ADVERTISEMENT

A few late night thoughts, from an outsider’s perspective

When Sandusky happened, I was working in a large Defense Contracting/Tech Company at the time in Western PA. About an equal mix of Pitt and Penn State grads. I saw Pitt people, who I considered professional, good people, piling on Penn State people. And in ways I considered over the line, outside the bounds of professionalism and friendship.
The rivalry will never again be like it was in the late 70s/early 80s, and therefore not worth it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ChandlerPearce
I’ve always hated Pitt, but just in a “rivalry” kind of way. I also hated WVU, but that’s because I lived in WV for years and heard a lot of trash talking about PSU. The absolute hatred for Pitt for me started with the Sandusky situation and it wasn’t just Pitt. The endless Ped State, Joe knew, enablers BS made me hate a bunch of schools especially Pitt because they were the worst. I also grew to hate others such as Iowa and Rutgers. Kicking someone when they are done and doing so gleefully will cause that person to hate you.
Yeah, It's hard to overlook that, but on the other hand we were dealing with message board types, which I would think are a relatively small sample size. The OP has been a consistently decent poster over here and he does make a lot of sense with this. Again though, I get ya.
 
Last edited:
It's the internet, that's why. In reality, I'm friends with a bunch of Pitt grads, including one football player from the early 2000's. But, on the internet hatred runs rampant mostly due to anonymity. If posters were forced to use real names, photos and addresses the tenor would be a whole lot different. This wasn't an issue in the 70's, 80's, 90's.
There is a lot of truth to what you say, but as someone who grew up in the 70s and 80s, I can assure you that there was plenty of vitriol between and among fans of PSU and Pitt and PSU and Notre Dame then. Those Sh*t on Pitt buttons and banners/signs with all manner of insults in both directions came out of that era. I also went to college (undergrad) in Ohio in the 90s and the OSU/Michigan hatred was palpable. Contrary to the belief of many under 40, hatred, vitriol, etc. are not new. They have always existed. The internet just magnifies them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ski
For me the dislike started years ago because we were powerhouses that played tough games that determined who was the best in the conference and sometimes the nation. A true rivalry. The back and forth between fans was sharp but fun. I am sure that there was a bit of youthful arrogance on both sides. My favorite come back was just saying 48-14.

Later in life I learned that Pitt forced the series to be 2 home games at Pitt to 1 home game at PSU for an extended period of time. That to me was not banter regarding a rivalry but true arrogance. Fairness dictates that needs to be corrected.

Add the overwhelming Ped State screaming at the Pitt game in 2016 was just over the top. I went to the game with friends from Pitt but even some of their crowd could not hold back from being in my face.

The truth is I would like to play Pitt every year as a non conference game. It would be a nice scrimmage to prepare us for the Big 10 game schedule. That said the series would have to be 2 home games to 1 until the life time series was evened out. Now I am sure that Pitt won’t agree to that because the only way they can make money is to play PSU.

So there you have it, fix the long term series and back off the Ped State crap and maybe Pitt has a shot at having a viable football program.

48-14
You're all class as usual.
You're all class as usual.
Teasing! The Rick is always just teasing. Except about one thing.
 
Thank you.

First, true confessions time: I actually don't hate Pitt and never have.

I look back nostalgically on that roughly 10-year period in the mid-70's and early 80's when both schools were national powerhouses and the game was one of the highlights of the college football season. And even in the decade before that, when Penn State dominated the series, it was a traditional rivalry and a game I looked forward to.

Second, you have to keep the word "hate" in perspective in the context of college football. It's a figurative, not literal, hate. It doesn't consume your soul -- just your Saturdays in the fall.

In fact, one of the joys of the sport is that there's a team you "love" and other teams you "hate." Rooting against the latter is one of the fun parts of the game. For example, I grew up hating the SEC. After a few years in the Big Suck Conference, hating the SEC became secondary to hating Michigan and Ohio State. And so on.

