Who's Ready for the 6 Class Debate to Heat Up Again?

I know I am as an avid supporter of the 6 Class system. But there will always be those contrary to this issue especially on this side of the state.

I do hate the idea of playing our District Title games at Heinz Field. So I use Heinz Field as a terrible, terrible reason to hold back progress in this state.

There are some other issues that come along with the 6 Class debate, like when to start the season. I prefer the last Friday in August and not the Friday before Labor Day.

Fact of the matter is the only thing everyone can agree on is that the season is too long. Ending the week before Christmas is utterly absurd.

I have an idea that could cut the season by at least 2 weeks. 1 Cut the playoff field in half statewide, 2 (as I stated above) start the season the last Friday in August, like Ohio and other states.

But this is a little deeper than just when the season starts and ends. Lets talk about competition for a minute. On the Eastern side of the state you have most of your larger schools so the smaller 4A schools complain. But on the Western side of the state you have most of the smaller schools in the state.

Class 2A in the WPIAL is extremely large and could easily be fixed if we had more Class's. In 1A in the WPIAL, the level of competition is grossly unfair. Schools like Clairton, Rochester, Canevin, Springdale, Beth Center, and Monessen shouldn't take the field against the smaller uncompetitive teams like Avella, Mapletown, and West Greene. But it happens.

There are ways that the WPIAL can set up the playoffs and still have 4 WPIAL games at Heinz and still send 6 representatives to the PIAA playoffs.

The next Board of Directors meeting is on December 16th. I fully expect this issue to be brought up again and be highly debated this winter into spring and possibly summer.

I just hope the Board of Directors especially the WPIAL does what is the most sensible and goes to a 6 Class format.

Heinz Field- A Flawed Tradition

Last night watching the Steelers game reminded me of how much I hate the WPIAL finals being played at Heinz Field. The playing surface is downright horrendous and for other reasons I'm going to get into right about now.

I understand the average WPIAL's claim to tradition. But what is so bad about "in with the new and out with the old".

The WPIAL requires the Quarterfinals and Semifinals to be played at a neutral field with an artificial surface. What in the world makes the most important game(s) in our area to be different?

Is it really because the Pro's play there or what? Is it because of the FSN money because they refuse to go to more than one site?

Come on folks, this field not only has a terrible playing surface but the game day atmosphere is pathetic. Each game carries 5k to 10k fans in a 65k stadium. Are you kidding me?

Why not play the games at Cal U, or Robert Morris where the stadiums are much smaller, plus you have an artificial surface?

At the end of the day the kids aren't really going to care where the game is played. They're fighting for the right to be named the best team in the WPIAL, in their respective class's.

I think the people that care the most are the fans. Our -insert team- is going to the Ketchup Bowl, or our -insert team- is going to Heinz.

Lets talk about safety for a minute. Do any of you want any of your boys to get hurt in similar fashion that the one Miami Hurricane did in the Champs Bowl last season. He tore his ACL due to the playing surface being up to par.

The tradition is flawed plan and simple. The sooner Western Pa realizes this, the better off we all are.

Clairton vs Chartiers-Houston and Fort Cherry... Bitter Fued???

Back in the spring of 2008 when the realignment came out and Clairton was placed in the Blackhills Conference I was extremely excited for many reasons. One reason was I got to see the High School I graduated from, Clairton, take on schools that are very close to where I live.

I live in Houston, and in fact when i'm when I go to Chartiers-Houston games I find myself rooting for the Buccaneers. Its only natural, because I live here and have some friends in the area. I'm not going to go to the away bleachers and root for the away team in spite. I have family that graduated from Chartiers-Houston; including my cousin who played for the 2000 edition that beat Clairton in the first round of the playoffs.

My girlfriend at the time was a graduate of Fort Cherry and I attended some of their games as well. So I also rooted for the Rangers. Again it was natural and made sense.

But something has changed between now and then and it has become a bit hideous to say the least. Not saying Clairton is entirely innocent in all of this, but the rivalries between these 3 schools have turned a bit ugly. It all goes back to the 2008 game between Clairton and Char-Houston where Clairton did some push ups after the game. Then in the 2009 game against Fort Cherry there was a minor pregame innocent and a plethora of personal fouls during the game. And that game also ended with Clairton doing push ups on Fort Cherry's sideline. The 2009 game between Clairton and Chartiers-Houston featured a bench clearing brawl.

