–The weather is not cooperating for the Mountaineers. That storm moving up through the northeast has brought a wintry mix to the region, causing coach Dana Holgorsen to move practice yesterday from outside at Fordham University to inside one of the huge ballrooms at the Hilton team hotel. The outlook for today’s weather is not much better.
–New Era Pinstripe Bowl executive director Mark Holtzman says he expects about 40,000 fans at Yankee Stadium for the game Saturday. That prediction may be optimistic given the bad weather. After a break on Friday, forecasters expect more rain and cold temperatures on Saturday.
–The Mountaineers are planning to visit the 9/11 Memorial later today. The memorial features two huge waterfalls and reflecting pools. Each pool is about an acre and is set near where the twin towers of the World Trade Center stood. The names of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the terrorist attacks of 2001 and 1993 are inscribed in bronze on the sides of the pools.
–It’s perhaps in poor taste to call the 9/11 Memorial a “tourist attraction,” but it’s also evident that visitors to New York want to see the place where the horrific attacks took place. The Memorial has already had over six million visitors representing all 50 states and 170 countries.
–It’s always easy to find West Virginians, no matter where you go, and that includes New York City. Here are just a few examples: Martinsburg native and WVU graduate Scott Widmeyer owns and operates a public relations firm in New York. WVU grads Loretta Ucelli and Kathy Lynn also work in PR here. WVU grad and former WAJR newsperson Lisa Colagrossi is a reporter and anchor for WABC Channel 7.
–And here’s one more West Virginia connection. One of the newest New York state Senators representing about 300,000 New York City voters is Greenbrier County native Brad Hoylman. Hoylman graduated from WVU, where he was the student body president and also a Rhodes Scholar.
–More than 8 million people live in New York City, but I was reminded yesterday that it’s still a small world. I ran into former Mountaineer basketball player Truck Bryant. Truck, who is originally from the city, told me he’s about to leave for Belarus where he’s going to play professional basketball.
–New York, like most every big city, is not the safest place. As of Christmas Eve, there had been 414 murders in New York so far this year. But wait, that’s actually good news. That’s a drop of 19 percent from last year when there were 508 murders during the same period. Police credit a new and controversial “stop and frisk” policy for helping to reduce the murder rate.