THE MORE I hear about the West Virginia-Marshall football series, the less I want to hear about it.
Grudgingly, I'll address it today, I hope for the last time in a few months. It's an overhashed, fingernails-on-chalkboard topic that perpetually rides the stationary bike until the governor gets involved.
As 99.937 percent of you know, there is gnashing of teeth over the series' future beyond the final game of the current seven-game installment in 2012. WVU says OK, we'll do a 2-for-1 with the two in Morgantown. Marshall says no, we now deserve a home-and-home.
Athletic directors Ed Pastilong of WVU and Bob Marcum of Marshall will meet sometime soon, or so I'm told. It has to be soon because Marcum is hitting the golf course full-time after June 30, right? Anyway, I figure Pastilong can gut out one more rendezvous with Marcum without accidentally tumbling into a deal.
And truly, do you think WVU wants to make a deal, even if Marcum offers to sign a 2-for-1 right this minute? I severely doubt it.
WVU's 2006-09 home-and-home agreement with East Carolina sticks in the craw of Marshall fans and administrators alike. If you can do a home-and-home with a Conference USA rival, Marshall backers ask, why not us?
Other greenclads wonder if WVU used that deal to stick it in Marshall's ear, and perhaps is using it now to help stave off an extension of the current series. Or maybe, back in '05, it was trying to use the ECU series to avoid playing Marshall in the first place.
It's a conspiracy theory, yes, but it's plausible.
http://www.wvgazette.com/Sports/Marshall/200905170381