When it came for post season awards for the Blackhills Conference, Fort Cherry and Chartiers-Houston made sure that no Clairton player would receive an All Conference Award. Remember the Clairton Bears won the State Title and featured 2 Pitt recruits in WR/DB Kevin Weatherspoon and QB/DE Desimon Green. LB Eddie Ball was the AP Class A Defensive Player of the Year and RB Deonte Howard was the AP Class A Player of the Year. Personal grudges shouldn't have gotten in the way when it came to honoring the best players in the conference but it did and its wrong.

Fast forward to last Friday evening. Clairton beat Chartiers-Houston 48-0 in Clairton. Clairton used its backup QB and threw a touchdown pass late in the 4th Q. Clairton then lines up like its going to go for 2 and takes a knee. I call that perfect sportsmanship, but HC Terry Fetsko obviously disagrees with me in his post game intereview.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/dailynewsmckeesport/sports/s_701317.html

I completely understand his frustrations to a point. His teams has been completely overwhelmed by Clairton the past 3 seasons and had some extracurricular involved in the prior 2 meetings. But to claim that the team that just beat his isn't that good and will get beaten by Rochester is a little over the top. Maybe he's right and Clairton isn't as good as past years, only time will tell. But a comment like that seems to be more or less sour grapes than him being honest with himself and the rest of Western PA.

I'll find it really hard to root for Chartiers-Houston and Fort Cherry in the future, when they're not playing Clairton of course. Has these games reached a boiling point, I might have to say yes. I mean there isn't any respect involved here. You got coach's that isn't humbled when they lose, not voting for players of a Clairton due to grudges, post game push ups, etc. At least when Clairton and Duquesne had their rivalry there was some form of mutual respect, even though those games was much more heated than the current series.

This isn't even fun anymore. I was anticipating these games with all of the enthusiasm in the world. Now I just wished these series would end.

Florida Schools Blowing out the WPIAL Shouldn't Be a Surprise

Any one else tired of seeing Pennsylvania getting destroyed by Florida schools and the rest of the nation respectively? I'm really tired of seeing scores like Cocoa beating Thomas Jefferson 43-7 and Manatee beating Gateway 39-16. And to top it off the WPIAL's record vs Florida is 117-23.

Is this the best the WPIAL and PA has to offer? Could schools like North Penn, Bishop McDevitt, and other top schools out east do any better? That question hasn't been answered yet. But I suspect that they may not fair much better.

But the WPIAL and the rest of the State needs to do something to even this playing field. Just look what they do in states like Florida, Texas, and many states down south. They have spring football for one(which includes a spring game/scrimmage vs a neighboring school in some states), and they start the season a week earlier than we do.

I say either we change our ways ie; having spring football and starting our season a week earlier. And if we don't change then we need to stop playing these games. I'm sick and tired of the WPIAL's Tradition excuse everytime issues like 6 Class's makes it to the floor. Events like Rally in the Wolverena, Rally in the Valley, Kirt Herbstreet Challenge are the furthest thing from traditional.

Anyone that follows football(on any level) will tell you the biggest improvements on any football team is between Week 1 and Week 2. This will also be benificial for the entire state just because we'd be ending the season a week earlier, and if the PIAA and WPIAL could get together and reach an agreement we could end the season 2 weeks earlier but thats another story.

It's all about the money isn't it WPIAL. Its time to at least allow our schools to be more competive. Stop being political when its really your cashflow is stacking higher and higher. Swallow your pride and change, or STOP PLAYING THESE GAMES!

Clairton "Stamps" in its First Win of the Season

Leading into the game there was alot of trash talking, but Clairton did its talking on the field.

The Little Prexies simply had no answer for the Bears swarming defense. Their offense was so anemic their offense gained -24 total yards and gained 0 first downs.

I have to question Mike Bosnic's playcalling in this game. Never did he try to go into a shotgun or do something different to put the Bears defense off balance. Every drive for Washington looked the same; 3 run plays up the middle.

