Rednecks, Mountain Mardi Gras, Socca, Bowls, NCAA 2005, Turkey Bowl, TV, AR, THE OC, PickOfTheDay, Avril, Da Stillers, Mountaineers and so much More

npocs award winning tuesday columns continue to appear in the DA, just check out the link to the left and you can follow up on the cinderalla team in the Big East mens soccer tourney, the West Virginia Mountaineers
They pulled off the huge upset of No.11 St.Johns and I have just returned from interviewing their coach and a few players before they leave to head to Jersey to face UCONN and hopefully another game in the championship

On select autumn Saturdays in Morgantown, W.Va., John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads" -- so gentle, so sweet, so aw-shucks wholesome -- becomes a menacing battle cry. You can hear threatening snippets of the song being chanted for scenic miles and miles around Mountaineer Field, the looming concrete home of the West Virginia University football team. It's the tailgate-party anthem here, and if you're gutsy enough to flaunt enemy colors, there's a strong chance you'll be beaned by an ice cube by the time they get to "mountain momma."

In NCAA we nothced the level up to Heisman and everyone has struggled greatly, nest and his Volunteers are somehow still ranked in the top 10 even though he has 3 losses including one to my nebraska team
My Cornhuskers have struggled this season but after an Overtime upset of No.10 Missouri I am back in the hunt for the Big XII North title
Stopiak has been downright terrible, starting the season 1-6, he has now improved to 2-7 and is looking to not get fired this season

When the Badger faithful, including cute little old ladies with fluffy pompoms, stroll past "the Pit" -- a sunken gravel-and-mud keg zone where hundreds of WVU students get rowdy before games -- they are greeted with four-letter words and one-finger salutes.

In TV news, Anish Schroff my boy in Dream Job got the boot so I lost that bet and will now stop watching. The Amazing Race is scheduled to start next Tuesday with a 2 hour special, itll give me something to watch on primetime cable and something to bet on

Welcome to what the Princeton Review, Playboy magazine and ESPN have all agreed is one of the wildest parties in the country. And seeing as how America is a tailgate-loony nation -- we're second to none at guzzling Bud at 9 a.m. and zipping Nerf footballs around asphalt wastelands -- that's saying something.

On the subject of primetime cable tv, the season premiere of the OC may have been the greatest hour of my life, the hype is warranted and the show is for real, it is not to miss
I just wish I had some idea of what actually went on in the first season and why that real cute girl is so angry at the world
Any OCaholics out there, please share some info

Tucked away high and isolated on the western edge of the Appalachian Mountains -- to get there, you basically go up, up, up, often surrounded by nothing but nature -- Morgantown is normally a laid-back, blue-collar burg, proud of its rich mining history. Its pastoral surroundings are perfect for hikers hungry for trails and kayakers intent on conquering the Monongahela River, which winds lazily through the city. The sprawling WVU campus, a handsome mixture of Colonial-style old and modern new, sits regally over the historic downtown.

The Big East Title and a trip to either the Fiesta Bowl or Sugar Bowl is on the line this Saturday in Morgantown when top 25 Boston College visits
Everything is on the line, the stage is perfectly set and a loss here would be one of the most devastating in school history
Not only would we lose the game, but we would lose the Big East Title, we would lose a BCS Berth, and we would be losing them to the Big East traitors themselves Boston College
A win here is absolutely essential for this program
The student body should be loud enough, matt landed a pit pass today for travis so I will be doing my part in making sure the student body is loud enough for this game at noon on Saturday, nationally televised on ABC
Its winner take all

But when the Mountaineers -- or simply "the 'Eers!!!" if you're in the know -- are playing at home, this town of 27,000 pulls a gridiron-induced Jekyll and Hyde. It wakes up in blue and gold, the beer stores make a fortune, and some 63,500 alums, locals and students swarm 20-acre Mountaineer Field and parking lot.

I am on the greatest betting hot streak of my life, and it all documented
For all you npocaholics who checked, you caught my three star Mavericks pick on Saturday night followed up by two money picks monday night with the Vikings +7.5 and with the NBA pick and then last night I come back and nail the Kings game and a huge 4 team parlay
I can not be touched right now
Tonight, I have a huge night in store, check back later on in this post for my NBA upset night of the year on tap, it is a do not miss

In Morgantown, the game is important -- it's the only "big" game in the state, really -- but the party is key. Just about every one of the 3,000 parking spaces is throwing its own food-stuffed, beer-fueled shindig. They call this place Touchdown City, but with so many denim-clad people crooning John Denver tunes, flashing tanned flesh and waving around open containers of tight-budget alcohol, it feels more like a mountain Mardi Gras.

You Might Be a Redneck If....
-Your favorite Mexican food is Doritos
-You've ever received mouse traps as a wedding present
-A dating service matches you up with a relative

The Mountaineer basketball team is about to get things under way, they start on Saturday during Thanksgiving break then bring their show up to Duquense the night before Thanksgiving
Speaking of that game, that sets up for the greatest two days for any Mountaineer fan living in Picksburg
We start it out early Wednesday tailgating for that Duquense game then after a thrashing of the Dukes we head home for the Thanksgiving festitivies including the Turkey Bowl and then tailgating alllllll day for the Backyard Brawl at Heyinz Filled

"Big Cat," the self-proclaimed "No. 1 Mountaineer fan," is the Gandalf of the tailgating masses -- except instead of carrying a wooden staff he carries a yard of cheap beer. When the 3,000 kids in the Pit get riled up by a suicidal Wisconsin fan mocking them with a red flag, Big Cat calms the mob by slowly raising his arms -- and then raising his blue-and-yellow apron, which hides a nasty rubber prop that's definitely not for the squeamish.

