“Pregaming” was a big part of watching college football for me when I was in school, as I’m sure it was (or is, or will be) for you. If a nice, happy buzz for a noon kickoff is your thing, you’ve got to get your drink on by 8 or 9 in the morning. West Virginia University thinks that’s too much drinking for one morning, and instead would like you to pound your brews at the stadium itself, according to a proposal submitted to the school.

“We rely on our public safety folks to advise us, and they believe that there are two periods of binge drinking at our tailgates — one is pregame, when people quote-unquote get their buzz on, and then at halftime,” says [WVU athletic director Oliver] Luck, who admits his beer sales proposal may seem counterintuitive. “We can take care of halftime; we can’t really take care of pregame. And so we think that controlled sales will lead to folks feeling as though they don’t have to consume as much alcohol as possible” before entering the stadium.

The plan does permit students of age to drink, provided that they are not sitting in designated student sections. This actually makes some degree of sense if the beer sales are affordable and closely monitored, and it sounds like the Mountaineers are planning to satisfy both of those. Selling alcohol at the stadium itself also ensures that employees are trained to identify and deal with drunken behavior, as required by law pretty much everywhere. Naturally, not everyone is terribly impressed with this plan:

West Virginia’s alcohol sales fate could be sealed June 3, when the Board of Governors is likely to decide whether to rewrite established policy prohibiting alcohol sales in any WVU athletic venues. The logic of Luck’s proposal has been questioned in countless small-town newspaper editorials, yet it is supported by WVU’s president…

AthleticBusiness.com

If you’re a 21-year-old and you have the chance to buy beer legally at the stadium, would you do that instead of trying to cram all of your drinking in beforehand, or trying to smuggle a flask in your back pocket? I think you would.

I don’t know what could happen that would make you think leaving the middle of a game you’re in is a good idea, but West Virginia’s Danny Jennings felt that he couldn’t take sitting on the bench anymore and walked away. Maybe he got pissed that his jersey was misspelled again.

According to multiple reports, the reserve forward left the Mountaineers bench early in the second half of Sunday’s 56-46 victory over South Florida and did not return the rest of the game. An angry West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said in his postgame news conference that the absence was both “unexcused” and “inexcusable,” adding that Jennings is “never to be seen again, I guess.”

“I understand you have to report it and that’s fine, but can we talk about the guys who play?” Huggins said. “Because he didn’t play anyway. And hasn’t played.

“The truth of the matter is he’s been a non-entity. You know, we started him to try to get some other guys motivated and things, and he did work hard in practice for a while, but he hasn’t — I mean, look at his career stats. We didn’t just lose Kevin Jones. You know what I’m saying? It’s a sidebar.” -The Dagger.

Reading what Huggins said after the game, it seems like Jennings on the team wasn’t something that looked like it would work. Huggins seems like a guy that loves his players, and I mean loves his players, but he sounded like a pretty big ass with his comments. Then again, Jennings’ side of the story hasn’t been revealed yet, so it could be possible that what Huggins said about his failed attempts to get Jennings involved are true. I’m sure Jennings, who averaged about two points and two rebounds in eight minutes, will have no trouble finding another college program that will take his impressive scoring skills and determination.

It was bad enough that Duke beat West Virginia to advance to the national championship game, but we also had to watch one of the Mountaineers suffer a career-threatening injury during what seemed like garbage time. De’Sean Butler, who was a slated first-round pick in at least one NBA Mock Draft, was diagnosed with a torn ACL. But that wasn’t on Huggins.

Sports information director Bryan Messerly said the MRI also revealed a sprain of the medial collateral ligament and two bone bruises.

Butler, West Virginia’s leading scorer, drew a foul after driving into Duke’s Brian Zoubek under the basket with 8:59 left in the second half of the 78-57 loss. –ESPN.

No, the big news was how West Virginia coach Bob Huggins left the bench to comfort the hysterical Butler, who probably could see the cash from a potential NBA contract floating out of his pockets as he writhed in pain. Sure, basketball shorts don’t have pockets, but bear with me. Huggins’ tender touch showed both a caring love for his player and a bizarre ignorance of personal space that’s difficult to qualify. See the images for yourself after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

The “Backyard Brawl,” the moniker given for the rivalry between Pittsburgh and West Virginia, took an unpleasant turn last night. After a late second-half comeback by Pittsburgh in their game against West Virginia, some fan in the Mountaineer crowd threw something toward the Pitt bench, launching a bizarre sequence of events and technical fouls that eventually led to West Virginia coach Bob Huggins, in a delightful fit of irony, lecturing the crowd on their behavior.

Huggins grabbed a microphone and addressed the fans a short time after objects were thrown on the court with 12:08 left, telling the crowd, “don’t throw anything on the floor. That’s stupid.”

As the crowd applauded him, Huggins then asked if someone did it again, “point him out so we can throw him out of here.”

It’s just part of the legacy of the Mecca of the burning couch.

West Virginia’s students were sent several e-mails by a university official in recent weeks over their behavior at games. They were asked to tone down their language after profanities were heard on national TV in a Jan. 23 win over Ohio State. Against Louisville last Saturday, fans chanted the name of a woman that Cardinals coach Rick Pitino admitted having sex with outside his marriage. –Y! Sports.

The object turned out to be a coin that hit a Pittsburgh assistant coach in the face. West Virginia was assessed a technical foul as a result. Huggins had a DUI charge in 2004 that eventually led to his dismissal at Cincinnati, so it’s hilarious to me to see him lecturing others on how to behave in public. That said, the beatnik that mistook the basketball court for a water fountain at the mall has no business being anywhere in public. We’re in a recession, yo. Keep that money in your pocket and pass the savings onto yourself.

West Virginia and Xavier played the only closely contested tourney game last night, with the 3-seed Muskies getting the 79-75 win in overtime thanks to some clutch three-point shooting by B.J. Raymond.  The win puts Xavier in the Elite 8 (they'll play UCLA Saturday) and guarantees at least two more days of witty headlines using X-related puns.

There was much excitement at the end of regulation, as Joe Alexander (18 points, 10 rebounds) was fouled as he evened the game at 64 with a short jumper off the glass, but he missed the critical "and 1".  In overtime, the Mountaineers led 71-65, but poor free throw shooting and Xavier's three-point attack (11-for-19 compared to 1-of-11 for WVU) ultimately gave X the win.

I bet Bob Huggins is so fucking wasted right now.

Other games: Tennessee probably could have used a starting point guard in its loss to Louisville, while UCLA and UNC cruised to predictable wins.  Meh.  My March Madness is dissipating into more of a mild annoyance.

West Virginia hired a new coach to replace Rich Rodriguez, who departed for a better job at Michigan almost a month ago.  But WFV fans are still plenty pissed that someone would have the temerity to leave such a fine state.

Mountaineer fans furious over Rodriguez’s Dec. 16 decision to accept the head coaching job at Michigan have vandalized his home near Morgantown, hanging signs on a fence and tossing a mailbox in the yard. Arleen Rodriguez [Rich's mother] says her teenage grandson received a death threat and found other harassing notes taped to his locker at East Fairmont (Va.) High School, while her 12-year-old granddaughter had to be escorted to classes.

It's kind of awkward for me to provide commentary on this story, because when I first read it I thought that Rich Rodriguez and Robert Rodriguez were the same person.  I read it three times and kept thinking, "Sure, the Spy Kids movies are dumb, but is it really worth threatening his children over?  And shouldn't Sin City earn him a free pass?"  In hindsight, I guess it makes a little more sense than I originally thought.

[via The Debriefing]