The West Virginia University Mountaineers and the University of Pittsburgh Panthers, separated by less than eighty miles of highway, have battled it out on the football field for more than one hundred years. Now, with Pitt announcing its departure from the Big East Conference to join the Atlantic Coast Conference and West Virginia becoming a member of the Big 12 Conference, this intense rivalry has come to an abrupt end. Thousands of players and dozens of coaches - some among the very best to ever play the game - have been a part of this famous series known as the "Backyard Brawl." With fantastic tales about this feud's star-studded rosters, including White, Slaton, Harris, Luck, Huff, Nehlen, and Rodriguez for West Virginia and Fitzgerald, Marino, Dorsett, Green, Majors, and Sherrill for Pitt, The Backyard Brawl celebrates the tradition, heritage, and pride of two outstanding universities. With unparalleled access, John Antonik, a 20-year West Virginia University athletic administrator and WVU alumnus, unearths the fascinating and humorous stories that make up this revered, colorful, and cherished football game-and more importantly, the great passion and pride these schools exhibit every time they take the field.

本書は単なるスポーツの記録を超え、アパラチアの地で火花を散らした二つの魂の衝突を描く一大叙事詩です。著者アントニックは内部関係者ならではの視点で、フィールド上の戦いを地域の誇りを懸けた聖戦へと昇華させています。百年にわたり継承された熱狂が、時代の波に飲まれ突如幕を閉じるという残酷なまでのドラマ性が、読者の胸を激しく揺さぶります。 ページをめくるたび、伝説の名選手たちの息遣いとスタジアムの熱気が鮮明に蘇ります。著者が紡ぐ情熱的な逸話は、土地と人が結びつくことで生まれる無垢な信仰の証明です。歴史の重みを知る者だけが書ける言葉の数々は、失われた伝統への深い愛惜と、未来へ語り継ぐべき不屈の精神を私たちに突きつけてくるのです。