WxM: Where is the North-South line drawn in WV for these games? In Ohio, Rt. 40, is kind of the obvious line. I'm not sure in West Virginia where the line would be, seems less obvious to me.

Hmm. . . that's interesting. If my geography is correct, that means that by extending the end of the Little Kanawha east that most of the Eastern Panhandle and all of the Northern Panhandle would in the North, and both Huntington and Charleston, as well as the coal fields would be in the South. That would make Parkersburg, Clarksburg, Martinsburg and Wheeling the bigger cities in the North.

Do I have that about right?

That's an amazing mix of cultures and even ethnicity in each grouping, but in West Virginia, there's really no way to divide the state that that is not true. Most people who have not lived in WV, or at least studied its history, do not appreciate the great diversity of cultures in the Mountain State.

I remember in my days at Marshall the tensions, and sometimes outright animosities, between, for example, students from the northern panhandle and those from the coal fields, or those from Central WV and those from either panhandle. Of course, after they got to know each other and interact in college those differences tended to fade into the background, but the presence of them, in the first place, was once upon a time eye-opening to a young college professor.

That would be right. If you look at the new congressional map, which is down to two districts, it follows your border pretty well, except it doesn't split any counties.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/West_...

With the decline of the coal industry, the population has shifted gradually to the north, so that the border for these all-star games has had to shift to the north as well. The third through eighth biggest cities are in the north. Clarksburg is tenth. The south is anchored by the Charleston-Huntington metro area and all those related cities, as well as Beckley and Oak Hill. That's pretty much all that's left down there.

Population growth has been primarily in the eastern panhandle, with the far three counties becoming home to a lot of DC commuters. It has helped Martinsburg become dominant in football. They have won every AAA football championship since 2016, except for comical 2020. They were forced to forfeit to eventual runner-up Bridgeport, who itself was forced to forfeit to South Charleston. Both of those happened due to COVID numbers within their respective counties.