Switching Sides
November 30, 2007 11:12 AM | General
November 30, 2007
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| Vaughn Rivers |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Perhaps nobody has ever captured the sentiment that West Virginia natives and diehard fans have for Pitt better than the mother of the late Jack Fleming.
The Fleming house used to overlook Old Mountaineer Field and when Pitt would come out onto the field against West Virginia Fleming’s mother would sit the future “Voice of the Mountaineers” on her knee, point down at them and firmly state, “Son, that’s Pitt. You hate Pitt now. You hate Pitt tomorrow. You hate Pitt after you die. After that, you will hate Pitt for eternity.”
And so began a life-long hatred for the Evil Empire that resides 75 miles to the north.
Of course Fleming didn’t hate the city of Pittsburgh or any of its other sports teams. He served as the play-by-play man for the Pittsburgh Steelers during their Golden Era and also made his home in Pittsburgh for many years.
He is just one of many Mountaineers that lived in and around Pittsburgh and yet held a healthy disdain for the University that resides in Oakland.
There are a host of West Virginia players that are in a similar position this week, being from Pittsburgh and now finding themselves on the other side of one of college football’s oldest continuing rivalries.
Junior linebacker Mortty Ivy, who hails from Monroeville, Pa., enjoys the chance to play the Panthers, mostly because he gets to compete against familiar faces that he played against in high school.
“Playing with all of my boys from home it’s like high school all over again,” Ivy said. “I love playing against the guys I know from there and talking to them before and during the game. Playing with so many guys that you know truly makes this a real Backyard Brawl.
“I know a lot of them because most of them came in the same class with me or they are a year above me or a year a lower,” Ivy said. “We started this week with a little chit chat saying who is going to win. It’s nothing serious - we just have fun with it.”
While playing against the Panthers is simply fun for some Steel City natives, the game serves as a constant proving ground for others. Senior cornerback and punt returner Vaughn Rivers was named the city league player of the year at nearby Perry High, yet on the recruiting trail he didn’t garner so much as a sniff from the Panthers.
“It just gave me a little chip on my shoulder almost like a player that goes undrafted and becomes a free agent. I don’t think it hurt me. It just gave me a lot of motivation. Now whenever I play them I try to show them what they missed,” Rivers said with a wry smile.
Rivers has a strong sense of this rivalry, having followed it closely for the past decade. He looked almost embarrassed earlier this week when he sheepishly admitted that he rooted for the Panthers in his youth.
“I had to be a hometown fan,” Rivers said. “I paid a lot of attention. I would watch Pitt and the Steelers play every Saturday and Sunday. I can remember every game basically from 1997 and up. I can remember watching Amos Zereoue and Rasheed (Marshall) when he came down here.”
Fellow backfield mate and Rivers’ roommate and high school teammate Eric Wicks also remembers watching the stars that performed in previous Backyard Brawls through the years.
“I followed the guys that played in it like (Rod) Rutherford and Major (Harris) and (Marc) Bulger and all those great players. As it went on, I was on Pitt’s side as a young boy and then switched over to West Virginia so I know both sides of it,” Wicks said. “I feel like West Virginia’s fans are a lot truer than Pitt fans.”
Few would argue that last point, least among them the thousands of yellow chairs that come to Heinz Field disguised as Pitt fans every Saturday in the fall.
While junior kicker Pat McAfee admits he was too busy playing soccer at Plum (Pa.) High School outside Pittsburgh to worry about anything related to American football, he got a strange indoctrination into the meaning of the Backyard Brawl when his teachers gave him an odd send-off at the end of his senior year.
“A lot of my teachers in high school went to Pitt and in my senior year when they found out I was coming here they said, ‘I wish you best of luck every game except I want you to miss the game winner against Pitt every year,’” McAfee said.
Senior safety Ryan Mundy was recruited by both West Virginia and Pitt coming out of high school but chose Michigan as a chance to get away. Now at West Virginia to conclude his career as a post-graduate transfer, Mundy recalls watching Pitt play in his youth.
“I remember watching guys like Curtis Martin and I got a sense of what this rivalry means. This means a lot to this area,” Mundy said.
Having been a key contributor in the Ohio State-Michigan game, Mundy knows a thing or two about big college football rivalries. He believes the bitter feelings Pitt and West Virginia fans have for one another are every bit as real and fierce as those of the Buckeye and Wolverine supporters.
“A rivalry is rivalry. I don’t think there are any certain degrees or anything to rivalries,” Mundy said. “Some just might get publicized more. This is a great tradition. If you don’t like somebody you just don’t like them. Down here, people hate Pitt.”
Somewhere Jack and his mother are smiling.
