Well, Jamie and I didn’t land tickets to WVU’s Big XII Debut
against Baylor, but we were thankfully able to listen to Tony Caridi give the play by play during the game. And, we live close
enough to the stadium, that we were able to walk over and visit with a few
friends before the game, and we had a few friends visit us afterward at home.
And what a game it was! It was one of the highest scoring
games I can remember—for both team combined, and I believe it set records for
the most points scored in a Big XII game ever too. And everyone is talking
about Geno and his incredible numbers (here’s a great article from the Oct 1 USAToday that talks about his and WVU's success and potential for the Heisman this year). I’m hopeful that these young athletes will stay healthy and
that they will be able to continue to build on this momentum as they depart for
games in Texas over the next two weeks.
Not only were the athletes incredible, but Jamie and I were
able to take a peak at the stadium as we walked home yesterday, and we saw
sections of Mountaineer field striped in Blue and Gold—it looked incredible
seeing folks decked out in WVU colors, and it was cool to hear the roar of the
crowds along with “Air Raid” sirens after each reception for a touchdown.
What a season thus far, and I hope we see many more games of
similar stature this year.
I have been thinking a lot lately about rankings. For some reason, in America we have a fascination with ranking and categorizing things. Our school, our state, our country, it doesn't matter, we categorize and we rank. We feel a sense of pride, or dismay at our rankings too. In fact, one can easily get a sense of identity from "our" group being ranked somewhere really high.
For instance, after a quick perusal of the Mountaineer Sports Network website, I noticed that we not only have the #3 football team in the country, and our men's soccer team is #14 and our rifle team is #4. Those rankings excited me. In fact I feel a sense of pride in our teams even though I had nothing to do with their rankings.
My friend Jeremiah sent me a link to an article featuring another ranking. It appears that WVU is the #1 party school in the country according to the princeton review. This statistic came as a result of surveying 120,000 students from around the country. Needless to say, not everyone is rejoicing over a ranking like this. Some students and alumni are excited and proud of this ranking. Obviously, it isn't the kind of ranking that an administration looks forward to seeing.
Personally, it is just a reminder of some of the many places where we can go to find our identity, and the unique influences of the spiritual and climate of a college campus.