Irrational Exuberance

Thank you Alan Greenspan. Much like my portfolio, Mountaineer hopes for a Heisman award winner are at their losest point since January.

Slaton finished fourth last year behind Troy Smith, Darren McFadden and Brady Quinn. With Smith permanently demorialized by Florida and Quinn off to flex biceps for Male Athlete Monthly, it would seem Slaton's only competition for the upcoming year would be Arkansas's best quarterback, Darren McFadden. Additionally, some folks think Arkansas is going to have a tougher time this year and hamper the 26" rimmed Crown Vic.

Vegas seems to share in this analysis. Odds on Slaton are currently 4.5:1, barely trailing future presidential assassin John David Booty (4:1) and Big East rival Brian Brohm (3.5:1). McFadden comes in at 5:1.

We Bastards are obviously big fans of the Mountaineers and thank the good lord above daily for Coach Fridge discarding Slaton in favor of his 6th rack of ribs. But... I don't think he will win the Heisman this year for the following reasons.

First, the Heisman is awarded based upon votes. And unfortunately, WVU doesn't have a lot of those. Booty, on the other hand, goes to USC. And apparently, USC Heisman votes get a little boost "for being on the west coast" just like the PAC-10's strength of schedule ranking.

Second, WVU has no marketing campaign. Does Slaton even have a web page up? Despite my googility, I was unsuccesful in finding anything other than the Heismaneer - which appears to be a fan created site.

Third, Slaton may not be the most valuable player on his own team. In recent years, the Heisman, at least to this casual observer, has transformed from the "Best Player in College Football Award" to an MVP Award given to the most important member from one of the year's best teams. All one must do is look back to the Georgia Tech game or the Louisville game of the year before to see who the most important player on this Mountaineer team is.

And fourth, speaking of Patrick, he's bound to get a few votes, too, consequently taking away several votes in what is anticipated to be a very close vote.

Perhaps its my appalachian upbringing resulting in a subtle "us vs. them" paranoia, but I don't like mainstream sports media. Over the past few years, as WVU grew from a perenial 20-40, but before we fully arrived, I read and heard various media outlets "liking" us. I take this now as the "lovable loser" admiration. "Ah, the little school that couldn't is trying real hard this year. How cute." (See Corso preseason picks '04.)

But now, suddenly, we're legitimate and that makes us a threat. Suddenly, the attention from ESPN has waned. Slaton didn't even get mentioned on the Heisman preview show. And I expect this be-quiet-and-they'll-go-away approach to continue through the year.

Argh... I should probably leave the conspiracy theories to those more qualified. Paging AngryEER.