Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
Sports Can Teach Us Valuable Life Lessons
April 28, 2020 11:17 AM | Football, Blog
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Is the glass half full or is it half empty? Sports can often teach us valuable lessons in life.
Yesterday I was reminded of this, thanks to Dan Zangrilli's hard work re-assembling the radio broadcast of West Virginia's great 2005 comeback victory over Louisville for Mountaineer Memories.
How fitting it was to rebroadcast that game right now!
Some Mountaineer fans stuck with their team that mid-October afternoon, even when things looked beyond bleak, while others bailed for their tailgates or hopped in their cars and headed for home.
And who could blame them? West Virginia had royally stunk up the joint in the first half, and was stinking it up in the third quarter as well.
By intermission Louisville was in complete control of the game, mustering a two-to-one advantage in time of possession, a 294-to-56 edge in total yardage and most disconcerting, a 17-0 margin on the scoreboard.
It was so bad that West Virginia's meager passing attack had netted just one yard – backwards.
All hope was seemingly lost when Louisville's 245-pound battering ram, Michael Bush, plowed his way into the end zone with 6:04 left in the third quarter to give the Cardinals a 24-7 lead.
Or was it?
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Cardinals once again had possession of the football and were poised to deliver the dagger. Positioned at West Virginia's 34-yard line and facing a fourth and 1 situation, Louisville coach Bobby Petrino went for the jugular.
Instead of handing the ball to Bush, who averaged more than four yards for his 37 rushing attempts that day – easily more than enough yardage to keep the sticks moving – Petrino tried a deep pass down the far sideline to tight end Gary Barnidge, who by the way, turned out to be a pretty decent NFL player with the Carolina Panthers and the Cleveland Browns, once earning a Pro Bowl berth in 2015.
Of course, Barnidge was wide open because everyone wearing a blue jersey was coming after Bush and quarterback Brian Brohm delivered yet another accurate aerial right into his young tight end's arms.
Game over.
Or was it?
As fate would have it, Barnidge took his eyes off the football and dropped it. The Mountaineers were still on a ventilator, but at least they were breathing.
Starting quarterback Adam Bednarik, sharing time behind center with redshirt freshman Pat White, ran three straight times for a first down. The fourth time he had the football in his hands, blitzing Louisville linebacker Brandon Johnson came crashing through the line and violently threw him to the ground, injuring Bednarik's ankle.
He had to be helped to the sidelines, meaning the Mountaineers were going to have to play the final 14 minutes of the game with a freshman running the offense.
Yet another setback.
But four minutes later, that freshman had West Virginia back in the end zone for a second time that afternoon.
Then, the Mountaineers tried an onside kick – a pooch kick that turned out to be an illegal one because the receiving player wasn't given an opportunity to catch the football – but it wasn't illegal because the refs screwed it up.
Finally, a break!
Following a long discussion, West Virginia ended up getting the football at its own 48 and four minutes later, White had marched WVU into range for Pat McAfee to kick a 28-yard field goal.
A Louisville lead that was 24-7 just eight minutes prior was now only 24-17.
The people who had left the stadium early, such as Rob Gatian, began huddling around their radios. "I listened to the radio in the Lowes parking lot in utter shock," he posted on one of the WVU football fan Facebook sites, adding, "I'm such a dumbass."
Others took advantage of the pass-out system that was in place at the time and started returning to the stadium - in droves!
From across the field sitting in the press box, you could see the bare gray seats filling up once again with gold and blue, particularly in the student section.
"(It was) fun watching people filing back in who hadn't left the parking lot yet," posted Scott Simmons, who told his sick girlfriend to go home in the third quarter to spare her the misery of having to watch an equally sick football team.
At least he could watch the rest of the game without having to listen to her complain about it, he undoubtedly thought.
The ones who never lost hope and remained throughout, such as Simmons, Angela Barnett, Mike Scordato, Ralph Morris, Barb Navarini-Higgins, Jill Buono, Carolyn Mayo Wentz, Sandy Pell, Carol Gilbert, Bobby Christian, Bill Brunetti (who ordered his father to stay in his seat when he wanted to leave with everyone else in the third quarter) and many, many others, were now cheering louder than ever.
