Snow tales (get my drift?):
If you were like, well, everyone during the recent snowstorm, you were glued to the weather forecasts. How many inches of snow were on the way? How many inches were already on the ground?
In the end, the "winner" in regard to snowfall was the Mountain State's own Glengary, which finished snowstorm Jonas with 42 inches.
If you're unaware, no, it is not by Glen Ross. It is, however, in West Virginia's eastern panhandle in Berkeley County. Population: 277.
"It's kind of hard to explain how to get here," said Austin Parsons, one of the 277. "You go through Gerrardstown. When you come to a four-way stop you take a left."
Uh, need a little more help? OK, it's southwest of Martinsburg. It's west of Inwood. It's in the school district of Musselman High, where Parsons plays basketball.
"We got hit pretty hard," Parsons said on Monday. "Our roads are one lane - and not very wide. I'm 6-foot-1 and the snow came high on my thighs."
It's part of the journey of living in West Virginia. Not only are there challenging weather conditions, but hills and mountains with which to contend.
"We're kind of paralyzed right now," said Musselman hoops coach Derek Basile on Monday. "We can't do anything. Our main road here is one lane. It's going to be a couple more days. Our Spring Mills game has been postponed. We probably won't have anything until Friday."
Basile said most in the Eastern Panhandle moved last Friday's games back to Thursday. The Applemen, now 11-1, played Martinsburg High and lost by three.
The real setback, however, was yet to come.
"The snow came so fast and fell so steadily you couldn't keep it off the roads," Basile said. "It's a challenge."
Close to Basile's location, Hedgesville High basketball coach Kelly Church fought as well. Even on Monday.
"I can't get the car to squirt fluid for the windshield wipers," said an exasperated Church.
Yet that was just a small problem for those around Church. The coach said neighbors had to climb out windows to clear HVAC (heating, ventilating and air conditioning) units.
Remember, Berkeley County is close to Washington, which was expected to be the hardest hit area during Jonas.
"It's hard to describe," Church said. "It's a lot better [Monday], but there are tons of people sore from shoveling ... It was pretty cool the first few hours. But [the snow] didn't stop. You get a little scared at some point."
As for the basketball team?
"If you tell most kids they'd have a four- or five-day break in the middle of the season, they'd probably like it," Church said. "It's the coaches that go nuts."
nnn
One coach who didn't go nuts during the storm was WVU swim coach Vic Riggs. In fact, his program received a nice publicity bump.
A fun video showed West Virginia swimmers Chris "They call me Christmas" McMahon and teammate Drew Riebel jumping off chairs and into a snow bank before pretending to freestyle.
In no time, the video went "viral" hitting ESPN, Fox Sports, USA Today and Bleacher Report. According to WVU's Charlie Healey, it also hit ABC World News. Monday morning it was on the "Today" show.
"It's kind of funny," Riggs said. "To be honest, Chris texted me after they did it hoping for website swimswam.com to retweet it. That didn't happen but it got followers from all over.
"I was out sled riding with my kids and when I came in the house around 4 o'clock it had been seen by 1.4 million people."
Riggs said the swimmers shot the video outside a shared house in Sunnyside.
"I don't know what prompted it," Riggs said. "Chris and Drew are fun kids. I'm sure they got nudged by some of their friends. And now it's gone crazy. There are a lot of copycats."
nnn
And finally...
If you ever want to talk about snow and its effect on sports, track down former East Preston and Preston High basketball coach Barry Sanders.
Go ahead, ask him for a snow story.
"One?" he said on Monday. "I can tell you 12."
Sanders, you have to understand, hails from Terra Alta. That translates into "high land."
"We used to go get players on snowmobiles to practice," Sanders said. "Back then no one said you couldn't."
Sanders spoke of the 1977-78 school year, when Preston had a total of "290 inches of snow and 26 foot drifts." School, he said, was closed for almost a month.
There's simply a world of difference from Terra Alta to, say, Morgantown.
"I've always played golf in Kingwood," Sanders said. "I've pushed the snow away with my car in Terra Alta and played golf in Kingwood."
Just another reason why they call us wild and wonderful.