On a Roll
December 09, 2011 10:25 AM | General
Sometimes you can get on a roll. I got on one earlier this week and from there, I rolled right down the hill.
It started on Monday when I came up with the bright idea of asking Orange Bowl rep Jeff Rubin a question during his afternoon news conference in the Jerry West Room at the WVU Coliseum. At one point during his presser there was a lull, as there sometimes are during these things, so I thought I would groove one right down the middle, belt high, so he could knock it out of the park.
I asked him about the parade.
The parade, you know the one we used to watch on New Year’s Day morning before our 13-channel television sets were invaded by all those great college football games. It was the best day ever for a 12-year-old back in the day – more than one college football game to watch, and a parade to kick things off to boot!
There is nothing quite like playing a little Pong or Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em in the morning, watching the Orange Bowl parade on the TV right next to the family Christmas tree, and then seeing USC and Ohio State get it on in the Rose Bowl, and later, watching Oklahoma and Florida State battle it out in the Orange Bowl. (When the Orange Bowl ended sometime around 11 o’clock that’s when the holiday was officially over. In our house, that meant the Christmas tree went right out the front window. If mom got rid of the tree all of the ornaments were neatly packed away. If dad did it, some of the bulbs were included with Monday’s garbage).
But I digress.
Back to the parade; the Orange Bowl no longer has one. It seems they got out of the parade business about 12 years ago.
Where have I been? Getting ready for a bowl game or a basketball game, I suppose.
West Virginia sports marketing director Matt Wells nearly dropped his cell phone when he heard Rubin’s answer – or my question, I’m not sure which. Matt looked at me like my fly was open before biting down on his bottom lip to keep from laughing out loud.
Metaphorically, I suppose it was.
Anyway, Rubin deftly pivoted away from my Rick Perry moment to discuss all of the great events taking place down on South Beach leading up to the big game. He was even able to work in Train, one of the musical acts that will be performing down there that week.
You could tell by the way Rubin took my dumb question in stride that he’s done a lot of talk radio over the years – a real pro!
Not to be outdone, I had a second Rick Perry moment the following afternoon. Bob Huggins was sitting in one of the chairs along the Coliseum floor waiting to talk to the Fourth Estate about his team’s upcoming game at Kansas State.
Mickey Furfari, the Friendly Scribe, as he was once coined by the late Dick Polen, was talking to Huggs about the Mississippi State game and I needed to get something quick from the coach on Kansas State.
My prep time for Huggs’ presser that afternoon consisted of reading the K-State preview in the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook (which, by the way, I highly recommend to any college basketball fan out there). When in doubt, or pressed for time as I was, always go to the hoop bible to get what you need, I figured.
Well, two paragraphs into the K-State preview it discusses how coach Frank Martin must try to work in six newcomers to overcome the loss of his two big guns Jacob Pullen and Curtis Kelly. Simple enough, I thought, I will ask Huggs how that compares to what he’s facing with this year’s team trying to work in seven new players.
“Frank’s got a young team kind of like you do. Can you talk about them a little bit?” I asked. “He’s trying to work in six new guys, right?”
Huggins, now just four wins shy of 700 for his career - which, by the way, is 696 more than I have - looked at me like I had three eyeballs.
“Who have you been listening to, Frank?” Huggins said. “I mean come on. They’ve got (Jamar) Samuels back, a four-year guy, they’ve got (Rodney) McGruder back, a three-year starter; he’s playing one freshman.”
Two days, two dumb questions in a row. I was on a roll; in the zone.
However, that pales in comparison to my No. 1 dumb question of all time. That happened back in 2002 when I was talking to Avon Cobourne about the moxie of then-sophomore quarterback Rasheed Marshall.
I casually asked Avon, “So, how is Rasheed’s huddle presence?”
Back then, huddle presence was just catching on as the cool thing to ask football guys. Asking that automatically made you sound five times smarter than you really were.
“Huddle presence,” Avon repeated, giving me a stupefied look. “We don’t huddle.”
So true, oh, so true. If you remember, West Virginia was running Rich Rod’s no-huddle, spread offense at the time.
Bob Hertzel, who was hanging around looking for some column fillers that evening, got his column filler that evening.
