Plenty of W. Va. flavor at Super Bowl XLII

		By Frank Giardina CHARLESTON GAZETTE-MAIL February 3, 2008

As I have discovered all of this week, there is plenty of local flavor here in the Valley of the Sun at Super Bowl XLII. Here are some of my favorite local stories from radio row at the Phoenix Civic Center.

Jason Rader

Don't look for the former St. Albans High School and Marshall tight end on the New England Patriots' sideline in tonight's game. He won't be there.

As a member of the Patriots practice squad, Rader is not allowed to dress for the game. You may not see him physically, but you will see the fruits of his labor as the unbeaten Patriots battle the underdog New York Giants.

At media day Tuesday, Rader said he and other practice-squad members take pride in what they do for the team.

"As practice-squad players, we may not get to dress for the games, but we take pride in what we do," said Rader. "No one may ever see us, but our job is to make the team better at practice and I think we have done it well."

Rader was quick to remind that this is not his first Super Bowl.

"I played in the Super Bowl when I was 10 years old playing midget football in Nitro," he said. "We played at Laidley Field and I think we beat Tornado. That seemed just as big as this at the time."

Although he won't be in uniform, Rader will get a ring if New England wins.

Ahmad Bradshaw

I am not sure anyone in West Virginia realizes how big a star the former Marshall running back has become with the New York Giants. Several members of the New York media have been referring to him as the biggest sports star in New York going into this game.

In a conversation earlier this week, Bradshaw said leaving Marshall last spring a year early was not an easy decision for him.

"It was the hardest decision of my life," remembers Bradshaw. "I loved Marshall. I not only enjoyed playing football, but Marshall was a great help to me academically. But, I did what I thought was the best thing for my family."

When asked if the Super Bowl was a bigger game than playing in a Graham (Va.) vs. Bluefield high school game, Bradshaw laughed.

"I don't know. That's a tough question," he said. "The Super Bowl is big, but a Graham-Beaver game at Mitchell Field may have it beat. It is not every game where half the field is in one state and half the field is in another."

Randy Moss

Other than Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, no athlete has been in bigger media demand this week than Moss, the former DuPont and Marshall star. Moss took some time at a press conference Wednesday to think about his childhood friend and DuPont teammate Jason Williams, who won an NBA title with the Miami Heat in 2006.

"When Jason and I were growing up, we really didn't talk about winning Super Bowls or NBA championships," said Moss. "When you are a kid, championships are not things you really talk about, they just seem to happen.

"We did talk about making it to college ball, and maybe playing at this level. That was more of the goal than winning championships. Most kids from our area don't really get a chance to get out. I'm not talking about getting out of jail or trouble or anything. I'm just talking about getting out and getting to play sports in college. Most of them don't get the chance that Jason and I had to play in college, much less the NBA and NFL.

"To be from a little town in West Virginia is something I am very proud of, for Jason and myself."

I still find it amazing that three kids that played youth baseball at Kanawha Central Little League - Moss, Williams and Bobbie Howard - have all been involved in professional world championships. Howard was a front-office employee for the Chicago Bears last February when they lost in the Super Bowl to Indianapolis.

Kay-Jay Harris

The former WVU running back, now on the Giants practice squad, doesn't share the state's frustration with his college coach, Rich Rodriguez, who has departed Morgantown for Michigan.

"I still don't understand all the hatred and the bitterness toward Coach Rod for going to Michigan," Harris said Thursday. "Coaching is a business, and he made a business decision. He felt it was time to move on, so he did.

"As players, we don't look at things the same way that fans do. Fans get upset when coaches leave, but when you play on the team, you become a family. The coaches are like family.

"I love Coach Rod. He is passionate about the game, he works hard and I loved playing for him. I love Coach [Calvin] Magee [WVU's offensive coordinator under Rodriguez]. He is the reason I came to West Virginia. I won't stop loving those guys because they changed jobs. I will still love them at Michigan and I hope they do well.

"In sports, people move around all the time. Our coach, [Tom] Coughlin, has coached a lot of different places. Heck, MJ [Michael Jordan] even left the Bulls for the Wizards.

Frank Giardina is a freelance columnist for the Gazette and Daily Mail and host of the nationally syndicated radio show Sports Spectrum. You can e-mail him at fgiardjna@rbc.org.