Panther Rants Soap Box

JoePa has been JoePooing an awful lot lately. His khaki trousers, for instance, will never be the same. But on Tuesday, while attending a function in Pittsburgh, Joe turned to a favorite subject of his to poo-poo, reviving the Pitt-Penn State gridiron rivalry.



Now, we at Panther Rants can understand the incontinent old coot's desires to have seven home games every year. What program wouldn't like to have that type of revenue generating opportunity? But for him to even suggest that Pitt should accept a 2-for-1 deal proves one of two things: the Alzheimer's has progressed to a severe level or in light of Jeff Long's track record of boneheaded moves, Joe thinks Long would actually accept such an arrangement. We think both might be correct.

Joe's arrogance and myriad of excuses are only a front used to cloak his real issues - he's a bitter, angry, confused, incontinent, irrelevant old fool who still bitterly clings to a grudge more than 25 years old. What really bothers us at Panther Rants is the absolute arrogance of JoePa.

Here's a clue to Joe and all the Nitters, your program is no more relevant on the national scene than Pitt. UPS has been to the same number of BCS bowls, has been to less bowl games overall and has less wins than Pitt this decade, it hasn't had a serious Heisman contender in over a decade and most every kid of college age wasn't yet born when you last won a national title.

Pitt has absolutely no reason to bow to UPS. Nitters like to claim that Pitt needs Penn State. That's a complete farce. In fact, the opposite is more true.

Penn State is, has been and always will be the red-headed step child of the Big Eleven. While Nitters get all geeked up to play the Ohio States, Michigans, Wisconsins and Iowas of the conference, those programs view Penn State no differently than they view Indiana or Northwestern - it's just another game on the schedule. Boy, it must suck to play a bunch of one-sided rivalries.

Panther Rants is a proponent of allowing this series to continue to lie in fallow as it really is of no benefit to Pitt. However, with nostalgia creeping in, Panther Rants isn't against the series resuming on a full-time basis.

What we find to be sad is that because one angry, bitter, misguided fool continues to carry a grudge of more than two decades, a whole new generation of Pennsylvania football fans - whether they be fans of Pitt, Penn State or fence riders - are being deprived of what was once one of college football's truly great rivalries.

Congratulations, Joe. Not only have you overstayed your welcome and ability to be effective as a coach, your legacy is now becoming that of a man so consumed by his own vendetta that he would put his own interest ahead of what is best for the state's two largest schools as well as the young fans of this once great game.