I guess at least somebody got something out of it.
It started on Monday when I came up with the bright idea of asking Orange Bowl rep Jeff Rubin a question during his afternoon news conference in the Jerry West Room at the WVU Coliseum. At one point during his presser there was a lull, as there sometimes are during these things, so I thought I would groove one right down the middle, belt high, so he could knock it out of the park.
I asked him about the parade.
The parade, you know the one we used to watch on New Year’s Day morning before our 13-channel television sets were invaded by all those great college football games. It was the best day ever for a 12-year-old back in the day – more than one college football game to watch, and a parade to kick things off to boot!
There is nothing quite like playing a little Pong or Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em in the morning, watching the Orange Bowl parade on the TV right next to the family Christmas tree, and then seeing USC and Ohio State get it on in the Rose Bowl, and later, watching Oklahoma and Florida State battle it out in the Orange Bowl. (When the Orange Bowl ended sometime around 11 o’clock that’s when the holiday was officially over. In our house, that meant the Christmas tree went right out the front window. If mom got rid of the tree all of the ornaments were neatly packed away. If dad did it, some of the bulbs were included with Monday’s garbage).
But I digress.
Back to the parade; the Orange Bowl no longer has one. It seems they got out of the parade business about 12 years ago.
Where have I been? Getting ready for a bowl game or a basketball game, I suppose.
West Virginia sports marketing director Matt Wells nearly dropped his cell phone when he heard Rubin’s answer – or my question, I’m not sure which. Matt looked at me like my fly was open before biting down on his bottom lip to keep from laughing out loud.
Metaphorically, I suppose it was.
Anyway, Rubin deftly pivoted away from my Rick Perry moment to discuss all of the great events taking place down on South Beach leading up to the big game. He was even able to work in Train, one of the musical acts that will be performing down there that week.
You could tell by the way Rubin took my dumb question in stride that he’s done a lot of talk radio over the years – a real pro!
Not to be outdone, I had a second Rick Perry moment the following afternoon. Bob Huggins was sitting in one of the chairs along the Coliseum floor waiting to talk to the Fourth Estate about his team’s upcoming game at Kansas State.
Mickey Furfari, the Friendly Scribe, as he was once coined by the late Dick Polen, was talking to Huggs about the Mississippi State game and I needed to get something quick from the coach on Kansas State.
My prep time for Huggs’ presser that afternoon consisted of reading the K-State preview in the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook (which, by the way, I highly recommend to any college basketball fan out there). When in doubt, or pressed for time as I was, always go to the hoop bible to get what you need, I figured.
Well, two paragraphs into the K-State preview it discusses how coach Frank Martin must try to work in six newcomers to overcome the loss of his two big guns Jacob Pullen and Curtis Kelly. Simple enough, I thought, I will ask Huggs how that compares to what he’s facing with this year’s team trying to work in seven new players.
“Frank’s got a young team kind of like you do. Can you talk about them a little bit?” I asked. “He’s trying to work in six new guys, right?”
Huggins, now just four wins shy of 700 for his career - which, by the way, is 696 more than I have - looked at me like I had three eyeballs.
“Who have you been listening to, Frank?” Huggins said. “I mean come on. They’ve got (Jamar) Samuels back, a four-year guy, they’ve got (Rodney) McGruder back, a three-year starter; he’s playing one freshman.”
Two days, two dumb questions in a row. I was on a roll; in the zone.
However, that pales in comparison to my No. 1 dumb question of all time. That happened back in 2002 when I was talking to Avon Cobourne about the moxie of then-sophomore quarterback Rasheed Marshall.
I casually asked Avon, “So, how is Rasheed’s huddle presence?”
Back then, huddle presence was just catching on as the cool thing to ask football guys. Asking that automatically made you sound five times smarter than you really were.
“Huddle presence,” Avon repeated, giving me a stupefied look. “We don’t huddle.”
So true, oh, so true. If you remember, West Virginia was running Rich Rod’s no-huddle, spread offense at the time.
Bob Hertzel, who was hanging around looking for some column fillers that evening, got his column filler that evening.
I guess at least somebody got something out of it.
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