For my first-ever blog entry, I spent the last hour writing up an indepth post and then managed to delete it somehow. So far, blogging sucks. Maybe I’ll post tomorrow. Or maybe not.

In keeping with the navel-gazing tradition of blogging, I’ll devote my first post to a study of our own site. I’ve been camping for the last week so tonight was my first look at this site — I’m amazed how much time my pals have been able to waste already on this thing. I’ll join them now.

After one week in existence, Pitt Sports Blather has had about two-dozen posts, on everything from cheerleaders to M. Clarett. Three members have posted (Patrick and Lee, who once mocked bloggers, and Chas, the instigator of the whole thing). (Where’s Shawn?) I got excited when I saw that we had a couple comments from some fool named LionLover, until it became clear that that, too, was Lee, operating under a fake name. We’ve only risked a serious libel suit once, as far as I can tell (I’ll let you figure out which post I’m talking about). Not bad for a blog operated by two lawyers and a journalist.

On the positive side, when you type in “Pitt sports” on Yahoo, we come up third in line (fourth on Google). How the hell can that be the case? Are there that few sites devoted to Pitt? Or is it just that our blog name matches those keywords? Thank God we didn’t go with PittBabble (or BabblePitt), as some of us wanted to do.

And the best Pitt Sports Blather-related development of all: Chas has been neglecting his mother-ship blog, SardonicViews, ever since PSB came online. He used to post three or four times a day; it’s been five days since his last new entry, which of course was about the Cleveland Convention Center.

On the off chance that anyone besides the five of us actually happens across this site, we should fill you in on some of our traditions/sayings.

— “Go Bulls” is a reference to the out-of-nowhere ass-kicking that the University of South Florida gave us a couple years ago. It’s an ironic cheer we tend to use when Pitt does something particularly stupid.

— Hebrew Nationals are the only dogs that make it onto our grill — those who have tried to bring the Ballparks or Oscar Mayers are banned from the parking lot. (I would cleverly link here to the Hebrew National website, if there is one, but I don’t care enough to learn how to do it.)

— Our major contribution to Pitt sports history is that we’re fairly sure we started the tradition of cheering on the guy who retrieves the tee after each kickoff. He’s a heavy guy and he runs his ass off and in recent years most of the stadium has joined us in cheering on his efforts. During one televised game last year, they replayed a slo-mo clip of his dash for glory and the commentators made fun of him. A proud moment.

The other saying and traditions I’m thinking of right now are inappropriate for a Tipper Gore-friendly blog like this one. Any additions, guys?

Screw Arnold. Vote Gary!

Until Penn State agrees to play the University of Pittsburgh again and beats us (as opposed to what happened the last time we played, September 16, 2000), we can assume that they are our little bitches on the football field. However, many Penn State alumni and fans (at least those in and around Altoona) assume that athletics aside, Penn State is still academically superior to Pitt. Not so, says a fascinating article by Bill Zlatos in the May 10, 2003 edition of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.

For students applying to the University of Pittsburgh’s main campus, many call, but few are chosen.
Since 1995, Pitt’s Oakland campus has doubled its number of applicants. That has allowed it to be more selective in enrolling top-notch students.

Pitt’s growing popularity has resulted in a lot of fallout. Some guidance counselors say Pitt’s main campus has closed the gap and perhaps surpassed the main campus of Penn State University in selectivity… “If I were a student and it’s the end of September and I had a 1000 SAT and a 3.0 grade point average, I would probably stand a little better chance of getting into Penn State than Pitt,” said Jeffrey Spadafore, a guidance counselor at Schenley High School in Oakland.

Yaara Taasan, a senior at Fox Chapel, will graduate with an A-minus average and posted a 1080 score on the SAT. She was accepted at the main campuses of Penn State University, Ohio State University, West Virginia University, Drexel University and the University of Delaware. But she was turned down by Pitt’s main campus.

“I heard that Pitt was raising its standards,” she said. “But I still figured that I would have gotten in.”

Like many Pitt applicants who don’t get into the main campus, Taasan was offered a chance to enroll at Pitt’s branch campuses. She declined, opting instead to major in engineering at Penn State.

So, Lion fans, these days you’re apparently our bitches both on the football field and in the classroom. And our stadium is nicer too.

Hail to Pitt.

