Travel notes: I flew in late Friday night from Houston; secured a rental car and stayed by the airport at the Hyatt Place. All in all… it was pretty easy.
Drive: One of my favorite things to do is to drive to a game day destination by myself. For example, I love the Hwy 6 drive from Houston to Waco. I usually leave very early, and I get a handful of hours away from my family (also includes my Longhorn family). Just quiet and no negativity. I had no idea what I was getting into with this trip since it was my first to Morgantown.
My Mountaineer friends are notorious heavy drinkers. For weeks, they have pestered me about riding with them. I had visions of being trapped in Morgantown while waiting for them to sober up or even worse riding with them when they shouldn’t be driving. I also didn’t want to wait around in Pittsburgh waiting to be picked up with the clock ticking for another late morning kickoff. I passed and secured my own rental.
The drive was very easy. I left around 6:20, and I was at a Cracker Barrel in Morgantown by 7:30. No traffic. Just a lovely drive minus one small stretch of construction. I actually called my WVU friends at 6:30 on the road to get a handle on their ETA. They weren’t even awake yet.
Always control your own destiny on the road.
Campus/tailgating: It’s a beautiful setting. That alone makes any outdoor drinking activity a winner. One thing I noticed driving around is that I saw very few people dragging coolers or tailgating equipment. I swear every human being I saw the first two hours was carrying their own 12 pack. At one point I thought about taking pictures. If you saw six people, they were all comfortably dressed carrying their own 12 pack. I went into one gas station/store and there was a long line and everyone had one 12 pack (even the ladies). I asked if a 12 pack on game day was a some sort of game day tradition or a state law. They just responded with, “ ‘horns down!“. The first of thousands on the day.
Game: One of the cool things about traveling is that you never know who you will run into. I had amazing seats. I sat down some 20 rows on the 40 behind the Texas bench.
I was very fortunate to sit next to someone who retired 16 years ago after teaching for 38 years at WVU. It was treasure to talk with him about college football over the last 50+ years for the 3+ hours. He was incredibly knowledgeable. As a former coach, I was very impressed.
I met another guy who trains dogs for a living. I tailgated with his wife and family for a couple of hours before the game. They were out tailgating early, and I was attracted to them since they were decked out in Texas gear. He was from Virginia and always comes to the Texas/WVU game in Morgantown. He said he fell in love with Texas when he was 10 watching Ricky Williams. It’s kinda like when you run into Cowboy fans in their late 50’s who have never been to Texas.
The brand matters. We need to take better care of it.
Overall, the fans in Morgantown weren’t very warm. Sure, you run into some good and bad ones everywhere. But, this group… ranks right behind tOSU… I mean pOSU fans. I don’t think some of you that I know would have done very well with folks doing the ‘horns down a few inches from you face. I struggled with it internally. I just kept thinking to myself, “I have stuff to do this week. It’s not worth it. Get home safely.”
I never felt unsafe, but there was a lot of college students, and they were all armed with their 12 packs. None of ‘em missed an opportunity to give me shit as I walked around their campus.
WVU fans… they’re a wounded bunch with a very underrated football history. WVU played for a NC and missed one losing to Pitt late in 2006 in the last 35 years. They have three big New Year’s bowl wins against Georgia, OU and Clemson this century. That’s impressive if you compare it to the other school in our state that thinks they’ve always been big time. WVU is not a big fish in the world of college football. Texas is a big fish. And as we all know, we are hated fo shizzle.
The game atmosphere was a bit down. They’ve had a disappointing year as well. That place probably rocks if it’s a night game and if they have a few more wins under their belt.
I was very close to the Texas bench. I thought it was interesting that Texas had several young players traveling with them that were not going to get into the game. Something to watch portal-wise over the next few weeks. The body language wasn’t as bad as I expected.
The 15 military folks (from early flyover) who stood on the goal line between the 3rd and 4th quarters and then tried to out do each other doing the “ ‘horns down!” on the video board for crowd reactions was disappointing… kinda hurt too.
After Casey’s pick at the end, I left. That was a huge mistake as I greeted by some 800+ fans lining the lower section steps. They all shouted at me as I walked up to the concourse. Yeah, that was brutal.
Easy drive back to Pittsburgh. I was tired and retreated to my hotel.
Sunday: Pittsburg folks were extremely warm my entire visit. They’re a proud bunch. If you’ve every been in that part of the country on Sunday morning in the fall, you know the town turns Black and Gold. Even old ladies have jerseys on. All the staff at a breakfast restaurant were decked out. They’re all in… all over the city.
Anyway, I had 12 hours to kill on Sunday. So I took the opportunity to visit the site where United Flight 93 went down. It’s about a 90 minute drive east of Pittsburgh. Just… wow. It was great experience. I’m not even sure where to begin. Just know it’s very, very well done. The park rangers at the site are very accommodating and many were witnesses that day. They took the time to talk with me. They asked about my own experience that day. You can feel it. You are on sacred ground. The drive there is beautiful and very tranquil. It’s not commercialized in any way. There a very few signs to guide you there. I was expecting billboards, etc. to direct me there. You should absolutely make time to visit if you are within two or 3 hours of Shanksville.
