive. Sure we didn't get to play the higher ranked teams. But shit, those teams came to play all year long and I don't know that anyone else could have beat them given the way the top teams performed in the tourney. Other than the losses to Purdue and Syracuse I felt like we had a chance to win all those games after falling behind. WVU played one of the tougher schedules in the country this year. Certainly one of the toughest we've seen in a long time, and came out relatively unscathed. Having said that, I think we do deserve the ranking. Plus, Country Roads playing after the game was pretty awesome! It got better when I considered how painful it was for Pitt fans. Yeah, I'm thinking about the ones that bought tickets for the whole tournament.

And you knew this was going to happen...

Looking at our bracket, you can't be too disappointed.There's some chances there. I don't want to say anymore strictly out of concern for messing with the Basketball Gods. Anyhow, WOOOOOO!!

Good Enough To Win Is Better Than Losing

noreply@blogger.com (John Radcliff) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:05:00 +0000

I've done enough poo-pooing on Elmo to last a life time. So let's instead remember that on a day when the high seeds were going down left and right, West Virginia found a way to win. Maybe it's the two days off, or maybe it's the Moon's orbit. It doesn't really matter. Yesterday was a day for upsets, and the only rule on days like this is survive and advance.

Hopefully WVU got all the bad shots out of their system, because they won't win shooting like that against Notre Dame. And we can't expect the Irish to shoot as poorly as Cincinnati did last night. That was a third grade sandlot bad performance by the Bearcats. Why anyone plays anything but zone against that team is beyond me.

Anyway, these late games are going to be the death of me. Let's end this by giving it up for Da'Sean Butler and his savvy use of the backboard. Yeah, there are probably better videos out there of this moment. But there's something about this one we really like.

Update: It's not like we never beat UC with at bankshot 3 in the post season before.

Punch Me Elmo Assumes The Position

noreply@blogger.com (John Radcliff) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:29:00 +0000

It's early, too damn early. So this is the kind of photo-shopping you get. I was wrong about the winner of the UL-UC game, but the reason the Bearcats won wasn't because of Elmo. If he was any kind of coach, Sosa would have never made it across half court at the end of the game. UC just wanted it more, and the way they were shooting they had to. Because they couldn't hit anything but a dunk or a layup. Scarlet Pitino should have packed it in tight with a 2-3 zone.

Still, seven out of eight isn't bad predicting. St. Johns showed a lot more than I was expecting. Notre Dame did exactly what I expected, as well as Georgetown.

The good news is that I find it very hard to believe that UC will be able to be successful shooting the ball like that two nights in a row. They shouldn't be able to grab offensive rebounds like that against West Virginia. Also, I have to believe that someone from West Virginia would have the guts to step in front of Stephenson and take a charge. When the momentum switched last night it was because of Stephenson driving the lane and no one from Louisville wanted to move their feet and get in front of him.

The only thing running through my head at the moment is a vision of Elmo going ape-shit on the sidelines and getting a double technical called on him. It's a dream I have that I just can't get out of my mind. So I'm not going to worry about any predictions for the other games today. I'm obviously just concerned with a WVU win.

These folks can tell you about the other games:

UC Bearcats Blog
Pitt Blather
Rakes Of Mallow
Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician
Orange 44
Hoya Suxa
Cracked Sidewalks
The Nova Blog

Big East Tourney Day Two: The Electric Boogaloo Edition

noreply@blogger.com (John Radcliff) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:44:00 +0000

Well, yesterday went pretty much as planned. These are the kind of things I can do with a case of beer and a dart board. Anyhow, if you thought yesterday's games were intense (they were), wait until you see what happens today.

First up is Georgetown and South Florida. Dominique Jones just missed his season average, but he didn't miss on some monster dunks. I don't know how impressive it is since I could dunk on DuPaul and I can't even dunk anymore. You get a sense that South Florida has gained some confidence from the way they ended the season and yesterday's results. Georgetown on the other hand probably doesn't feel confident in anything they are doing right now. Still, I think it's too much to ask of the Bulls to win this game. They may need it to get into the big dance, but they aren't used to playing important games. Georgetown is and they will find a way to win a close one.