Even the flip-floppers, with the help of some liquid encouragement, of course, were back yelling their lungs out!
And their great enthusiasm mattered.
Bush finally went backwards a yard, and the bravado Petrino once displayed in the third quarter was completely gone. The next play he called, a conservative pass to Bush coming out of the backfield, was broken up by linebacker Boo McLee.
Mike Lorello successfully defended a second one to Joshua Tinch.
By now, the once half-empty stadium had turned electric.
Life was fully restored!
West Virginia's Vaughn Rivers returned a short Louisville punt 12 yards to the Cardinal 40, and freshman Steve Slaton's first-down run carried the football 16 yards to the Louisville 24.
Five plays later, Super Steve was back in the end zone to tie the game at 24-all with 2:41 still showing on the clock. In a span of eight minutes, West Virginia had completely erased a 17-point deficit!
The score remained knotted at the end of regulation.
The three overtime periods became a back-and-forth affair until Slaton's short touchdown run – his sixth of the game – put the Mountaineers ahead 44-38.
Here, overtime rules required West Virginia to try a two-point conversion instead of kicking it and West Virginia came up with a really good play – a White rollout pass to receiver Dorrell Jalloh streaking across the back of the end zone.
It was one of only two catches Jalloh made that afternoon, and this one didn't even count in the stats because it was a conversion play!
As expected, Louisville answered the score, Mr. Bush doing the honors once again from the 3. Here, Louisville didn't have a good two-point conversion play and Brohm was tackled short of the goal line trying to escape pressure.
It was finally over: West Virginia 46, Louisville 44.
A game that was lost wasn't lost after all.
Joe Bazooka (his real name or his Facebook name?), stationed in Iraq at the time, couldn't follow the game in real time but once the other Marines in his platoon filled him in the place broke out into "Let's Go Mountaineers!"
Super fan Angela Barnett, who runs a great Facebook page for WVU fans, said that game resulted in her first-ever migraine headache. She was so sick afterward that she walked straight across the street to the Ruby Memorial Hospital ER to get treatment.
"What a memory," she posted.
What a memory it was!
And the life lesson? Never give up!
We'll see you soon, Mountaineer Nation!
Yesterday I was reminded of this, thanks to Dan Zangrilli's hard work re-assembling the radio broadcast of West Virginia's great 2005 comeback victory over Louisville for Mountaineer Memories.
How fitting it was to rebroadcast that game right now!
Some Mountaineer fans stuck with their team that mid-October afternoon, even when things looked beyond bleak, while others bailed for their tailgates or hopped in their cars and headed for home.
And who could blame them? West Virginia had royally stunk up the joint in the first half, and was stinking it up in the third quarter as well.
By intermission Louisville was in complete control of the game, mustering a two-to-one advantage in time of possession, a 294-to-56 edge in total yardage and most disconcerting, a 17-0 margin on the scoreboard.
It was so bad that West Virginia's meager passing attack had netted just one yard – backwards.
All hope was seemingly lost when Louisville's 245-pound battering ram, Michael Bush, plowed his way into the end zone with 6:04 left in the third quarter to give the Cardinals a 24-7 lead.
Or was it?At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Cardinals once again had possession of the football and were poised to deliver the dagger. Positioned at West Virginia's 34-yard line and facing a fourth and 1 situation, Louisville coach Bobby Petrino went for the jugular.
Instead of handing the ball to Bush, who averaged more than four yards for his 37 rushing attempts that day – easily more than enough yardage to keep the sticks moving – Petrino tried a deep pass down the far sideline to tight end Gary Barnidge, who by the way, turned out to be a pretty decent NFL player with the Carolina Panthers and the Cleveland Browns, once earning a Pro Bowl berth in 2015.
Of course, Barnidge was wide open because everyone wearing a blue jersey was coming after Bush and quarterback Brian Brohm delivered yet another accurate aerial right into his young tight end's arms.
Game over.
Or was it?
As fate would have it, Barnidge took his eyes off the football and dropped it. The Mountaineers were still on a ventilator, but at least they were breathing.
