West Virginia University Football Vault (The History of the Mountaineers)

For Christmas my wife gave me this book. It's a collection of stories, stats and memories from former WVU players, WVU coaches and local media. It recalls every season from 1891 to 2008. I just sat down to read it this afternoon and the very first page pretty much sums up the life of a WVU football fan.

I figured I'd share it with you:

They come. From Weirton to Welch, From Matewan to Martinsburg and all points in between, the come. Even from well beyond our borders -- Washington D.C., Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus and even as far away as Charlotte -- they come. They pack up their cars, their trucks and their recreational vehicles early on Saturday morning to begin a sentimental journey through some of the prettiest land God ever created. We West Virginians call it "Almost Heaven." The final destination, of course, is Morgantown.

At tailgates they reminisce with old friends; they make new friends; they share stories about their families, reciting the important dates and events in their lives that more often that no are tightly wrapped around one thing: Mountaineer football.

West Virginians love their Mountaineers. They plan weddings around games. They call radio shows and write letters passionately defending their team when they believe it has been wronged. The celebrations after wins are sometimes raucous, and the depression after losses is sometimes deep. They name their pets -- and in some cases even their children -- after their favorite players. Their computer passwords, locker combinations and ATM pin nmbers are usually some version of these digits: 9, 5, 10, 35 and 7 -- the jersey numbers of Major Harris, Pat White, Steve Slaton Owen Schmidt and Noel Devine.

It's a unique, lifelong love affair full of passion, pride and admiration. When Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium is full, it becomes the largest population center in the state. All of them dressed in gold. All of them familiar with the pregame rituals that take place before the big game when the Pride of West Virginia leads the team onto the field. And all of them filled with the hope that the Mountaineers can once again come out victorious. It is a tradition passed down through generations -- grandfathers to fathers to sons, grandmothers to mothers to daughters -- all of them sharing together the unique experience that is Mountaineer football.

2009

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

This video is a My Wife production.

Some Christmas Festivities

First to visit was Cosmo (along with our great friends Jeremy and Rachel... his owners).

And then Margie, BJ and Schmeike!

Such a character!

My Mom and Art were next.

Snow arrived with my Mom, Art and Grandparents.

My excellent wife prepared some cupcakes!

Grandmom opening her present from Hickory Farms.
And here's Pap after he enjoyed a "Mickey" from Tudor's Biscuit World.


More to come.

Double Cheeseburger Casserole

For my office Christmas party last Thursday we all had to bring a covered dish. I decided to prepare a recipe that's passed through the lineage of my family tree for decades... probably since 1940 or so (at least that's what a Google search of Mcdonald's tells me). It's complicated and takes a lot of preparation, but I was able to pull off a perfect double cheeseburger casserole.

For those of you interested in serving this tasty treat in your own home, I have included the recipe:

Step 1: Head over to your local Mcdonald's.

Step 2: Order 10 double cheeseburgers.

Step 3: Ignore the weird look from the cashier.

Step 4: Wonder to yourself why the cashier just asked "is that for here or to go?" because, yeah, I'm really going to sit here and eat 10 double cheeseburgers by myself. I'm not from Huntington, lady.

Step 5: Ignore the dirty looks from the cook in the back.

Step 6: Take the double cheeseburgers home.

Step 7: Get out your nicest 9x13 casserole dish.

Step 8: Do not grease the casserole dish.

Step 9: Remove wrappers from the double cheeseburgers (very important).

Step 10: Make sure the meat, the cheese and the bread on the double cheeseburgers line up evenly (you know, since it's so hard for the person who initially made the sandwich to do).

Step 11: Place each double cheeseburger in the casserole dish strategically so that it looks like you care.

Step 12: Serve.

Step 13: Enjoy.

New Camera

Here's a picture I took the other day on our new camera. It's a Canon PowerShot G10.


I highly recommend it. It's easy to use, compact and it takes outstanding photos!

Morgantown High at Macy's

Here's the Morgantown High School band performing Country Roads at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on NBC. This specific composition of the song was made famous by the West Virginia University band. They've been playing it prior to WVU football games for as long as I remember.

At the end of the video, if you listen close enough, the band plays the MHS fight song. Be careful. For those of you familiar with the tune, it might be stuck in your head all day long.

(Thanks for the video Uncle M.)

The Griswold Family Christmas Tree

Ok, so it's not the Griswold's tree. It's ours.

Props to my great wife for putting on the lights and beads. She also gets credit for selecting the golden theme of the tree. Gold lights, gold beads, gold bow and lots of gold ornaments. Great choice!

Grandmom's Thanksgiving Turkey

That sure is a nice lookin' turkey. I especially like all the stuffing coming out of its butt. Hahaha... Seriously though, it tasted great and it was an honor for me to carve that bad boy.


And no, Grandmom, it wasn't too dry.