In a game where Clairton wins 41-0, its hard for some to find mistakes in their game. But 3 3rd Quarter turnovers and 2 muffed punts, a few avoidable presnap penalties, its easy to say that the Bears was far from perfect.

Desimon Green had to be the player of the game. He amased 3 sacks, was on nearly every tackle in the first half, 5-5 passing for 105 yards. Josh Page had 5 catch's for 96 yards and 2 TD's; including a spectacular run after catch for a 54 yards.

Clairton used a plethora of RB's with Tyler Boyd leading the way with 6 carries for 100 yards.

Clairton opened the scoring late in the 2nd Quarter on a 13 yard run by Brandon Small and never looked back.

If this is how Clairton treats average 2A schools in the WPIAL, one has to ask does any Blackhills school stand a chance?

Big East Has an Expansion Problem

I must admit that even I wanted to see a school like Memphis or ECU in the Big East a year ago. Even I want to see the Big East being proactive. We all say why isn't the Big East proactive here. But can we look at the bigger picture for a minute.

No expansion candidate is a perfect fit. All BCS ready schools are in the MWC. Some say that we should invite a school and let the grow with BCS recruiting similar to Cincinnati. Fact of the matter is Cincinnati compared to ECU and Memphis are totally different situtations. Cincinnati is practically a MAC All Star Team. Its no coincidence that during the Bearcats rise that the Mac steadily has declined. The local Memphis and ECU area simply doesn't feed recruits like the Cincinnati area. Shoot Cincinnati doesn't even need to compete with OSU for recruits and they should be a top 3 school in the Big East. Can we say the same for ECU and Memphis. Looking deeper at the candidates and ECU and Memphis have 1st year coach's so things could get worse or better for those programs.

I'm a big advocate of Temple but they're also not the answer. There is no guarentee that Golden is going to stay at Temple. They're fan support is slowly growing but its not where anyone wants it to be.

Now lets look at UCF for a moment. Face value they may be the the best choice. They're located in the epicenter of football recruiting and a nice media market, plus they have a massive amounts of alums. Lets dig deeper for a moment. Adding UCF holds back the growth of USF because they'll be competing with each other for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th tier recruits in Florida. Almost every school in the east taps into Florida for recruits from Alabama, Georgia, to the Big East schools. Adding UCF not only hurts USF for recruits, but also our own schools. We need USF to start growing into the program we expect it to before we add UCF.

Lets talk about Big East Network for a brief moment. Look where the snowbirds and Northeast transplants are located. They moved mostly to the Carolina's and Florida. Most of those transplants and snowbirds are also Big East school's alumni. That tells me that a Network(if created) will most likely be provided in Florida and the Carolina's with/or without schools in those area's. The demand for a Big East Network is already in those states.

Remember one thing Big East fans(and CUSA fans that are lurking), we just don't have room for error here. The Big 10 added Nebraska, the Pac 10 added Utah and Colorado. All those schools are highly respected and won a BCS Bowl or National Title the past 20 years. Adding the so called normal prospects doesn't help out cause to grow. Each prospect has a glaring weakness, wether its market size, level of play on the field, first year coach's ect.

The major eyepopping problem here is that the Big East is probably going to be forced to expand. You have the Pac 10, Big 10, Big XII all going to a 9 game conference schedule. I'm not sure if the ACC and SEC are far behind. Thats a problem because we're not going to have enough quality opponents to fill out our conference schedules. We need one of the normal prospects to seperate themselfs from the pack. Temple seems to the the prospect to do that if they can win a few MAC titles in a row. Larry Porter can certainly get Memphis on the right track.

There are 2 prospects that are superior to the other prospects out east. Those 2 prospects are TCU and Houston. But the problem with those 2 schools are that they are 2 far west. I think they could instantly compete in the Big East. But could geography really be the problem here?

What if One Day the Dollar Crashed

This is totally a fictional story that can be reality if the Government continues to overspend.

So what could happen if one day the paper money we have in our wallets became worthless? And we suddenly our IRA's, our stocks, and bonds become worthless? How would we survive such a sudden turn of events?

On miniscule aspect would be our entire way of life would change. Gone would be the days of "Living the American Dream" for one. There wouldn't be electric, gas, running water and so much more. Therefore the days of playing video's games, tv, computers, sporting events, and the normal daily shopping sprees.

