WVU fans need hoops uprising now more than ever

Although I was a graduate of West Virginia University, I trained myself to keep an arm’s length (at least as much as possible) from emotions while covering the Mountaineers for 38 years.

Where I used the leftover emotions, as well as the familiarity to the history of the school, was in identifying stories and topics I knew Mountaineer Nation (a vast and scattered place) would enjoy.

Now, though, I’m out of the journalism business and into the world of marketing for Wheelhouse Creative and have re-trained myself to openly root for my alma mater. It’s nice, freeing even.

Bringing us to now though. I saw a headline on Tuesday that read, “Blame Decline In Athletics At WVU On New NCAA Model.” (I strongly disagree with that – a copout I believe – but that’s for another day, another blog.)

The point, as WVU fans know, is this is a “down time” regarding Mountaineer sports. There’s a feeling of desperation for those of us who use football and basketball as social maypoles. We need a ribbon, some hope, to hold onto.

That’s one reason I’m rooting extra hard for West Virginia in these next handful of games.

The other, of course, is society away from our sports maypole. There’s more hatred than ever. (I thought as I got older that would get better, not worse.) Politically, there are more circus stunts than meaningful discussions and debates. And then, moving back toward college sports, we watch in horror as shootings occur across our great nation. A mass shooting at Michigan State. Alabama freshman basketball star Brandon Miller supplied (supposedly for “protection”) a gun to his teammate that resulted in the fatal shooting of a 23-year-old woman. And, in light of the above, West Virginia’s legislators are giving the green light to guns on college campuses.

We all need some good news.

We need light to go with Thursday’s 70-degree weather in West Virginia.

So, I find myself continually lunging for that ribbon attached to the WVU maypole.

C’mon, Mountaineers, upset Kansas on Saturday. If your team’s inside game would rise up I think it’s (OK, maybe not entirely, but..) possible.

Then keep it going.

Bust a move on Monday night at the Hilton Coliseum against Iowa State. The Cyclones are coming off an 18-point loss to Texas. (We’ve long since buried WVU’s 34-point loss to the Longhorns, correct?)

Then let’s finish it off with a Senior Day home win over Kansas State.

The Mountaineers are 16-12 now. That would make them 19-12 and a shoo-in to the NCAA tournament, regardless of Big 12 tournament play. Easy peasy.

Three games. Three wins. WVU’s fanbase would rise as one and revert to our former pie-in-the-sky, overly hopeful, crazy status.

Erik Stevenson, time to get red-hot. Tre Mitchell, time to step up the rest of the way. Mountaineer ballhandlers, time to get a handle. Mountaineer frontcourt, time to dominate.

We need that WVU uprising guys.

Especially now.

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Mitch Vingle covered sports in West Virginia for 38 years. Follow Mitch on Twitter at @MitchVingle and be sure to check out the rest of Wheelhouse Creative’s website for your marketing and advertising needs. If interested, call us at 304-905-6005.