When I travel to Pittsburgh this Thursday, it’ll be my 30th Backyard Brawl, by my count. Of course, I covered the vast majority as a sports writer/columnist, but I’ve got WVU leading the series 16-11 with two ties when I attend. Memories? Oh, yeah. A bunch. But perhaps the one I remember the most is […]

Each year an impactful person within the Ohio Valley is honored with a luncheon as the “Light of the Valley” recipient. On Wednesday, that person was Tom “Bear” Bechtel, the longtime director of the Wheeling Recreation Department. (He also oversees softball officiating in West Virginia.) The video (put together, by the way, by Wheelhouse Creative) […]

With a new Backyard Brawl football series between WVU and Pitt on deck, fans will be inundated with recollections, stats and stories. On Oct. 8, 1921, for instance, the Brawl was the first college football game broadcast live on the radio with Harold W. Arlin announcing a 21–13 Pittsburgh victory on KDKA. The last game? […]

One of the first things I noticed when I moved from sports writing to marketing is, well, I’m still around sports. At Wheelhouse Creative, we have many with serious sports loyalties. Yet that’s not what I mean. Sports, I’ve found, are a centerpiece of marketing for both large and small business accounts. And it may […]

When I peruse the old World Wide Web, I don’t see much love for WVU’s football team regarding the 2022 season. A five-win season projected here. A six-win season projected there. Athlon has the Mountaineers ranked No. 51. On and on it goes – despite excitement around the additions of offensive coordinator Graham Harrell and […]

On Monday night, after a Pete Thamel report said merger talks between the Pac-12 and Big 12 had “officially ended,” I texted a high ranking WVU official. “So, I see the merger idea is dead,” I wrote. “No idea is dead,” came the reply. Thamel, though, a fine reporter, said “officials from the Big 12 […]