Our buying means would be our assests. And i'm talking about real assets like fruit, vegetables, guns and ammunition, water, and gold and silver.

I think its a good time to prepare for this catastrophic event, even if it doesn't happen in our lifetime. I challenge women to learn how to bake, can, and garden. I challenge men to learn how to hunt, fish, and other things that can be useful in a post-industrial society.

So how would society in general respond to this event. I'd assume there would be a very high crime rate, with robbery and murder having the highest rates. Our country in general could have 2 or more scenerios. We could live under a Facist, Communist like regimes, or a Military Dictatorship. Heck we could live under the current Democracy with Sheriffs running everything on the local level, similar to the Wild West.

All of those scenerios are scary with similar outcomes. We would worry about being spied on in every aspect of our lives. Police would most certainly rule our lives. I say this has a 50% chance of happening. I'm not extremely worried about this. But I want everyone to be aware of such dire cirucumstances. Instead of worrying about Chelsea Clinton getting married earlier today, pay attention the real news going on in our country. Since last week there has been an oil leak in Michigan, a dam breaking in Iowa and so on. Lets be an informned society, instead of a dumbed down society.

Is it Time to Legalize Drugs?

As I sit back and watch the news, I hear the upsetting news that PAT Transit will be cutting routes and raising fairs. Then I see news that our bridges have much needed work to be done on them. Our entire infrastructure is collapsing. And we don't have the revenue to pay to fix the problems.

The simple solution is always to raise taxes on either gas, housing, sales. The people can't survive any longer paying more and more taxes and not seeing true results.

Its time to think "outside the box" for once. Its time to legalize every illegal drug on the market. On top of that you sell it and tax them like tobacco.

Now lets look at the effects of legalizing drugs. One of the most glaring positives I see is the money saved when it comes to the prosecution of drug users and dealers. Once the drugs are legal, there aren't the need for drug dealers. Which means there will be less crime on our streets. And at the same time you put the drug cartels out of business since we have manufacturer's developing the drugs here in the US.

Hey you also stimulate the economy by putting people to work developing the drugs. Which will lower the unemployment rate. And that means more people are paying income taxes

To regulate this new market, we simply add a new branch to ATF. Call it ATDF for all i'm concerned. We have to have regulations on how much a manufacturer can put into each specific item, wether its a joint, pill, ect.

Ok, we safe money due to less court cases and less people in jail, and we create a new tax revenue. Not saying this is enough money to fix all of our country's problems. But its a start. I just hope the Government can see this, because I feel its a common sense solution.

A Nation at a Crossroads

As we all know i'm more into the sports thing. But this is just one topic that is really vexing me as of late. It is that glorious thing we call the Cable News Media.

Not only do they tell the people that they want to hear. They preach hate more than any "Tea Party" or "Black Party" member. Lets get real for a minute. Its 2010 and normal society just isn't as racist as these morons protray society to be.

I just don't understand why someone that doesn't like Obama's Policy's, or supports Arizona's Law to get actually do something about Illegal Alien's is instantly assumed to be a racist.

And just earlier today Al Sharpton accused people that support State's Rights to be a racist. Does Al Sharpton know about the 9th and 10th Amendment? Does people really know what the Federal Government was originally intended to do? The Federal Government was intended to oversea intrastate trade, extradition of criminals, ect. Not a Health Care Bill, and Gun Control. Wiretapping, and having a private bank overseeing our economy.

This new Bill that Obama and the Democrats are pushing through isn't really needed. If the regulators before actually did their jobs in the first place we wouldn't have this problem today. So what makes me think that this new Bill is going to be enforced? On top of that it allows too big to fails to be broken up into splinter companies. So instead of having 1 terribly run company, we have 4-5 terribly ran companies. It makes no sense.

But somehow since the Republicans aren't for the Bill. The Liberal Media goes off the wagon saying that the Republicans are holding back progress. The sad thing is if the roles was reversed the Conservative media would say the same exact thing about the Democrats.

This country desperately needs to go back to its roots. State Rights is something I plan on talking to my Representives about, at the State and Federal Level. The Government should be working for us and not the other way around.

