Football Season Approaches...

Probably my favorite sport to watch would have to be football. It's high action, high impact, pure excitement. I try to go to as many games as I possibly can in a season...home games, away games...the more, the better. But, as much as I enjoy it, it is probably one of the most aggravating times as well.

The relationship I have with football is love/hate at best. The teams I support never fail to disappoint. I mean, let's throw high school football out right now. My high school team hasn't seen the playoffs since 1976, before I was born. I haven't researched it, but I'm guessing it has to be one of the longest streaks in the state.

Out of my Top 10 Sports Disappointments, 9 of them come from football...so, it becomes quite obvious that football is a very big disappointment to me. To expedite, I will just give my top 5 football disappointments.


5. 1989 Fiesta Bowl (Notre Dame 34 - WVU 21)
I was too naive at the time for it to be higher on the list. The house was decorated in Mountaineer stuff and a lot of people came over to watch the game. Mountaineer hysteria was at an all-time high since they were playing for their first shot at a national title. I remember watching the game and the opening showed the "country roads" of West Virginia and everyone looked like hicks. It was a sad opening for the state. The only thing more sad was how the Mountaineers played.

4. 1996 Super Bowl (Dallas 27 v. Pittsburgh 17)
The first Super Bowl shot for the Steelers in 16 years. There were songs saying "Here We Go Steelers" and the such. Everyone was walking about saying stupid things like "We’re finally getting one for the thumb". It had been 16 years folks...this one doesn’t count as like the 5th in a row. Of course, none of that would matter as the Cowboys controlled the game and easily defeated "Cowher Power".

3. 2004 Gator Bowl (Maryland 41 v. WVU 7)
Another one of those games I had the misfortune of attending. Same as the Tire Bowl from the year before: The opponent scored early and scored often. WVU looked completely befuddled. Whatever Rich had drawn up for the game didn’t work and, instead of trying a different plan of attack, they continued with the same ineffective running plays. When you’re down by like 3 touchdowns, throw the ball people. Just throw the @$!%¢ ball for God’s sake. Excuse me.

2. 2005 AFC Championship Game (New England 41 v. Pittsburgh 27)
Why so high? Because it’s fresh in memory and it was just bad. Big Ben coming off his worst game in the NFL starts the next game in the same fashion. Interception on the first pass that leads to a field goal. Granted, it was a remarkable season. 15-1 was unbelievable. But we expected a good close game and, instead, the Patriots ran over the Steelers. The Steelers did battle back and seem to be a play away from making it close but the fact is that they lost and it should have been by 21, not 14.

1. 2004-2005 WVU football (8-4)
Once again, the hype killed them. Before one snap of the ball, Lee Corso was saying this Mountaineer team would play for a National Championship. WVU was supposed to own the Big East and go to its first ever BCS Bowl in a runaway. No one could stop the running game and Marshall's arm was allegedly much improved. Oh, and don’t forget the amazing skills of your buddy and mine, Chris Henry. Hmmm...missed that call Coach. WVU got as high as 6th in the polls before blowing a game to Virginia Tech at cold Lane Stadium. They could have righted the ship and still sailed in to the BCS but back-to-back losses to Boston College and Pittsburgh sealed the Mounties fate. Another trip to the Gator Bowl and similar results. WVU spotted the ‘Noles an easy 10 points and lost by a score of 30-18 ending the "undefeated season" at 8-4. This marked the 11th loss in 12 tries in post-season play for the Mountaineers and Rich Rod’s 3rd bowl loss. Combined score of those 3 losses, 119-32. Awesome.

Ah, football. At some point, I will put up my prediction for the 2005 Mountaineer season and my expectatations for the Steelers. Maybe tomorrow...maybe not.