Mountaineers must always be different

[rainman]

Mountaineers must always be different
By Bob Hertzel
For the Times West Virginian


MORGANTOWN— Well, hasn’t West Virginia’s national championship season gotten off to an “arresting” start?
Not since the night Adam “Pacman” Jones nearly put Michael Sullivan’s head in the corner pocket of a pool table at Dr. John’s with his cue stick in the most famous game of 9-ball since Fast Eddie Felson and Minnesota Fats squared off, has an active Mountaineer found himself behind the 8-ball the way linebacker J.T. Thomas and cornerback Ellis Lankster have done.
And, come to think of it, wasn’t “Pacman’s” coming-out party held on the same night as Thomas and Lankster allegedly gave new meaning to the word “booster” in college sports — the night preseason camp came to a conclusion.
Perhaps, in the future, coach Rich Rodriguez ought consider renting a movie — say “The Lion King” — and having the boys over to his house on the final night of camp while Rita pops the popcorn and they all spend the evening singing “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.”
Certainly that little speech he gives his team about staying out of trouble isn’t working so well.
In the “Pacman” incident, to say nothing of this year’s ceremonial, camp-breaking arrest for stealing a computer and possibly a 32-inch television set, Rodriguez’s words of warning were still echoing through the Puskar Center as WVU players found themselves posing for pictures — front and profile.
“I can’t follow 130 guys all around campus 24 hours a day,” he had revealed to the media following last Saturday’s final scrimmage. “They’ve got to make the right decisions and keep focused. We talked at length about it all week, and we talked at length about it (Friday) night about keeping focus and knowing what they’re here for and not getting distracted.”
Rodriguez pointed out at that time that his team could not afford to have problems and that even on this final day of camp his team had an 11 p.m. curfew.
“The people that hang around with them in the dorms and downtown may not (have such a curfew). Probably don’t. Our guys have got to be different, but I think they understand that. I hope they do. I better not be getting any late-night phone calls,” Rodriguez concluded.
The arrest took place in the early morning hours Sunday.
Rodriguez’s phone probably rang not much later than that.
Rodriguez took a look at the facts and acted without much hesitation in suspending his two players — Thomas was a projected started at Willie (weak-side) linebacker, Lankster a potential starter at the vulnerable position of cornerback, having just transferred in to WVU from Jones Community College in Mississippi.
Not that Rodriguez had much choice in the matter, considering the atmosphere in the sporting world today, where our senses are being bombarded by senseless acts of criminality by our athletic heroes.
If Michael Vick hadn’t turned it into a dog’s world, it was Tank Johnson or “Pacman” Jones or any of a half dozen other Cincinnati Bengals showing up in various police blotters across America. It got so bad in the NFL that Commissioner Roger Goodell had to put in a tough personal conduct policy to police his league.
Between “Pacman” and Chris Henry, WVU’s image had been smeared badly in the American consciousness, and while Rodriguez had done what he could to spray away the stench over the past couple of felony-free years, the alleged actions of two players have rubbed the program’s nose in it again.
No one knows what affect this lone early morning incident will have on the Mountaineers’ quest for that national championship they seem so capable of winning from a No. 3 preseason ranking, but Rodriguez believes his team can shrug it off and move forward, perhaps without two of his better defenders.
His approach to that? Well, it goes back to the movie “The Lion King.”
“It’s that old ‘(The) Lion King’ approach. Did you ever see that movie?” Rodriguez said when asked about handling the — ummmmm — distractions?
“The monkey hits the lion over the head and the lion says, ‘What did you do that for?’ And the monkey says, ‘It doesn’t matter. It’s in the past.’”
To Rodriguez, that’s just what it is. Old news. As old, say, as Rodriguez’s flirtation with the University of Alabama coaching position.
“We’ve had distractions before. We had distractions before the Rutgers last game last year,” Rodriguez said. “Everybody had me going to Alabama and all that kind of stuff. And we went out and won the game with our second quarterback. Our kids are focused on what they’re doing and getting ready to play. That’s not an issue.”