Marquette vs. St. Johns: Thanks for playing SJU.

Seton Hall vs. Notre Dame: Seton Hall never seems like they are out of any game, but last night's game also shows that they are never actually in control of any game either. Notre Dame is very capable of controlling the tempo of a game like this and taking the Pirates out of their offense. This will be an ugly, physical game with the Irish moving on.

The nightcap will be a battle of wits between Punch Me Elmo and The Scarlet Pitino. Since Elmo has no wits to bring to the battle, I expect Louisville to win this one going away. We may not like Pitino, but we respect him. Elmo gets no such respect.

Big East Losers Bracket: Scalpers Need Not Apply

noreply@blogger.com (John Radcliff) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:24:00 +0000

I remember many years ago when Michael Jordan returned from his attempt at baseball to the Bulls. It was also the day the Bulls were in New York to play the Nicks at MSG. My dad and I thought it would be cool to take the tour of MSG. It was. But damn, trying to get past the scalpers was a nightmare.

That shouldn't be a problem today, though as the first round of the Big East Tournament kicks off. South Florida and DePaul have the first game at noon. By 12:05 Dominique Jones will have his season average of 21 points and the Bulls should have this one wrapped up.

UConn and St. Johns have the next game at 2pm in the 12-13 match up. Yeah, UConn is a 12 seed. That in itself is kind of hard to believe. But at the same time, would you really be surprised if St. Johns won? UConn won handily the only time they played this year. But that was right before the bottom fell out of UConn's season. I'll take St. Johns here in the mild upset.

I'm not even going to touch the 7pm game between Seton Hall and Providence. I have no idea who will win. I only know that no defense will be played. So take the over.

Finally, Rutgers and Cincinnati play the 9pm game. I've made no secret of my dislike for Mick Cronin over the years on this blog. While I expect the Bearcats to win, I'll be rooting for Rutgers.

Admiral Ackbar's Theme

noreply@blogger.com (John Radcliff) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 21:49:00 +0000

This is a re-post from my other site. You'll have to go there to hear the song.

I know this probably sounds like a crazy idea for a song, but then again I am the guy that brought you Plastic Lover. So maybe you aren’t shocked.

Anyhow, Ole Miss is looking for a new mascot and I can think of no one better to lead the Rebels that Admiral Ackbar. Neither can the fine folks at Not A Trap. They’ve started a campaign to have the good admiral re-assigned to the leadership of the Ole Miss Rebel. I just want to do my part because I think it would be awesome, and it would give me and my friends and relatives in Mississippi something to talk about.

I may no longer be welcome in Mississippi after this song gets out or I may be asked to never do anything that approaches hip hop again. Either way, here it is. Enjoy.

Guess Who Represents Big East Refs In This Video

noreply@blogger.com (John Radcliff) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 23:00:00 +0000

If you said Stevie Wonder, you probably watched the WVU-Villanova game today. Of course we are happy with the win, but that game was so poorly officiated today it seems unfair that either team should have to take the loss.

It was a game that meant a lot to both teams and the eventual seeding in the Big East tournament. Check in with I Bleed Blue and White for their prospective on the game. I'll be interested to see how bad the officiating sucked in person.

About This AD Thing

noreply@blogger.com (John Radcliff) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 12:55:00 +0000

I can barely remember a time when Ed Pastilong wasn't the AD at WVU. That might be from all the drinking, etc. that has taken place since he took over. Anyway, we've taken some shots at him and the department in general over the past few years. Mostly out of anger that everything didn't come up smelling like roses. Even though I think you would be hard pressed to find a time in WVU's history that the sports teams were more successful.

So we won't take any shots at him today. Rather, I just want to say thanks for all the years of service and what you helped to create here at WVU, Mr. Pastilong. There's no doubt you're leaving the program better off than when you started.

I guess what scares me is the possibility that Mike Parsons might take over. Because he's kind of a dick. Between that and Governor Manchin putting in his two cents where it doesn't belong, I'm a little worried about the future of WVU athletics.

