This was a long, long, long time coming.
Why?
Because nothing about West Virginia University and Marshall University getting together for baseball games was on anybody’s radar gun — including the two schools’.
To say the Mountaineers and Thundering Herd — not to mention their fans — seldom had anything nice to say about the other is a gigantic understatement.
The hatred. The jealousy. The vitriol.
It was all off the charts.
That’s simply how it was back in the days. Mountaineer fans sneered at Herd fans. And, of course, Marshall fans returned the insults in kind.
That was simply life in the Mountain State for decade after decade. And it was particularly true when it came to athletics.
Oh, sure, there was a short-lived football series, but WVU came close to losing only once. And some of the games were embarrassing routs. There was a basketball series as well, with WVU holding the upper hand. But the Herd broke through with a victory once in a while.
Otherwise?
Basically, WVU and Marshall existed in separate universes. When the MU men’s basketball team won a game in the NCAA regional, it was the Mountaineers — who else? — who rudely bounced the Herd out of the tournament.
That was simply the world we lived in here in West Virginia.
But, slowly, very slowly, the venom and the poison seemed to dissipate, seemed a bit diluted. It didn’t hurt any that the “old guard” had changed, with WVU’s Neal Brown being a genuinely good guy and Bob Huggins forced into retirement.
And so it went.
Let’s not go so far as saying there were some warm and fuzzy moments between the Herd and Mountaineers’ faithful fan bases. But instead of boiling, it was definitely on simmer.
Sometimes progress has to be served in small helpings. And this is one of those times.
A 6-9 Marshall baseball team squaring off against the 9-7 Mountaineers here in Charleston on Tuesday seemed like a nice way to get this armistice started.
The three-way venue series was also a very good idea, especially with the opening game occurring on a neutral field — GoMart Ballpark — on Tuesday. Next, Marshall travels to Granville to play WVU on March 20 in Wagener Field at Monongalia County Ballpark.
Then, finally, Marshall will host the Mountaineers on April 10 at Jack Cook Field.
Did anybody actually think this sort of scheduling ever would take place between the Mountain State’s two Division I programs?
Me either.
But kinder minds and souls have prevailed, thank goodness.
It would be nice to believe that natives of the Mountain State finally have taken a long-awaited step toward unity. Hey, maybe they won’t even care who won the game on Tuesday night.
We can hope so.
