I feel compelled to do this, so I hope everyone indulges my "smug" reply, if only for therapeutic value. This "opinion" is so crap-tastically non-sensical and meandering it fails to find a cogent thought or a persuasive thesis.
Mountaineers predictably fold in loss to the inferior Herd
By Stephen Bupp The Daily Athenaeum
Morgantown, WV (U-WIRE) -- Disgusting or embarrassing?
I can't decide which adjective better describes Tuesday night's debacle in the capital city. As a West Virginian who grew up west of Morgantown, there is no school I disdain half as much as Marshall.
Hmmmm - I was under the impression that in eer-reality that Marshall was nearly a non-existant entity at worst, and a second-rate high school at best. Why would
any eer fan have "disdain" for lil ole Marshall (or as many an eerfan affectionately refers to Marshall as "moo-shall")?
Losing to that team from Huntington is inexcusable and unforgivable. The people who attend that university, including the rare few who actually graduate, emerge with a superiority complex, the size of which can only be compared to the afro of their favorite son, Randy Moss.
"That" team from Huntington? Holy hell. This "writer" is so despondent over Tuesday's loss that he cannot muster the self-respect to mention the university by its formal name.
Despondency soon gives way to utter contempt for facts. In what amounted to an exasperating seven minutes of research, I verified both that Marshall University has over 90,000 alumni (see
HERE) and that Marshall awarded over 2,800 diplomas in the Spring of 2004 (see
HERE). Thus, the use of "rare" graduates seems to be a poor attempt to belittle by hyperbole. To add hypocricy to the pallette, the "writer" then has the temerity to project a collective "superiority complex" onto Marshall alumni while failing to acknowledge the obvious "superiority" that the "writer" obviously feels in relation to Marshall alums. And based on the debates on various message boards over the past two weeks, there are sufficient numbers of Marshall alums and Herd fans that do not consider Randy Moss "the favorite son" - if that distinction falls to any football player, then Messers Pennington, Leftwich and Brown certainly can claim as much, if not more, stake in that distinction than Mr. Moss.
Only a thick-headed rube would mistake "spine" for "superiority". Only an infantile philistine would take offense to a Marshall alum/supporter standing toe-to-toe with a WVU alum/supporter. Apparently distinguishing between "assertive" and "superior" is a skill not yet honed by young Bupp.
To paraphrase Dean Wormer of Faber College - "Son, fat, drunk and stupid is no way to write an opinion piece." Facts are absent, and the hyperbole (or what amounts to humor to WVU alums) was bad.
So it infuriates me to watch the Mountaineers crumble to "the sons of Marshall." For those who have the envious position of living outside the realm of Herd fans, it's still a pathetic loss. But for those who have been forced to listen to endless speeches suggesting that Marshall does not play Madagascar to WVU's Africa (as we know they do), the loss is disgusting.
The Thundering Herd is so consumed with measuring up to WVU that when on the rare occasion they defeat the Mountaineers, they cling to the victory like a MAC championship - which coincidentally, is equally as meaningless.
Marshall is to WVU as Madagascar is to Africa - interesting analogy. The philistine fails to appreciate the irony of this assertion, considering he previously asserted that Marshall alums/supporters were the ones with the "superiority" complex. However, and despite the delecisous irony, the analogy is imprecise, for several reasons. First, the implicit assertion is that Marshall is a "miniscule" country to a massive "continent" of WVU (more irony associated with the aforementioned superiority complex), which is absurd to the point of laughing at such nonsense. Africa is a continent with an area of 30,330,000 sq km; Madagascar is a country with an area of 587,000 sq km - or approximately 1.9% of the continent of Africa. Drawing the analogy to its logical extension that the writer wishes to make, one can understand the absurdity of the comparison: Using any variable one wishes to use, Marshall is not 2% of WVU in any phase of comparison. Second, the implication is that Marshall is a minor contributor to the "greater whole", which is even more absurd. Marshall produces thousands of graduates every year that contribute as much than the graduates of WVU. Marshall Un. has been at the forefront of several important initiatives in the last two decades, including rural health care, dna and biomedical technology, and education. Yet, the writer demands (like a child stamping its foot) that Marshall is so much a "lesser" entity that he draws upon an absurd analogy.
Mr. Bupp would have been better off using a more suitable, and less comical, analogy, such as - Marshall is to WVU as Target is to Wal-Mart - Wal-Mart may have greater market share, but Target is whittling away and asserting a definitive presence.
