Don’t get me wrong, I was rooting for West Virginia. I may be a bookseller, but I’m also a sports fan. Big 12. Big 4 (As the Tulsa World calls the four area schools). I hated to see the Mountaineers fall to Syracuse (Syracuse?) but on the other hand, there is that new rivalry with established conference programs.
The prediction, early on, was that Gino Smith, the WV quarterback – a Heisman frontrunner – was going to come into the Big 12 and oversee the blowing out of the traditional powers on his way to a NYC trip to pick up the heavy brass statue.
Oooops.
That didn’t happen. In fact, Gino and the West Virginia program not only didn’t play up to expectations, they had to have been a disappointment to their own fans. They fell flat for fans of the Big 12, too.
The Conference has been represented so far by Baylor, which whipped up on UCLA, Texas (which looked like it was going down to defeat, but) rallied to vanquish Oregon State in the waning minutes. Hey! A win is a win! In that same vein, Texas Tech came from behind to win over Minnesota. 3 for 3. Batting .1000 to bring a baseball metaphor into a football story.
The bottom line is, going into Saturday’s slate of games, the Big 12 was representing itself pretty well, until those league newcomers lined up. I wanted them to win. Don’t get me wrong. I always want the conference teams to play well against the other leagues’ best.
WV… what happened? The team that was going to win it all in the Big 12 with the quarterback that was going to win the Heisman – lost. 38-14. Hey, Mountaineers! What happened?
Humility tastes best when it is first sampled by those who would swallow it with the most difficulty. West Virginia… welcome to the Big 12 Conference!
As a football fan that first wants the local schools to win, followed by the conference schools, I hated that West Virginia met its match in its first representation as a Big 12 school. On the other hand, if a conference team had to lose, best it was West Virginia, those upstarts that had all the pundits talking them up smartly.
Oklahoma. Oklahoma State. Texas. Texas Tech. Kansas State. These are teams that wait in the wings for a chance at the Mountaineers, in conference. West Virginia? It’s the off-season for you now.
Practice up.
(Oh. The picture? I decided that random images of the store need to be included for those who are just – tuning in, to use an old (but familiar to me) metaphor. There is no actual football going on inside, except during the games, on television… In the office.
There is a Sports Department. With actual books. Come and look!