Why can’t this topic just stay comatose for a few more months?
A Smizik column calling for Pitt to stop playing Penn State in any sport. Ostensibly because WVU is now Pitt’s biggest rival.
Pitt-West Virginia is so much more. The rivalry, always intense, has been heightened in recent years by two factors. For one, the conference rivalry has escalated the importance of the games. In football and basketball, Pitt and West Virginia repeatedly have played crucial games the past several years. For another, the absence of Penn State has put more significance on the football game. If Pitt were still playing Penn State, it possibly might diminish, the Big East games.
There aren’t many examples of non-conference rivalry games in football, but somehow I don’t think the Clemson-South Carolina or Florida-Florida St. annual match-ups have diminished from the conference battles. It seems that Florida-Georgia still carries some weight. As does Florida St.-Miami.
Somehow, in basketball, I think things still matter in their conferences for Louisville and Kentucky after they play each other. How about Cinci-Xavier? The Big 5 in Philly?
Smizik’s conclusion of hope is so false — and he knows it.
If Joe Paterno wants to hold a grudge, and that’s what this is about, let him. But let him hold it with no leverage. Pitt doesn’t need to be waiting for Paterno to get over the fact it rejected his plan for an Eastern all-sports conference in the early 1980s and instead joined the Big East, which then was only a basketball league.
Maybe if Paterno realizes no one cares about his grudge, he’ll get over it.
Paterno will never get over the grudge. The football rivalry is dead until he is. That doesn’t mean you have the Athletic Directors cut everything else off. How does that really make a difference, other than to further distance the schools and connections and animosity?
I’ve written this before. I want to see Pitt and Penn State play in every sport (especially basketball) at this point. Because each time they meet, it is also a reminder to their fans about what they are missing in football. Even basketball is a pale reflection to what the feelings were when the football teams played. Meeting in other sports just drives it home.
They want PSU to beat Pitt in everything, just as we want Pitt to beat PSU. With them playing each other, it keeps the ADs talking and working together. A relationship that will matter more after Joe Paterno.