Don't tell this to Marshall fans though. A win every five years over West Virginia somehow entitles them to a decade worth of trash talk. These delusional fans don't realize it is over for them. Their decade-long run of mid-major "glory" is deader than Vanilla Ice's rap career. Even as their programs peaked, they still played second fiddle to WVU - which is what makes Tuesday's loss all the more mind-boggling and embarrassing. Marshall entered the contest as a 2-10 team with wins over High Point and East Tennessee State. Their RPI was 264. The Herd's coach, Ron Jirsa, appears to be continuing his wayward slide down the ladder of coaching prominence since leading Georgia at age 36. Meanwhile, West Virginia was having a stellar season, boasting an 11-1 record and a national ranking. It seemed that Marshall was as much a gimme as any game on the schedule. Sure WVU had laid down and let Villanova humiliate them on national television, but that was an anomaly. Right?
Well, I'm pretty sure that Marshall and WVU have split the last four games (that would be 2-2, Mr. Bupp), and the last half-dozen games (or so) have been decided by seven points or less - but don't let the facts get in the way of a good screed.
(*hits the floor b/c of severe neck pain*)
Sorry (*rubbing neck*) - I nearly broke my neck trying to keep up with Mr. Bupp. I thought he was writing about basketball, when all of the sudden (*neck whips*) he claims that Marshall's glory as a "mid-major" is over. Anyone with an IQ equal to room temperature milk knows that Marshall's "glory" has been in football, not basketball. Why are we know subjected to another off-the-base comment? Was the editor in between meth injections? To briefly address this attempted point (football related), Marshall's "end" is greatly exaggerated, and Mr. Bupp appears to be suffering from premature celebration (along with other premature events, I'm sure). Marshall did not play second fiddle to WVU during this "reign", considering Marshall was ranked in the football polls in three of the previous eight years, unmatched by WVU, and on the outskirts of the top 25 in two additional years.
Finally, Bupp returns to basketball. And returns to a vulgar display of ignorance. WVU was having a "stellar" season? Fattening the win total on cupcakes (RPI SoS = 264) is what Marshall has been accused of by WVU alums/supporters concerning football - suddenly, the "dolly madison" schedule is fine for basketball? Yikes, the double standards are hard to keep track of.
It is time that folks acknowledge the possibility that: (a) WVU was not as "stellar" as its record; and (b) Marshall was not as "horrible" as its record. If one cannot at least grasp the possibility that the above is correct, then there is likely nothing else to discuss, since a canine would provide more meaningful debate.
Apparently not. For better or for worse (my guess would be the latter), WVU has lived and died by the three-pointer. Tuesday, the Gold and Blue once again found themselves struggling from the outside. Of course, that did not stop West Virginia from hoisting up 19 shots from long range, even as D'or Fischer was unstoppable in the post. And when you only score 55 points, you are susceptible to the upset. Especially when a pair of pint-sized guards drains 10-of-12 three-pointers, many with the help of providential rolls around the rim. But the Mountaineers did nothing to thwart the embarrassment of a Marshall upset.
WVU opponents have started to defend the three-pointer more vigorously, at least according to the beat writers covering the program. Marshall certainly made a concerted effort to defend the umbrella offense of WVU. Getting a hand in a shooter's face tends to decrease three point efficiency. Of course, Marshall plays with midgets, so WVU's failure from behind the arc is solely the fault of WVU, and not the efforts of the Marshall defenders. BRILLIANT!!
The "size" of a player is not indicative of quality: Earl Boykins, Mugsy Bogues and Calvin Murphy were "pint-sized" bball players that managed to secure NBA contracts and collect more coin than Bupp will likely get in tips on his Domino's route.
The providence of the civic center must only be noticeable when Marshall is the beneficiary - I seem to remember WVU heaving a 35 ft bomb to send a recent MU-WVU game to OT. Spell it, Bupp - H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-C-Y.
As it rained threes, WVU's offensive aggressiveness was invisible, and the primary 1-3-1 defense - hailed 10 days ago as tenacious and confounding - created just nine turnovers. A 10-0 start brought the eye of a nation to Morgantown. And like the football team, the Mountaineers have stumbled in the spotlight. The last three games have produced possibly the three worst performances of the year. Even in the win versus St. John's, WVU struggled. With a stunningly difficult schedule over the next month, Coach Beilein had better right the ship fast, before it capsizes. Disgusting or embarrassing? Tuesday was every bit of both.
Or, as Bupp fails to acknowledge, perhaps WVU was giving the appearance of being a better team than it is.
Overall, this piece is a joke. If I were this kid's editor / instructor, he would not get a satisfactory grade, since he did nothing more than dabble in the art of argument and persuasion. Getting acquainted with facts, and then with reality, might be a wonderful place to start.
You may resume your regular activities. :D
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