Nobody asked me, but. ...

I don't blame fans for booing when the Marshall pep band played "Country Roads" during the basketball game Saturday night.

That song should never, ever be played at any Marshall event. Why? Because it is West Virginia University's theme song.

After every Mountaineer home football game, the fans stay in the stands and sing along as "Country Roads" is played. It's a WVU tradition.

That's why it is positively inane to play the song at Marshall.

I admire the dedication of Marshall's pep band under the direction of Ben Miller and love their presence at the basketball games. But the MU music powers-that-be need a serious reality check on this issue.

The only way "Country Roads" ever should be played at Marshall is if John Denver arises from the dead and makes a ghostly guest appearance at the Henderson Center.

Even then, I would request "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" instead.

Kudos to Marshall women's basketball coach Royce Chadwick for his unprecedented move after the Herd's disappointing 67-53 loss to Ohio University Saturday.

Chadwick was so upset with the Herd's lack of effort, he made his entire squad stand in the back of the media room and listen to the post-game press conference.

In this day of rampant irresponsibility by athletes it is refreshing to see a coach make his players be accountable.

Bravo, Royce, bravo.

I loved the play of Marshall's "Bomb Squad" during the Herd's 81-68 win over UT-Arlington Saturday night.

The insertion of Adam Williams, Tay Spann and Dago Pena ignited the sluggish Herd and produced a game-changing 16-1 run during the final 4:40 of the first half.

Williams, in particular, was a catalyst, grabbing an offensive rebound, scoring on the put-back, dealing an assist and stripping a UT-Arlington player as he went up for a layup that created a steal for Spann.

Then, MU head coach Donnie Jones made a classy move by sending Williams, Spann and Pena back onto the floor to start the second half.

The "Bomb Squad" deserved that reward.

I hope Marshall's football coaching staff does a better job of managing new quarterback Press Taylor than it did last season with Mark Cann.

Cann still is being widely criticized and that's a shame because he doesn't deserve the blame. A coach with any game management savvy doesn't ask a young quarterback to throw deep down the middle of the field.

But that happened over and over with Cann. And if he missed, it often was an interception. That did nothing but undermine Cann's confidence.

Proper game management dictates throwing deep to the sidelines where a miss generally goes out of bounds. Why do you suppose the deep out used to be Marshall's signature pass route?

Besides that gaffe, MU's coaching staff also asked Cann to win games, rather than just not lose them. That's a huge mistake in the management of a young quarterback.

Those errors are regrettable and certainly can't be committed again next season.

I think Jason Rader got gypped out of his first NFL touchdown reception Sunday.

I watched the videotape of the former Marshall star tight end's 26-yard should-be TD catch for the Atlanta Falcons.

It originally was called a touchdown, but a review ruled that Rader fumbled at the 1-yard line. I disagree. I thought he broke the plane of the goal line before the ball came loose.

Rader wuz robbed.

Chuck Landon is a sports columnist for The Herald-Dispatch. Call him at 304-526-2827. E-mail him at clandon@herald-dispatch.com.

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