It would be nice to see Jerry West or Oliver Luck in the AD spot. But I really don't know how likely either would be. Jerry obviously isn't going to be around for 20 years, and Oliver might or might not depending on what opportunities would come his way. I have a feeling he's going to want to be out on the west coast to see his son play for Stanford.

Whoever it is that takes over, they need to be a savvy businessman combined with a magnetic personality. Thankfully, that excludes Mr. Parsons. Who exactly fits that mold? I don't know. I guess we'll know when we know.

65 Is One Too Many

noreply@blogger.com (John Radcliff) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 12:53:00 +0000

As I was driving in this morning I was listening to Mike & Mike interview Jay Bilas and asked him his opinion about changing the NCAA tournament to 96 teams. Normally I wouldn't be the one to quote Jay Bilas, but this time I think he got it right. He said, "This is the national championship, not little league where everyone gets three innings and a trophy. "

I would go one step further and say that we don't even need the play-in game. The whole notion that the 65th best team in the country might be just as good as the 64th best team and how unfair it is to leave #65 out, etc. is really a load of crap.

If you want to be "fair" about it, take away some of the automatic bids from the smaller conferences that do nothing more than offer up a sacrificial Lamb in the first round. Unlike football, the NCAA has this one right where it needs to be as far as the number of teams. Adding more teams will do nothing to change the eventual outcome.

If it's a money thing, the NCAA needs to concentrate on making the most out of what is inside these four walls, so to speak. Hell, they could take a look at the bowl system to see that there are lots of ways to generate more money by sponsors and naming rights.

One of the arguments against a college football playoff is that it would be unfair to the "student athletes". So yeah, you go ahead and add a couple more weeks to the NCAA tourney, because it's only unfair to the students if you can't see a way to make more money off them.

Let's Honor Jack Fleming

noreply@blogger.com (John Radcliff) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:52:00 +0000

A friend of mine started a Facebook Group to have the press box named after Jack Fleming. So if you are on Facebook, click the link and join.

Mission Accomplished

noreply@blogger.com (John Radcliff) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:49:00 +0000

photo via BGN

Senior night went off as planned for the most part. West Virginia was just a step quicker in the first half and they were able to get a lot of calls to go their way early. That helped them to build and hold on to a big lead in the first half. There was a definite let down in the second half as Georgetown made a game of it. But it was too little too late for the Hoyas.

In sad news, it was senior night. This was the last time we will see Da'Sean Butler and Wellington Smith in the Old Gold and Blue in the Coliseum. I don't want to go into lists of accomplishments, etc. That's something better saved for when the season is over, and there is a lot of basketball still to play for this team. For now, we'll just tip our hats and say thanks, guys!

Photo via BGN

Update: Here's Huggs talking about the game and the guys. He could probably say it better than you or me.

Let's Destroya the Hoya

noreply@blogger.com (John Radcliff) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:12:00 +0000

We're basically going to steal from Hoya Suxa to get you ready for tonight's game against Georgetown.

West Virginia can lock up a top four seeding in the BE tourney with a win tonight. As well as adding in another win over a ranked team as we position ourselves for a high seed in the NCAA tourney.

We'll never match the hatred Hoya Suxa has for Georgetown. But for one night, one glorious night, let's destroya the Hoya's!

It's "Punch Mick Cronin In His Crap Lousy Face Day!"

noreply@blogger.com (John Radcliff) — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 14:43:00 +0000

Trademark pending, but this has to be one of the best days of the year. It really has nothing to do with West Virginia's losing ways against Cincinnati over the last few years. We just don't like the way he looks, or talks, or moves.

In previous years, we may or may not have made a cutout for people to print off and attach to a stick. We would look back, but it's Saturday. We don't do research or number things on Saturday unless money is involved.

I hate to bring this up with the recent actions of the fans throwing things at games. You should understand that I only want to punch Mick, not actually do it. My preferred outcome is to see us curb stomp the Bearcats today and I want to see Mick get a couple T's and take the walk of shame off the court. I will then get the video off youtube and put it on auto play til the end of time.

