Spring Break
My Thanks To The Women Of West Virginia
Kevin Meacham
Issue date: 2/28/07 Section: Sports
Many of you, I imagine, will be spending your spring break in some warm, tropical locale. Perhaps you'll be at home for a nice week off, or perhaps you'll be risking the various diseases one can find in Mexico.
As for myself, I'll spend most of the week in Hartford, watching every game the West Virginia women's basketball team plays in the Big East tournament.
Technically, I'll be there covering UConn's heavily-favored squad most likely roll through the opposition. That's my job.
It will be my pleasure to watch the Mountaineers play, as sort of a thank you for a little heads-up they gave me about a year ago. At the 2006 Big East tournament, as the No. 12 and lowest seed, West Virginia made an incredible run to the championship game, losing by six to UConn in a tense final.
It was a four-day stretch I'll never forget - partly because something like this had never happened before in the Big East and partly because it reminded me why I love sports so much.
The specific moment I'm thinking of is one of those moments that, if you love sports as much as I do, you can't help but smile at.
The scene: unheralded West Virginia, a bunch of young, virtually-unknown players with nothing to lose, on the verge of upsetting No. 1 seed - and undefeated Big East regular-season champion - Rutgers in the semifinals.
Of course, there's no love lost between the Scarlet Knights and UConn fans, who were packing the Hartford Civic Center for UConn's semifinal later that night.
During a TV timeout, as the Mountaineers' pep band begins playing their fight song, the Mountaineer mascot tries to fire up the small contingent of WVU fans in the building. Slowly, the rest of the crowd catches on and seconds later, 15,000 people are clapping in unison with a fight song they'd likely never heard before, lending support to players they couldn't name from a school with which they had nothing in common.
That is the essence of college sports - the triumphant band, the energized mascot, the electric crowd and, of course, the Cinderella story. It's enough to give me chills to this day.
As for myself, I'll spend most of the week in Hartford, watching every game the West Virginia women's basketball team plays in the Big East tournament.
Technically, I'll be there covering UConn's heavily-favored squad most likely roll through the opposition. That's my job.
It will be my pleasure to watch the Mountaineers play, as sort of a thank you for a little heads-up they gave me about a year ago. At the 2006 Big East tournament, as the No. 12 and lowest seed, West Virginia made an incredible run to the championship game, losing by six to UConn in a tense final.
It was a four-day stretch I'll never forget - partly because something like this had never happened before in the Big East and partly because it reminded me why I love sports so much.
The specific moment I'm thinking of is one of those moments that, if you love sports as much as I do, you can't help but smile at.
The scene: unheralded West Virginia, a bunch of young, virtually-unknown players with nothing to lose, on the verge of upsetting No. 1 seed - and undefeated Big East regular-season champion - Rutgers in the semifinals.
Of course, there's no love lost between the Scarlet Knights and UConn fans, who were packing the Hartford Civic Center for UConn's semifinal later that night.
During a TV timeout, as the Mountaineers' pep band begins playing their fight song, the Mountaineer mascot tries to fire up the small contingent of WVU fans in the building. Slowly, the rest of the crowd catches on and seconds later, 15,000 people are clapping in unison with a fight song they'd likely never heard before, lending support to players they couldn't name from a school with which they had nothing in common.
That is the essence of college sports - the triumphant band, the energized mascot, the electric crowd and, of course, the Cinderella story. It's enough to give me chills to this day.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Mike Lilly
posted 3/01/07 @ 11:28 PM EST
You are hereby dubbed an honorary Mountaineer for life. You have obviously felt the pride. Kudos to our friends/fans at UCONN for the support. Hopefully we can someday call your program a rival. (Continued…)
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