We are at a crossroads, do we continue this road of a 2 Party System that simply pushes their agenda's and don't listen to WE THE PEOPLE? And continue to let the media spread lies about the people to make us look like the bad guys. Or do we take back control of this country from the bottomm up. Its in our hands. Either wake up, or become a slave to the sytem. The choice is yours.

Realignment Predictions

So all heck is breaking lose. Anything can happen. Things are changing so rapidly that what I type now could be not true come 3PM today. Its insane man.

PAC 10+ 4 Colorado, Texas Tech, Utah, ???
SEC + 4 Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma St
Big 10(11) + 1 Nebraska
Big East + 6 Mizzou?, Iowa St?, Kansas?, Kansas St?, Memphis, UCF(Memphis and UCF are possible replacements if the Big 10 decides to add Syracuse and Rutgers.

The Pac 10 just might stop at 12. Which could change if Texas decides to jump to the Pac 10.

I'm not sure if the Big 10 wants to jump past 12 just yet, even though there has been many reports that indicated that.

The most amazing part of this whole realignment is the Big East reaching out to the B12 leftovers possibly heading to the Big East. No one including me thought this was possible. I thought that many peieces had to fall for it to happen. I'm still waiting for more confirmation on this but this article seems to hint at it.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/sports/blogs/Watch-This/Remaining-Big-12-schools-to-the-Big-East-gaining-momentum-96137294.html

Realignment is All About the Money and not Tradition

Ok the biggest newstory the past 2-3 days has been Texas, Texas A&M, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma St going to the Pac 10(16). But what about the 6 leftover schools. I can assume that Nebraska and Missouri are more likely going to head to the Big 10. But what about Iowa St., Kansas, Kansas St., and Baylor.

Baylor, Kansas, K-St., and Kansas will most likely end up on their feet in either the Big East, or Moutain West, or possibly the worst case scenerio CUSA. But what about Iowa St.. What if Iowa St., god forbid, ends up in the MAC? Wouldn't that be disastrous for their fan base or what?

Now Iowa St left this statement today on its dire situation. http://www.amestrib.com/articles/2010/06/04/ames_tribune/sports/doc4c0951e944459305138917.txt

Why doesn't anyone care about traditions anymore? Iowa St. been part of the B12 since it started back in 1996 and part of the Big 8 for decades. Why leave a school like this behind? Its about the dollar signs.

The Big 10 and Pac 10 needs to tell everyone the truth. All they care about is the dollar signs. They don't care about the schools that are going to be left behind. They don't give a rats ass about history and tradition. Hell they don't even care about their own traditions. There's chances of Iowa playing Ohio St. and Michigan once every 3-4 years.

I wish nothing but dire consiquences for these supermegaconferences or whater the hell you want to call them.

Plus I would like to see these conferences lose their tax exempt status. I tell you when schools can be making 20-25M a year profit due to TV Contracts. Its not a fucking nonprofit organization.

While us Big East fans are watching the B12 collapse, just keep one thing in mind. This same thing can be happening to the Big East by the end of the month, or as late as September. I'd rather buy my lube today and the Big 10 expand tomorrow. Just get this over with so we know where Pitt and WVU stand in the new realignment.

Is Notre Dame Really the Big 10's #12 Team

Does Notre Dame really want to become the Big 10's #12 school? I really don't think so.

Notre Dame thinks they're better than everyone else.

So what would it take for Notre Dame to join a conference? 2 things; 1 a Big East Collapse, 2 NBC doesn't renew their TV Contract.

Here's quotes from the Kansas City Star today

That’s how we’re approaching this. This is what we’re doing.

“Secondly, the Big East is an extraordinary partner for us. We love the schools we’re with, and they let us be independent in football.

“Having said that, everything is so unusual right now that you can envision situations where the world changes. We hope it doesn’t. We don’t want it to.“But we’re monitoring that.”

The quote I bolted is telling isn't it. It simply shows how much Notre Dame values it Independence in football.

So if Notre Dame isn't the #12 who is and why.

I can't answer those questions but I can come up with a couple of theories.

Just a couple of facts, Pitt has played Notre Dame 66 times. Notre Dame isn't willing to play Syracuse and Rutgers on their own home fields.

