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[QUOTE="dinosaurbbq, post: 52582, member: 1333"]
Wow, immensely stupid.  Having a coonskin hat clad rifle bearing mountaineer as a mascot or bearing the name West Virginia Mountaineers does not equate to West Virginia embracing being referred to as hillbillies who sleep with their sisters.  The mountaineer was chosen as a symbol for two reasons:
1.  The spirit of the frontier survivor living off the land -- think Davy Crockett.
2.  The West Virginia Civil War troops were referred to as the Mountaineers and typically fought more of a guerilla-style on even land with rifles rather than the traditional level-field lined up style of warfare common to other areas of the country.  They were freedom fighters, literally fighting with the North for the freedom of slaves and for that, they were rewarded with the creation of the State of West Virginia.

As such, the Mountaineer is felt by West Virginians to be a frontiersman and fighter for freedom.  Somehow, the Mountaineer is seen on this board as a symbol of ignorance.

It makes one wonder why West Virginia, which chose to fight for the freedom of slaves as part of the industrial and equality-embracing North, then deemed the civilized part of the commonwealth of Virginia, ended up being seen as the backward, non-progressive former part of the old commonwealth, while Virginia is not viewed that way.
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