Let's change the name while we are ahead

I've been a little outspoken about my disdain for the name of the WVU-Marshall Series over the past couple months. To be honest with you, getting a corporate sponsorship for this series is pretty tasteless in my opinion. All the great rivalries in college football are so because of great games and a general hatred between fans of the opposing schools. Naming a bowl "The Wonderific All-World Superfantasmigorical Match-up of the Ages" doesn't make it so. So in this age of instant gratification, we look to corporate sponsorship to add validation? Why not just let the rivalry develop over the years, and attach something to be the prize for winning, like the Black Diamond Trophy from the WVU-VT series. See what I mean? It's that thin line between clever and stupid that we crossed when we name it the "Friends of Coal Bowl."

And that brings me to my point. This post was instigated by a comment from friend and former band mate, Xose, when he said of the "Friends of Coal Bowl",

"Friends of Coal" Bowl should use the more accurate title of "Out-of-state-corporate-interests that are here to rape WV and leave its inhabitants unskilled, uneducated and living on toxic waste dumps" Bowl.

Coal does a lot of good and bad for this state. The jobs and money it generates can't be easily replaced. However, a bi-product of coal is the destruction of our environment, and hundreds of coal miners die from black lung disease every year in WV. That just doesn't seem like something I want to celebrate or have associated with my Mountaineers.