Those are very telling to me. I feel Notre Dame is holding the cards in this expansion and not the Big 10. Now we all know that the Big 10 wants Rutgers and that NYC Media Market. But is grabbing Syracuse and Rutgers enough to raise Notre Dame's eyebrow's. I say no.

If Rutgers and Syracuse are the 2 teams invited that's not enough to destroy the Big East. Losing Rutgers doesn't hurt our BCS bid and Syracuse has been in a funk these past 5 years.

So what exactly would really hurt the Big East's standing as a BCS Conference? Losing Pitt and Syracuse would be a start.

But the Big 10 wouldn't get the NYC Market that it wants. So whats next? Could there be a compromise?

I say that Pitt, Rutgers could possibly be the compromise that they're looking for.

Another quote from the KC Star today;

“The traditional model, where a conference had a fixed fee media rights deal, if you added somebody you sliced the pie a little thinner,” Swarbrick said.

“When you’re dealing with equity in a network ... it’s a situation we haven’t had before.”

Notre Dame’s own deal with NBC on televising home football games runs to 2015.

Might that be an an obstacle to joining a conference?“No,” Swarbrick contended. “That’s our greatest asset.”

What exactly was Swarbrick saying there? He was mentioning the TV Deals ect.

This is the closest Notre Dame has come to joining a conference since they played college football. And they're definitely thinking very hard about it.

Again there's going to have to be a compromise to get Notre Dame into the Big 10.

Here's the KC Star article that I was referring to...
http://www.kansascity.com/2010/03/28/1842531/notre-dame-ad-expands-on-big-ten.html#ixzz0jaG1vh7G

Grab a lot of popcorn and enjoy this ride.

The Future of the Big East in Limbo

Point blank, we're worried. We don't know exactly whats going to happen. For all we know the Big 10 takes Mizzou, Texas, A&M. But still the uncertainity is too scary at this point.

No matter what happens the BCS Bid is safe. But after the next evaluations all bets are off.

The majority of Big East fans want to see Memphis, ECU added. I stand in the minority of wanting Temple. I just see their quality hoops program and their future as a football program in a talent rich area. They stunk in the past because their President at the time didn't care about football. Now they got one that cares.

Another problem with the Big East is no one can agree on anything from the Catholics vs All Sports to the All Sports themselfs. The old guard wants to keep the conference more geographically friendly ie Temple, Navy, Army, Boston College, Maryland, Penn St. No matter how realistic or unrealistic those candidates are. The new guard wants to add ECU, Memphis, UAB, S. Miss, UCF. In fact most of the old guard is what keeps the 16 school conference together.

I see alot of good adding Houston and TCU. Especially in keeping our BCS bid. Unfortantately at this point its every school for itself. Most schools are ready to jump at moments notice. Which makes expansion at this point moot. If Memphis was invited tomorrow, i'm sure they'd say no. Here's why. Theres so much uncertaintiy that there may not even be a conference by the time they are set to join.

Until Notre Dame joins a conference the Big East or an all sports conference will be unstable no matter what. Notre Dame unfortanately is the key to our stability. Once they join a conference it'll allow schools like Pitt to grow.

One last point, up until 20 years ago most of the Big East schools was independent. So most of our schools don't know how to act as a cohesive unit just yet. Which explains why alot of our schools are ready to bolt at a moments notice. We're out to do whats best for us and don't care about the other 7.

Should Kids Be Forced to Pay to Play

I was sitting back surfing the net and came across an article on PennLive.com. It somewhat brought up some positives on this issue. But I spilled my coffee anyways.

Why in the world should families have to pay to have their kids play for a school funded activity? It absolutely doesn't makes sense to me. Some families simply can't afford to pay for football and other sports.

I simply don't get this one people. I really don't. Just to think that some athletes wouldn't be in college today if it wasn't for an athletic scholarship. And some hose kids wouldn't even have a shot at an scholarship if they wasn't able to afford to pay to play.

Sure most of these kids aren't going to the NFL. But at least they're earning college degree's in the process. Which means they're going to be thriving members in our society.

I understand things are tough, but why not give some of these kids a chance to change the endless struggle of poverty and crime in our poorest neighborhoods.