Starting quarterback Adam Bednarik, sharing time behind center with redshirt freshman Pat White, ran three straight times for a first down. The fourth time he had the football in his hands, blitzing Louisville linebacker Brandon Johnson came crashing through the line and violently threw him to the ground, injuring Bednarik's ankle.
He had to be helped to the sidelines, meaning the Mountaineers were going to have to play the final 14 minutes of the game with a freshman running the offense.
Yet another setback.
But four minutes later, that freshman had West Virginia back in the end zone for a second time that afternoon.
Then, the Mountaineers tried an onside kick – a pooch kick that turned out to be an illegal one because the receiving player wasn't given an opportunity to catch the football – but it wasn't illegal because the refs screwed it up.
Finally, a break!
Following a long discussion, West Virginia ended up getting the football at its own 48 and four minutes later, White had marched WVU into range for Pat McAfee to kick a 28-yard field goal.
A Louisville lead that was 24-7 just eight minutes prior was now only 24-17.
The people who had left the stadium early, such as Rob Gatian, began huddling around their radios. "I listened to the radio in the Lowes parking lot in utter shock," he posted on one of the WVU football fan Facebook sites, adding, "I'm such a dumbass."
Others took advantage of the pass-out system that was in place at the time and started returning to the stadium - in droves!
From across the field sitting in the press box, you could see the bare gray seats filling up once again with gold and blue, particularly in the student section.
"(It was) fun watching people filing back in who hadn't left the parking lot yet," posted Scott Simmons, who told his sick girlfriend to go home in the third quarter to spare her the misery of having to watch an equally sick football team.
At least he could watch the rest of the game without having to listen to her complain about it, he undoubtedly thought.
The ones who never lost hope and remained throughout, such as Simmons, Angela Barnett, Mike Scordato, Ralph Morris, Barb Navarini-Higgins, Jill Buono, Carolyn Mayo Wentz, Sandy Pell, Carol Gilbert, Bobby Christian, Bill Brunetti (who ordered his father to stay in his seat when he wanted to leave with everyone else in the third quarter) and many, many others, were now cheering louder than ever.
Even the flip-floppers, with the help of some liquid encouragement, of course, were back yelling their lungs out!
And their great enthusiasm mattered.
Bush finally went backwards a yard, and the bravado Petrino once displayed in the third quarter was completely gone. The next play he called, a conservative pass to Bush coming out of the backfield, was broken up by linebacker Boo McLee.
Mike Lorello successfully defended a second one to Joshua Tinch.
By now, the once half-empty stadium had turned electric.
Life was fully restored!
West Virginia's Vaughn Rivers returned a short Louisville punt 12 yards to the Cardinal 40, and freshman Steve Slaton's first-down run carried the football 16 yards to the Louisville 24.Five plays later, Super Steve was back in the end zone to tie the game at 24-all with 2:41 still showing on the clock. In a span of eight minutes, West Virginia had completely erased a 17-point deficit!
The score remained knotted at the end of regulation.
The three overtime periods became a back-and-forth affair until Slaton's short touchdown run – his sixth of the game – put the Mountaineers ahead 44-38.
Here, overtime rules required West Virginia to try a two-point conversion instead of kicking it and West Virginia came up with a really good play – a White rollout pass to receiver Dorrell Jalloh streaking across the back of the end zone.
It was one of only two catches Jalloh made that afternoon, and this one didn't even count in the stats because it was a conversion play!
As expected, Louisville answered the score, Mr. Bush doing the honors once again from the 3. Here, Louisville didn't have a good two-point conversion play and Brohm was tackled short of the goal line trying to escape pressure.
It was finally over: West Virginia 46, Louisville 44.
A game that was lost wasn't lost after all.
Joe Bazooka (his real name or his Facebook name?), stationed in Iraq at the time, couldn't follow the game in real time but once the other Marines in his platoon filled him in the place broke out into "Let's Go Mountaineers!"
Super fan Angela Barnett, who runs a great Facebook page for WVU fans, said that game resulted in her first-ever migraine headache. She was so sick afterward that she walked straight across the street to the Ruby Memorial Hospital ER to get treatment.
"What a memory," she posted.
What a memory it was!
And the life lesson? Never give up!
We'll see you soon, Mountaineer Nation!
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