This may make our resident uniform fashion critic envious and happy, but at least one school will be doing a retro uniform day. Naturally, it isn’t Pitt. No. The University of Oklahoma will be wearing old unis from the Bud Wilkerson era for the first game of the season.
August 26, 2003
The 2003-2004 season could be a big year for Pitt sports. Not just as far as what they can accomplish on the field and the court. I’m thinking about their place in the local Pittsburgh sports scene. Locally, no one has given much ink or airwave time to Pitt outside of complaints of how they don’t measure up to teams of yesteryear. It didn’t matter because there was always a pro team to hold the interest at any time. But look at things right now.
The Pirates are an embarrassment, selling off the expensive talent and rebuilding yet again on the cheap.
The Penguins, well, outside of Mario Lemieux, is there any real interest in this team. They are just trying to keep afloat financially, trading players for draft picks, until the lockout/strike comes after this season.
The Steelers. Ah, the Steelers. The lifeblood of all Pittburghers (Pittsburghians?). Aside from the fact that they are playing in a weak division, there is hope but a lot more questions about the team. The defense. The running game. Special teams. Lots of questions.
Meanwhile at Pitt. There are potential top 10 teams in football and basketball. Definitely top 20. There should be a lot of excitement and expectations for both teams. Everyone loves a winner, and bandwagon jumpers should be lining up around the ‘Burgh.
If. If, Pitt can meet those expectations. Then this could help reshape the dynamic in the area.
Well it seems there are some other doubters as to how Pitt will do this year.
1. Pittsburgh will wilt under the weight of expectationsAfter last season’s surprising second-place finish in the conference standings, the Panthers are a fashionable choice to win the Big East this year. But talking about it and doing it are two completely different things. To win the conference, Pittsburgh will have to beat Miami and Virginia Tech, something the Panthers have done only once (1997) in the same season since they joined the Big East in 1991. Pittsburgh will also have to prove it can sidestep the upsets — West Virginia last season and South Florida in 2001 — that have been an obstacle to greater success the past two seasons.
There is a reflexive, defensive part of me that just wants to be snide and say this is because the Big East beat writer for ESPN is also a sportswriter at the Palm Beach Post, i.e., he’s a Miami homer. But I’m not going to do that. Instead, I’ll concede the possibility, but disagree and hope he’s dead wrong.
The rest of the list of 10 things to watch in the Big East is mostly rather obvious. It’s more an overview of story lines for the year, for those not following the Big East.
PSB has only been up and running a few weeks, but the search engines are moving us up. Here’s how some search results have arrived here (the number in parenthesis is where we ranked on the search).
Pitt Panthers (#52)
Pitt is It! and Sports Illustrated (#8)
pennsylvania+hoopies (#9)
PGH PANTHER FOOTBALL SCHEDULE (#3)
Pitt Panther Brandon Miree (#5)
pitt panther font (#2)
pittsburgh panthers cheerleading (#10)
kirk herbstreit hates penn state (#3)
You can draw your own conclusions about the state of mind of whoever reached that conclusion for the last search.
Pitt Running Back Brandon Miree was named one of 39 pre-season candidates for the Doak Walker Award, that goes to the top college running back. Here’s the full list and Pitt press release.
Pitt and Walt Harris has landed a couple more verbal commitments for the 2004. A solid all-state DL from New Jersey, Chenry Lewis
Lewis, who chose Pitt over Boston College and Rutgers, is the Panthers’ 12th recruit from the Class of 2004. He is the third player to commit in the past week, joining Penn Hills quarterback Anthony Morelli and Upper Merion offensive lineman Dave Weber.
…
He was named first-team all-state by The Associated Press and first-team All-Passaic by the coaches. While Tom Lemming ranks Lewis the No. 14 linebacker in the nation, SuperPrep ranks him the No. 20 player in New Jersey.
A huge 6’4″ 310 pound OL, Dave Weber, from the Philadelphia area committed to Pitt over Syracuse, Georgia Tech, Northwestern and Rutgers.
Pitt now has verbals from 12 recruits for 2004. Apparently the BCS fear isn’t stopping Harris.
