Home opener game time anounced

The sweet smell of hot yellow plastic stadium chairs should be overwhelming for
the Pitt football team in September with the announcement that Panther's
home opener will be noon kickoff. The 12 p.m. kickoff is unique by home opener
standards, with the past eight (at least) starting at 3:30 p.m. or later.

The reason for this is, of course, a scheduling conflict with those annoying
tenants on the other side of the parking lot - the Pirates - who have a
Bobblehead Night scheduled. Of course, Bobbleheads, fireworks and
all-yinz-can-eat sections are the only reasons to even consider attending a
Pirates game over the past 16 seasons. But we'll let that go for now,
because we at Panther Rants have a bigger
question. Such as...

HOW F%$#ING HARD IS IT to develop communication between these two
organizations? Really, why can't the Pirates and Pitt sit down and say,
"okay, these are are home dates that we anticipate in September. We expect
or home opener to be on X, so if you could, please schedule any big promotions
on Y or Z. Oh, you already have a big one scheduled? Okay, we'll look to
slip some of these dates around."

I mean, for Christ's sake, these two have been scheduling around each other
since 2001, yet every year - every Gat damned year - we seem to have some sort
of "conflict." In 2006 it was the Michigan State game. In 2005, the
Pirates had to switch a night game with the Cubs to a day game to accomodate
the Pitt Notre Dame game. How hard is it to sit down and say, "okay, Major
League baseball has you on the road that day? We'll play a home game?'

And...

WHY THE F$%# does Pitt feel that they need to open every season at home. I
seriously can't remember the last time Pitt opened a season on the road.
certainly hasn't happened in the 12 seasons I've devoted entirely too
much time, money and energy to following them. Would it kill us to, say, open
on the road at Navy Aug. 30, and then open the season the following Saturday,
when the Pirates are in San Francisco?

Finally...

It appears that the Sept. 20 game with Iowa will also be a noon kickoff, not
because of the Pirates, but because there is a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert that
night at P.N.C. Park. Personally, I think we should cancel the game, since
I'm guessing most Iowa fans would rather go to the concert than the
football game anyways, not to mention most Pitt fans. But seriously, you had an
entire summer to schedule this concert and choose a weekend that Pitt just MIGHT
want to play a home game. Awesome.

And, as stated previously, these mishaps with scheduling scream a lack of
communication between both Pitt and the Pirates. Either that or arrogance and
apathy, which also wouldn't surprise us in the least.

The people of Minnesota manage to pencil a professional baseball team, an NFL
team and a college team into ONE STADIUM every year for the past 25 with
minimal issues. These clowns can't even work two teams into two separate
sites.