'Superstition ain't the way...'

I said that it would be a banner day showing off part of the vision that was made when they made these facility upgrades. I was fully prepared to walk back and forth between all three events and repeatedly say, “Look at us, who would’ve thought?” to random fans.

Yet, as I was writing it, I knew I was playing with fire. In the past, I’ve allegedly been single-handedly responsible for the weather canceling games that were featured in excitable previews the week prior.

Most infamously, some still name me as the lone cause for the Southern boys’ junior varsity basketball team losing to Keyser in 2019, which was its first loss in over two years, because that week I wrote about their impressive streak and compared them to Goldberg’s dominant 1998 run in WCW.

On top of my proclivity for ruining the standing of local high school sports with my questionable decisions to tempt fate, I also negatively affected WVU baseball this past weekend.

The Mountaineers’ baseball team was on a 10-game winning streak and is currently at the top of the Big 12. Due to my own schedule, I’m rarely able to make it to games, but my Saturday was free. It was my first WVU baseball game in several years.

Naturally, their winning streak came to an end that day against Oklahoma, even though they won the weekend series in dominant fashion in the two games I did not attend.

There are also more layers to this. The last time I had attended a WVU baseball game was the NCAA Tournament matchup against Duke. Despite Alek Manoah pitching and WVU breaking the program’s attendance record, the Mountaineers lost 4-0.

In Saturday’s loss to Oklahoma, WVU once again broke the attendance record. This means that in my last two appearances at a Mountaineer baseball game, they not only lost the game but did so while breaking the attendance record. I would like to send out my apologies to the WVU baseball program, as well as all Mountaineer fans who have been affected by my transgressions.

I say all that to announce that even though the high school postseason begins this week, I will not be using this space to deliver the typical “hyped up” local previews that I have done in the past. While the perception of my journalistic integrity (if there was any to begin with) will take a hit, precautions must be made as we continue to investigate the full extent of my power.

Until then, to be safe, I wish neutral luck and fortune to all those participating.