As for your first paragraph about the last six months showing that we as a people have more in common than we think, well, good luck with that. Sadly, I think it's shown the opposite. Sports in general and college football in particular used to be a refuge, at least for a few hours. Now the Powers That Be are doing their best to ruin even that.

Good, detailed explanation of how you see sports, as well as how you see "hate". But I would not classify my feeling for the teams that PSU plays regularly, and has lost to, as hate. Regarding the people (not really the teams themselves) that piled on the Sandusky topic, I have a more focused disrespect for those individuals. A mindset like that is more a reflection of that person's morals and lack of respect for others than it is a reflection of anything involving sports.

Depending on which team, I see some as "earning" disrespect. When Michigan ran up the score against an undermanned PSU team, for example. And the team that let their center score late in the game to run the PSU team's nose in it. Those "rivals" have earned disrespect, and I root against them, particularly when they are still coached by the coach that made those calls, no matter who they play.

I don't have that same disrespect for OSU. OSU has been on a roll since Urban took over, recruiting on a historic level, and putting a top 5 talent team on the field year after year. That I respect. I don't really hate them for being so good. And when PSU plays them, if PSU plays well against them, even in a close loss, measuring up to OSU brings a sense of accomplishment to PSU, which is a good thing. And then beating them is that much sweeter. What PSU fan will ever forget the 2016 win over OSU, or the B10 Championship game that year.

It's pretty easy to forget the last 3 wins versus Pitt, because it was really, as James said, just like beating Akron.....

Other teams, such as Pitt, I root against merely because a disproportionate percentage of their fans are such jerks. I don't hate Pitt. It just seems that to see jerks wallow in their sorrow over something as inconsequential as sports some how is just them getting what they deserve.
 
Last edited:
Yeah, It's hard to overlook that, but on the other hand we were dealing with message board types, which I would think are a relatively small sample size. The OP has been a consistently decent poster over here and he does make a lot of sense with this. Again though, I get ya.
I heard a lot of crap from people in person...jokes in poor taste and why would I still be a PSU fan type of stuff.
 
Nice to see some common sense from a Pitt fan. So I'll give you my perspective.

I bleed Blue and White. I began following PSU when my older brother went off to PSU in 1967. Really before that, as we always seemed to follow PSU. But we followed Pitt as well. I then attended PSU and obviously my love for PSU football was only strengthened. But back in the 80's I got a graduate degree from Pitt, met my wife (PSU undergrad) that was finishing her grad degree from Pitt, so we have some respect for Pitt as an institution.

Back then, yes the PSU/Pitt games were big events. The 48-14 game is likely still one of my top 5 PSU football memories. But then Pitt football declined. The landscape of college football changed, with stadiums being expanded, greater TV exposure,.... But Pitt didn't really participate in the changes like the real top programs. So that wore on Pitt fans.

In the 80's and 90's I had season tickets to Pitt basketball. I'm a sports fan, basketball fan, and the only local (to me) real college BB was Pitt. And yet with pitt playing Georgetown, or Syracuse, the Pitt "fans" interject PSU into their fight song. Sad.

Over the years since then, as PSU and Pitt went in different directions the hate from Pitt fans only seemed to increase. I found it pretty impossible to talk college sports with a Pitt fan. One of my wife's best friends husband, a plumber who never attended college but is a lifelong Pitt fan, continued to insult Paterno shortly after the Sandusky crimes were exposed when we were out to dinner with them, quoting the "facts" he heard from Pitt "fans" to me. Why would anyone with a brain antagonize a PSU grad like that at that time? I should have decked the clown, but out of respect for his wife I just told the gals that I was ready to leave.

And then the paranoia that Duzzy showed when PSU and Pitt had their 4 year series. Media blackouts. Saying it's the biggest game for them. Just plain stupid. I did love it when Franklin said it was just like playing Akron, as it really is just an out of conference game for PSU that can only hurt PSU if PSU loses and not really add to PSU's resume when PSU beats Pitt. That really is the truth, but it gives Pitt fans a case of hysteria. PSU really is better off playing a team with a more recognized national name, where more respect can be gained, as it's one tougher OOC game.

