| 26 February 2012
I find the reactions to Buzz Williams' Two Step after his team's 61-60 victory over the Mountaineers to be interesting.
In fact, I think it seperates WVU fans into two camps.
Those that "get it" and those that don't.
If you think what Buzz Williams did was alright, then I think you have no earthly clue what this song represents.
I dare say that if you think his gloating twirl was "just harmless fun" or "just a jubliant reaction to a hard fought road victory," then you were not born and raised in West Virginia.
West Virginians put up with endless $#!& and ridicule from the national press and opposing fans.
Endless taunts and redneck jokes from the national press and opposing fans.
Educated people who don't seem to realize that West Virginia and Virginia are two seperate states.
Never ending anti-Appalachian bias from here, there and everywhere.
Those perceived to be rednecks and hillbillies are really the last remaining cultural group that people get a free pass to take a shot at. No political correctness can save us. It's always open season on West Virginians.
We are the toothless, shoeless, holler dwelling computer-illiterate punchlines to every bad joke.
"Country Roads" is one of the few things that we have that we can point to and feel proud about. A song that mentions our state and paints our people and our land in a positive way.
Yes, I know all the mythos that discredit the song. It was written by someone from Virginia. It mentions the Shenandoah River, which does not run through our mountains.
I could care less about any of that. It's our unofficial national anthem. We claim it. It's ours. It's sacred.
Yes, I said sacred.
I said this on twitter immediately following the game, and I mean it...what Buzz Williams did was the equivilant of pi$$ing on Touchdown Jesus at Notre Dame. Or going to Clemson and taking a dump on the Tiger Rock.
Yes, I know John Flowers danced the Irish jig at Madison Square Garden. Not the same thing.
When Williams twirled and shimmied on the Flying WV at midcourt of the Coliseum, he mocked something that Mountaineers hold close and dear to their heart.
And he can't claim ignorance. Anyone involved in any way with college sports who doesn't live under a rock KNOWS this is West Virginia's song. Just like they know "Rocky Top" is Tennessee's song.
When he did it, I had the same visceral reaction that the remaining students had.
I don't blame them.
And boy oh boy do I hope we draw Marquette at MSG during the Big East tournament.
If our players have even one ounce of backbone, they will not soon forget the high fiving and laughs of the Marquette players, managers, fans and broadcasters following the game.
Or the way their head coach flaunted the victory by belittling and making a mockery of a tradition that means so much to so many people in our looked-down-upon state.
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