This morning, The Sporting News has a piece from Matt Hayes — one of my favorite college football columnists — suggesting that Ohio State (my other alma mater) should expel Maurice Clarett for the following incidents…

1. Clarett’s seemingly anti-social sulking after the Fiesta Bowl.

2. Clarett’s brief argument with running back coach Tim Spencer after Maurice was pulled from the Northwestern game after fumbling three times.

3. Publicly chastising Ohio State for not allowing him to return home from the Fiesta Bowl to attend the funeral of a friend when Clarett failed to fill out the NCAA-required paperwork.

4. The current academic fraud investigation.

5. The current NCAA investigation of Clarett’s overestimating his losses in a theft of materials from a Chevrolet Monte Carlo that he was test driving.

As a proud alumnus and rabid Buckeyes fan, my response to Matt Hayes would be “maybe, but not just yet.”

Incidents #1-3 listed above admittedly show a certain immaturity and self-centeredness. But the kid is 19. I was even worse when I was 19.

Incident #4 would seem to be the weakest of all. The involved professor claims that that great bastion of journalistic integrity, the New York Times, severely misquoted her. And the original accuser who sparked the Times interest in Columbus has since been entirely disaccredited (and accused of a felony, I believe). I would be surprised if this investigation turns up anything. But if it does, sure… toss Clarett out. And fire the Prof too.

Incident #5, though, does seem to be the real thing. So punish him. As Kirk Herbstreit noted on WBNS Radio, Columbus, yesterday, the standard NCAA penalty for such an action would be a one or two game suspension. So suspend him already.

But don’t throw away this kid’s entire football career and education when all he deserves is a suspension. Well… at least not just yet… The next time he screws up bad enough to potentially warrant an expulsion, maybe toss him then to protect Ohio State’s integrity and image.

Of course, test driving as ugly of a car as a Chevrolet Monte Carlo is pretty bad… The Pontiac Grand Prix has the same basic hardware and looks a whole lot better.

Yes, there is a growing segment of Central Ohio that has enough of Clarett. And I understand their frustration. I’m pretty tired of his act too. So get ready to kiss him goodbye, but don’t pucker up just yet.

Hail to Ohio State Winning the Big Ten Again, hopefully With a Reformed Clarett

First off, the phrase “We hold these truths to be self-evident” is from the Declaration of Independence. The Anti-Federalists didn’t oppose this document. They only opposed the U.S. Constitution, which came along eleven years later. And you passed the bar exam?

Second, you know very well that Manchester United has played Glasgow Celtic since 2002. They played on July 22, 2003 at Seahawks Stadium in Seattle. And as ESPN’s Soccernet noted, “The talent gap between the two teams became apparent before halftime, when Manchester led 3-0.” Manchester wound up spanking Celtic 4-0.

And the very fact that this much site space was dedicated to the world’s most boring pastime is a depressing indictment of this blog.

Third, you like so many other college football fans, have actually fallen in to the trap of thinking that academics are somehow more important than money. There’s no doubt that Pitt better fits the academic profile of the Big Ten better than Syracuse does. Pitt’s acceptance requirements and research capabilities clearly leave Syracuse behind. Plus, Syracuse is tiny compared to Pitt — let along Ohio State or Michigan State.

However, Syracuse would bring new markets (Up-State New York and a stronger presence in NYC) into the mix. The Big Ten, thanks to Penn State, is already all over the Pittsburgh marketplace. Need I remind you how often “The Penn State Story” appears on Fox Sports Pittsburgh during the season?

Plus, Syracuse just won a national hoops title. Ben Howland was too worried about UCLA to accomplish that.

Fourth, you know that I hate no one worse than Penn State. I’ve seen out more Lion-bashing e-mails over the past five years than the rest of this group combined. I live within 45 miles of Beaver Stadium and have to take crap from the Nittany Nazis constantly.

However, some members of our little tailgating group do not agree with us. And, given that Penn State has not abandoned the Big East Conference lately, and given that Penn State is not an academic joke unlike some schools in Blacksburg, Virginia or Coral Gables, Florida that I could mention, I can understand how some younger Pitt fans would place other rivals over PSU these days.

Besides, didn’t we lose to our official rival last fall?

And if Blogger tries to spellcheck “Pitt” to “Pit” one more time.

Hail to Beating the Mountaineers When We Should