Spring WPIAL 1A Top 10 and Statewide Top 5

1 Clairton
2 Rochester
3 N. Catholic
4 Sto-Rox
5 Canevin
6 Springdale
7 Brentwood
8 Fort Cherry
9 Beth Center
10 Serra

1 Clairton
2 Southern Columbia Area
3 Steelton Highspire
4 Rochester
5 Dunmore

Does the WPIAL really care about tradition???

All last winter into spring we heard about the WPIAL caring about championship games at Heinz Field because its "OUR" tradition. Then Tim O'Malley was quoted in the Post-Gazette saying we fought hard for the 1 day event because of TV. Why not have 3 games on a Friday and 3 games on Saturday at the same site like a Cal U. FSN wouldn't have to remove their equipment. And all 6 games would still be on TV. Why have these games at Heinz Field with relatively no atmosphere at all when at a college site you can have a much better atmosphere? At the end of the day the kids that win the gold simply won't care where the game is at.

Now during the recent realignment 3 traditional rivalries aren't being played because of the WPIAL's ineptness. If the WPIAL simply moved Waynesburg into the Century, the Wash-Waynesburg game would be played. And at the same time Charleroi and Monessen could've had a chance to play if Frazier would've stayed put in the Blackhills. The only rivalry that wouldn't be played the next 2 seasons, under this scenerio, would be the Aliquippa-Ambridge rivalry.

So why does the WPIAL care about tradition with the championship games and not traditional rivalries. Its because the WPIAL only cares about money. Its sad that Money overrules common sense. Wash High/ Waynesburgh, Aliquippa/ Ambridge, and Charlerio/Monessen games are all games that need to be played every season.

Lets go a step further with the WPIAL's ineptness. How in the world is Clairton and Serra in the Blackhills and Canevin and Cornell in the Eastern? Simply flip flop those 2 combo's and theres simply less travel involved. Plus Canevin has played in the OVC and Blackhills in the past. I simply don't understand why the WPIAL lacks simple common sense. As my man Redman once told me... "Cash rules everything around me, dolla dolla bill ya'll".

Pitt to Big 10 Rumor

Let me be clear, i'm not down with starting rumors. I'm just commenting on the rumor from last month with my personal opinion on it. Plus as a Pitt fan I may have some homer opinions on this but i'm going to be as objective as possible.

My first thoughts are, is regaining the Penn St. rivalry worth losing the Backyard Brawl and the basketball rivalries with Villanova, Georgetown and UConn.

Money makes the world go around doesn't it. Thats what this whole Big 10 expansion is about. Can Pitt generate enough revenue for the rest of the league to at least break even?

I think the Big 10 does more for Pitt than Pitt does for the Big 10. Ohio St, Michigan, and Penn St. will obviously get Pitt fans excited and those games will be sold out games. The rest of Big 10 i'm not too sure about.

The most unfortanate part about expansion rumors are that money means more than tradition. Utah(another rumor) leaving the MWC could possibly end the Holy War with BYU. Its an exciting time right now but also depressing as the entire College Football landscape can change in front of our eyes.

Expansion Expansion Expansion

What a crazy time we live in right now. We're hearing about 2012 as the end of the world and also the demise of Eastern Football as a whole.

When I think of Big East football as a whole, I always think of the league that could've been. If Miami, Virginia Tech and BC haven't left and the Big East added Loiusville, the league would be viewed as a much stronger league than it is today. Or what if Joe Pa would've gotten his way and the all sports conference he proposed would've formed. But with that said Penn St would most likely be in the Big 10 today anyways and ditto w/ Miami and company in the ACC. Even still with that said a league like that still wouldn't stop Syracuse, Rutgers or Pitt from going to the Big 10.

Right now the hot name is Rutgers, a few weeks ago it was Texas, and a month ago it was Pitt. Even though it was the Chicago Trib that dropped the article about Rutgers, i'm still not buying it. Why do you ask? I'm not buying it because the article was more of a editoral than legit info. But at the same time, with the article coming out of Chicago it definately raises an eyebrow.

At the end of the day none of us knows really whats going to happen just yet. Even my blog it simply speculation, so take it for what it is. Just another man's opinion. Thanks for spending your time reading. And I hope you return to my blog as I write more blogs on various topics involving college sports and high school sports.