I've had other interactions with Pitt fans that lead me to believe that there are far too many Pitt fans that are just off their rockers. Some I tell that I had season tickets to Pitt BB for 10+ years, and they don't know how to respond. But in general I avoid conversations on sports with Pitt fans, as there are just too many of them that can't control themselves, that don't have a sense of how far into a discussion that includes rivalry (actual or perceived) that a respectful conversation can include.....

So the fact that I have a degree from Pitt, and that my oldest son just finished his Master from Pitt as well, and that I would like to cheer for Pitt as a second team now that PSU and Pitt have gone separate ways, just gets overshadowed by the memories of the Pitt jerks that I have come across over the last 50 years.....

This pretty much mirrors my experience.
 
Good, detailed explanation of how you see sports, as well as how you see "hate". But I would not classify my feeling for the teams that PSU plays regularly, and has lost to, as hate. Regarding the people (not really the teams themselves) that piled on the Sandusky topic, I have a more focused disrespect for those individuals. A mindset like that is more a reflection of that person's morals and lack of respect for others than it is a reflection of anything involving sports.

Depending on which team, I see some as "earning" disrespect. When Michigan ran up the score against an undermanned PSU team, for example. And the team that let their center score late in the game to run the PSU team's nose in it. Those "rivals" have earned disrespect, and I root against them, particularly when the are still coached by the coach that made those calls, no matter who they play.

I don't have that same disrespect for OSU. OSU has been on a roll since Urban took over, recruiting on a historic level, and putting a top 5 talent team on the field year after year. That I respect. I don't really hate them for being so good. And when PSU plays them, if PSU plays well against them, even in a close loss, measuring up to OSU brings a sense of accomplishment to PSU, which is a good thing. And then beating them is that much sweeter. What PSU fan will ever forget the 2016 win over OSU, or the B10 Championship game that year.

It's pretty easy to forget the last 3 wins versus Pitt, because it was really, as James said, just like beating Akron.....

Other teams, such as Pitt, I root against merely because a disproportionate percentage of their fans are such jerks. I don't hate Pitt. It just seems that to see jerks wallow in their sorrow over something as inconsequential as sports some how is just them getting what they deserve.

Very well said.

Some of the responses to the OP are unfortunate. He's been a pretty good sport around here, and proof positive that Pitt and PSU fans can be perfectly civil to one another as human beings despite the rivalry that exists (or doesn't) on and off the field.

It's just sports. When you allow that as an excuse to treat other people with malice, then you've got problems.

I enjoy taking shots at Pitt, too. And I'm not opposed to giving the LAIR types a dose of what they dish to us (so long as it doesn't veer into personal malice). For those who do engage in true hatred? Best not to even engage. No good can come from it. And in fact, ignoring them completely probably angers them more than retaliating with childish insults.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ChandlerPearce
Do you read this board?
Yes I do. There is still passion for it among older members of the fan base who remember the 70s and early 80s games. I remember those games but they are long gone. And since I don’t live near Pittsburgh and don’t have to hear from Pitt alumni, I don’t care if they ever play again. I would rather use that game for playing seldom seen opponents and preferably bigger name teams. Pitt should play Temple if they need an in state rival. Temple probably has more players currently on NFL rosters than Pitt does.
 
Do you read this board?
You might be confusing dislike for rivalry - I always thought to be a rival of someones you have to have had a least a small amount of success against them in say the last 30 years - Pitt doesn't then qualify as a rival.
 
  • Like
Reactions: pandaczar12
I was naive for many years and actually rooted for Pitt as long as they were not playing PSU. I thought it was good for them to have a winning squad and good for the rivalry for them to be winners too. Then I started following here, got curious about "The Lair." Could there be humans that stupid, vile, hateful and ignorant? I'm glad PSU is not beating Pitt again this year and hopefully PSU will never engage them again.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ski and pandaczar12
ADVERTISEMENT