How Can There Be A Jihad Without WVU?

noreply@blogger.com (John Radcliff) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:46:00 +0000

Tongue firmly in cheek with that headline, but this is what I'm referring to. We certainly don't like DickRod, but knowing him, anything he does at Michigan was at least tried out in Morgantown. And don't lie, until he left WVU we were all for this guy that turned two and three star recruits into world beaters.

Personally, I doubt anything he has done at Michigan relating to spending more time than is allowed for football activities is more than bending the rules a bit. Seriously, he is no Barry Switzer.

If I was Michigan fan I would be happy to some extent that he is trying to do something to bring the program back to one of the top football programs in the country. He's the kind of guy that is going to do things to let everyone know who is in charge. To set the tone. The first year is usually the hardest. You see people leave the program, and you see him going after his type of player. It wasn't pretty at WVU and it hasn't been pretty at Michigan so far. But there's a huge difference between what is alleged at Michigan and say what is alleged at USC. I won't go as far as to try to prove something is OK by pointing out that something else is much worse. But it will be interesting to see what, if any, sanctions are handed out at both schools. If Michigan gets the same or worse sanctions than USC it might actually be time for a Jihad. A Jihad against the NCAA. Not that they haven't already done enough to deserve one.

Basketblog Poll

noreply@blogger.com (John Radcliff) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 13:00:00 +0000

Rank	Team	Delta

1	Connecticut	2
2	Pittsburgh	1
3	North Carolina	1
4	Oklahoma	2
5	Louisville
6	Memphis
7	Kansas	8
8	Michigan St.
9	Duke	5
10	Villanova
11	Wake Forest
12	Marquette	5
13	Louisiana St.	3
14	Gonzaga	3
15	Arizona St.	3
16	Clemson	3
17	Missouri	8
18	Purdue
19	Washington	1
20	Xavier	3
21	UCLA
22	Butler
23	Florida St.
24	Illinois	3
25	Utah
Last week's ballot

Dropped Out: Texas (#19), West Virginia (#22), California (#24), Arizona (#25).

Well That Sucked

noreply@blogger.com (John Radcliff) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 12:43:00 +0000

I don't know how you lose to a team that gets three technical fouls called on it. Is Truck Bryant the new Jamie Smalligan? Plays the first couple minutes of the game and doesn't get back in. Maybe Truck wasn't the answer, but we needed some penetration last night to open up the shots for us and we didn't get it.

Everything Bobby Knight said last night was true. Poor shot selection, not enough passes, "that's not the guy you want shooting the ball". Very true.

We still could have won the game, though. Maybe more on this later. Maybe not. Grrrr!

Around the Big East Blogs

noreply@blogger.com (John Radcliff) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:26:00 +0000

When we're too tired to do any real writing, we link up. And sadly, we haven't been linking to our friends and enemies too much lately. Shameful, but true.

As we get closer to the draft, you probably start wondering what happened to your favorite Mountaineer. Well, there's a blog for that, Eers in the Pros.

Luke Harangody gets the treatment over at the Wire on WMIT C.

Mike Casazza is all over the possibilities of what Huggins might wear to the Cincinnati game tomorrow.

Orange 44 is talking about this game called Lacrosse.

If you haven't been hip to the Homoerotic ways of Eric Devendorf, you've been missing out.

LeBron floats an air biscuit, and Three Idiots have the video.

Pitt Blather is taking it better than I would.

Bleed Scarlet reporting that Rutgers will have co-offensive and co-defensive coordinators next year, and slips in a 30 Rock quote.

Fat White Guy is heading across the pond. Hopefully he won't be putting down the blog.

Marquette vs. UConn live chat is happening right now.

With the white-out and that line above, I'm reminded the Marquette has a tough road the last week of the regular season.

Cracked Sidewalks has a preview of the UConn game.

Friar Blog is happy happy happy happy. I would be too.

I Bleed Blue and White is kind of happy, too.

Mick Cronin Motivational Speaker

noreply@blogger.com (John Radcliff) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 02:17:00 +0000

This was a bad idea to begin with and worse considering how nice the folks have been to Huggins. Apologies.