The Turkey Bowl V will carry on the legacy of all the others years with the last thursday morning in November hosting the battle of all battles through the muck and the mire of Anderson Field as a dozen old heads downing Pabst Blue Ribbon cheer on yelling "stick em, stick em you little bitch"
This years roster looks as follows:
Paolo
Macel
mini mace
kyle
tony
deah
aaron a
npoc
jimmywayne
gabe
jefrie funtal
jason "chugging a pbr at half time" ritter

It's not even 10 a.m. There's still more than two hours until kickoff.
"I'm kind of famous around here," says the Morgantown native, who refuses to give his name -- "just Big Cat" -- or his age -- "whaddaya need my age for?" (Quick lesson: You don't argue with someone named Big Cat.) "I've only missed four games in 23 years. There's nothing like this anywhere."

Air we go Stillers air we go
The city is bleeding black and gold like I have never seen before in the regular season, the turnaround of this team has been absolutely phenomanal and the response of the players and the entire city has been overwhelmingy
The automosphere at Heyinz Filled the past two weeks was electrice. The Stillers made sure that no team remain without a blemish in the loss column. They are the one team undefeated wrecking crew
With two cupcakes on the road against the Brownies and Bungals on the way, Big Bens undefeated mark should continue to grow

Dressed head-to-toe in WVU-splattered garb -- gold hard-hat, XXXL shirt, sweat pants, that naughty apron -- the construction worker says he helped build Mountaineer Field back in 1980. Today he wanders the wide expanse of the Blue Lot, the main tailgating area that features dozens of party tents and hundreds of baby-grand-size grills sending up a thick smoke of sizzling meats. Big Cat also stops every few feet for people requesting a snapshot -- usually with the apron up. It takes him an hour to go 100 yards.

It has been said that the Stillers are the only team to have 9 home games, if your watching the Bungal game on TV look around the stadium, you will have serious reservations of where this game is actually taking place at

Mountaineer Field, a no-frills, open-air stadium that shakes and shimmies when the home team makes a first down, does not serve beer, so at halftime -- with WVU up by 6 -- fans are given appropriately named "pass out" cards, so that they can leave the stadium, tailgate for 20 minutes and be allowed back in.

You Might Be a Redneck If....
-You've never bought a car you could drive home
-You own more than three shirts with the sleeves cut off
-You've ever used a cheese ball as a weapon
-Beer bellies run in your family

With its high density of bars, restaurants and very happy people, the High Street area in downtown Morgantown is reminiscent of Bourbon Street -- especially if the 'Eers win the game.

You Might Be a Redneck If....
-Your favorite charity is the one that dances at the topless club
-You ever gift wrapped a tire
-The stock market crashes and it doesnt affect you a bit
-You and your wife have the same haircut

Pictures of the one of the better halloween costumes in npocs career are coming soon. The mario costumed tag teamed with peach was pretty impressive. Also in attendance was Michale Meyers, a dirty sanchez, George Clooney (signed multiple womens chests), a homeless guy and a mime

You Might Be a Redneck If....
-You think the three greatest inventions of all time are hot pants, four wheelers and ketchup
-It takes you longer than two hours to check all of your lottery tickets
-All your mother wanted for her birthday was a remote control fart machine
-Grass is growing on the floorboards of your car

Now without furhter ado, npoc presents his NBA Upsets Are Wild Night of the Year
1*
Clippers +5.5 at Indiana
Nets +9 at Filthadelphia 76ers
Sonics +2 vs the Kings
2**
Lakers +4 at Memphis
3***
Raptors +11 at the Utah Jazz

All the underdogs all the time, tonight is the night
I won big with my four team favorite parlay last night and the way the NBA is going it is time for some suprising wins
If your so inclined to money line anything I would go with the Clippers (+210) and Lakers (+145)

You Might Be a Redneck If...
-You've ever worn an "Im with stupid" T-shirt when you were alone
-There is no cut-off age for sleeping with your parents
-The orthodontist retired when he finished with your family
-You've ever gotten into a fistfight over a Pop-Tart

Bowl Projections
According to ESPN.com, CollegeFootballNews.com and CBS.Sportsline.com it appears as WVU is headed to the Fiesta Bowl to face an undefeated Utah team
Utah needs to remain undefeated and hope for a Texas or Michigan loss to make it to that game and WVU needs to defeat Boston College as well
If Utah does not lose there is still a chance that the Liberty Bowl will grab them by the nuts with their strong contract they have and force them to play there while WVU then faces off against runner up from the Big XII, Big 10 or ACC

You Might Be a Redneck If....
-You make a car payment on time and the bank calls to see if your ok
-You've ever purchased underwear and worn it out of the store
-Your idea of cruise control is putting a rock on the gas pedal
-Two of your weddings made America's Funniest Home Videos

thanks for reading, you've been great

-n