Drive: One of my favorite things to do is to drive to a game day destination by myself. For example, I love the Hwy 6 drive from Houston to Waco. I usually leave very early, and I get a handful of hours away from my family (also includes my Longhorn family). Just quiet and no negativity. I had no idea what I was getting into with this trip since it was my first to Morgantown.
My Mountaineer friends are notorious heavy drinkers. For weeks, they have pestered me about riding with them. I had visions of being trapped in Morgantown while waiting for them to sober up or even worse riding with them when they shouldn’t be driving. I also didn’t want to wait around in Pittsburgh waiting to be picked up with the clock ticking for another late morning kickoff. I passed and secured my own rental.
The drive was very easy. I left around 6:20, and I was at a Cracker Barrel in Morgantown by 7:30. No traffic. Just a lovely drive minus one small stretch of construction. I actually called my WVU friends at 6:30 on the road to get a handle on their ETA. They weren’t even awake yet.
Always control your own destiny on the road.
Campus/tailgating: It’s a beautiful setting. That alone makes any outdoor drinking activity a winner. One thing I noticed driving around is that I saw very few people dragging coolers or tailgating equipment. I swear every human being I saw the first two hours was carrying their own 12 pack. At one point I thought about taking pictures. If you saw six people, they were all comfortably dressed carrying their own 12 pack. I went into one gas station/store and there was a long line and everyone had one 12 pack (even the ladies). I asked if a 12 pack on game day was a some sort of game day tradition or a state law. They just responded with, “ ‘horns down!“. The first of thousands on the day.
Game: One of the cool things about traveling is that you never know who you will run into. I had amazing seats. I sat down some 20 rows on the 40 behind the Texas bench.
I was very fortunate to sit next to someone who retired 16 years ago after teaching for 38 years at WVU. It was treasure to talk with him about college football over the last 50+ years for the 3+ hours. He was incredibly knowledgeable. As a former coach, I was very impressed.
I met another guy who trains dogs for a living. I tailgated with his wife and family for a couple of hours before the game. They were out tailgating early, and I was attracted to them since they were decked out in Texas gear. He was from Virginia and always comes to the Texas/WVU game in Morgantown. He said he fell in love with Texas when he was 10 watching Ricky Williams. It’s kinda like when you run into Cowboy fans in their late 50’s who have never been to Texas.
The brand matters. We need to take better care of it.
Overall, the fans in Morgantown weren’t very warm. Sure, you run into some good and bad ones everywhere. But, this group… ranks right behind tOSU… I mean pOSU fans. I don’t think some of you that I know would have done very well with folks doing the ‘horns down a few inches from you face. I struggled with it internally. I just kept thinking to myself, “I have stuff to do this week. It’s not worth it. Get home safely.”
I never felt unsafe, but there was a lot of college students, and they were all armed with their 12 packs. None of ‘em missed an opportunity to give me shit as I walked around their campus.
WVU fans… they’re a wounded bunch with a very underrated football history. WVU played for a NC and missed one losing to Pitt late in 2006 in the last 35 years. They have three big New Year’s bowl wins against Georgia, OU and Clemson this century. That’s impressive if you compare it to the other school in our state that thinks they’ve always been big time. WVU is not a big fish in the world of college football. Texas is a big fish. And as we all know, we are hated fo shizzle.
The game atmosphere was a bit down. They’ve had a disappointing year as well. That place probably rocks if it’s a night game and if they have a few more wins under their belt.
I was very close to the Texas bench. I thought it was interesting that Texas had several young players traveling with them that were not going to get into the game. Something to watch portal-wise over the next few weeks. The body language wasn’t as bad as I expected.
The 15 military folks (from early flyover) who stood on the goal line between the 3rd and 4th quarters and then tried to out do each other doing the “ ‘horns down!” on the video board for crowd reactions was disappointing… kinda hurt too.
After Casey’s pick at the end, I left. That was a huge mistake as I greeted by some 800+ fans lining the lower section steps. They all shouted at me as I walked up to the concourse. Yeah, that was brutal.
Easy drive back to Pittsburgh. I was tired and retreated to my hotel.
Sunday: Pittsburg folks were extremely warm my entire visit. They’re a proud bunch. If you’ve every been in that part of the country on Sunday morning in the fall, you know the town turns Black and Gold. Even old ladies have jerseys on. All the staff at a breakfast restaurant were decked out. They’re all in… all over the city.
Anyway, I had 12 hours to kill on Sunday. So I took the opportunity to visit the site where United Flight 93 went down. It’s about a 90 minute drive east of Pittsburgh. Just… wow. It was great experience. I’m not even sure where to begin. Just know it’s very, very well done. The park rangers at the site are very accommodating and many were witnesses that day. They took the time to talk with me. They asked about my own experience that day. You can feel it. You are on sacred ground. The drive there is beautiful and very tranquil. It’s not commercialized in any way. There a very few signs to guide you there. I was expecting billboards, etc. to direct me there. You should absolutely make time to visit if you are within two or 3 hours of Shanksville.
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