In the ongoing WVU vs. RichRod case the deposition of Mike Brown (the super-agent-in-his-own-mind for Rod) was released today, and it’s a hoot. At 500+ pages it’s a long read, but it’s well worth a couple hours investment. Be warned, though – the reader may be required to change pants multiple times due to all the laughter.

In summary Brown is a self anointed head coach agent, which is a job we should all consider entering since there are absolutely NO requirements to be one (other than being able to use the Internet and splooge off someone else’s FOIA request). He spends all his time including “four corners” contract stipulations and buyout clauses yet chooses to piss on them completely in this case. He’s also been shopping Rod ever since becoming his agent in 2005 (meaning Rod has likely been wanting to bolt for three years) to LSU, Alabama, North Carolina, Arkansas, and Michigan. And these are the one he admits to.

Oh yeah.  He was also the “voice talent” for radio advertisements and tape recorded messages for a sports betting hotline. He never ran the books himself though – a friend did. Good thing there’s no rumors about Rod betting on the Pitt game circulating on the Internet, otherwise that would make this revelation look pretty bad….

Part 1

Part 2

Sad news yesterday – Harvey Korman passed away at 81. He was best known for playing the brilliant straight man in comedy routines for Carol Burnett and Mel Brooks. In our own small effort to pour the 40, last night we popped in the Blazing Saddles DVD to catch Heddy Hedley Lemarr’s brilliance.

While listening into an emergency call I was requested to join but didn’t participate in until late, I began perusing the local media.  Lo and behold, the two most hated names in WVU current events – Mike Garrison and Rich Rodriguez – surface again in some blurbs.

Coach Rod’s case in Mon circuit court is going into mediation with the goal of resolving by August 1.  WVU’s lead attorney points out that this is standard operating procedure for Judge Stone, and that no settlement is likely.

The Garrison saga has kind of lulled as the spring semester got smaller in the rear view mirror, with a few bubbles of activity as individuals and faculty members have stepped aside from roles with the University. Now comes notice that the BOG, which met last week on an “undisclosed” personnel matter (wink, wink) may meet again tomorrow.  Mike is expected to move up his “implementation plan” discussion to tomorrow’s meeting, but it might be awkward if the BOG is discussing an interim president like the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette speculates.  Of course board members vehemently deny this, and I hope so…one rumored candidate the PPG puts forward is Gaston “GasTax” Caperton.  [shudder]

In what is being described as the “geekiest world record ever”, Firefox is encouraging its fanbase to set a new record for the software most downloaded in a 24 hour period when Firefox 3 is released in June.

A quick look at the news around town:

Construction abounds once again this summer in town and on campus. Crews are already digging up High Street between Walnut and Pleasant Streets for the second phase of the High Street re-landscaping. The right lane in front of the county courthouse is up first, which I think corresponds with an effort by the county to dress up the courthouse square. Upon completion this extends the downtown updates from Willey to Pleasant.

WVU continues their summer tradition of dirt moving. A new Honors dorm is being constructed, in all places, by Summit Hall in Sunnyside. Dadisman Hall is getting new doors and windows to conserve energy. The interior of White Hall is being renovated. And finally, the heating/cooling systems that serve the downtown campus continue to receive service upgrades, this time for the units behind Clark Hall Annex. Not included is the continued construction of the new Alumni Center by the hospital.

Elsewhere, a couple traffic ideas are under consideration. To alleviate the “rush hour” backups a proposal is out that will add a second thru-lane to University Avenue at the Westover bridge. Currently, outbound traffic on University has a very loosely described three lanes – a turn lane left to Pleasant, one straight through, and a weirdly formed right turn lane across the bridge. Through the intersection there are supposedly two lanes outbound, but the markings show one…likely because the strip of road on that side of the yellow lines isn’t wide enough to support two lanes. The plan is to realign the road through that entire intersection to get the two outbound lanes PLUS the right tun only lane onto the bridge.

In Suncrest, there’s talk of temporarily closing the Laurel St. bridge. For anyone who doesn’t recognize the street name, it’s the road by Krepps Park off of Patteson Drive. There is concern about overflow traffic through the neighborhoods behind Krepps. More specifically, there is concern from a subset of residents back there that the proposed WVU Daycare slated for the far edge of Krepps will generate excess traffic that will clog their roads.

Work continues on the Mon-Fayette Expressway, the onetime road equivalent of vaporware. The Cheat Lake interchange has been reconfigured into quite the quagmire to accommodate the construction.

In non roads news, the permit of the much maligned Riverview apartment project has been pulled. This development has been plagued by controversy and mismanagement from the start. The Riverview development was a private student apartment hi-rise consisting of 19 floors with approximately 1,000 beds. City Council was set to provide public/private financing until questions (and controversy) came to light. First, citizens were highly opposed to dumping 1,000 students into the downtown periphery (the lot is on University Avenue between the Barlett House and a car dealer). Second, citizens were highly opposed to dumping 1,000 students into the downtown periphery without a plan to accommodate the hundreds of cars likely to follow 1,000 students. Following the outcry, the plan was scaled down to 12 stories without parking, Council pulled their assistance, and changed zoning codes to require future developments to have a comprehensive parking plan.

Riverview then received a grading permit a year ago so they promptly fenced off the lot, dug a little dirt, and then…..nothing. When threatened with losing their permit in November, they contracted March-Westin to move enough dirt to extend their permit. After November…..nothing. Last week they were threatened again by the code people with revocation if they didn’t show substantial progress, defined as obvious foundation cuts with some footers poured. Very little dirt moved, and the grading permit was finally pulled. While the pull was long overdue, the resulting battle left one hell of an eyesore along a main passageway.

A new countywide smoking ban vote is scheduled for tomorrow, and some Board of Health members are under fire for conflicts of interest affecting their votes. One member owns a bar, another owns convenience stores, and both gave campaign money to the third.

Sportswise, Joe Alexander is projected as a potential lottery pick so he’ll likely stay in the draft. Bob Huggins’ first real recruiting class is projected as Top 20, with some rankings as high as 4th in the nation. Football wise, John Holmes appears set to return to the team following a dustup with a drug bust. Coach Bill Stewart has decided that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time as opposed to being an active participant. For the cynical out there, Holmes returns to a linebacking core that was already deep while running back Ed Collington could have bolstered a depleted backfield but is not returning.

Finally, the rain can go away any time now. I think the count is up to 20 or 21 days of rain this month.