Myself I'm always excited for football, even when my teams suck. I'm pretty excited to watch Steelers preseason vs. Houston on NFLN on Friday
Rank these in order of your excitement
- Thread starter TheWerewolfFromTwilight
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Here's a question to those who were born and raised in Western PA. Unless you are over 70 or uneducated, why don't you follow the Penguins or like hockey? Especially when that franchise has been by far the most successful team in Pittsburgh over the last 35 years and it is not particularly close. I mean you can take the number of championships won by the Steelers/Pirates and both Pitt entities over the last 35 years, and get this, double them, and still not reach the the number the Penguins won. And they weren't flukey, and pretty much for over 75-80% of the last 35 years, the Penguins had the best player in their sport.
So why? I mean soccer geeks, I get it, last pick in gym class, everyone gets a trophy, but you would think there is some crossover here. And I get it, poor football river town folks..........you never played the sport. But still..... I am really curious to know why? I believe some are completely jealous because the Pens have outshined their favorite teams that they have usurped media coverage. I hope it is not a race thing. I am just curious as to why?
So why? I mean soccer geeks, I get it, last pick in gym class, everyone gets a trophy, but you would think there is some crossover here. And I get it, poor football river town folks..........you never played the sport. But still..... I am really curious to know why? I believe some are completely jealous because the Pens have outshined their favorite teams that they have usurped media coverage. I hope it is not a race thing. I am just curious as to why?
Just don't like hockey. I watched the Pens in the 90's, but I was young. I got into the '09 cup run, mainly because my friends at the time were all hockey fanatics and I do admit the NHL playoffs are quite entertaining if you actually care a bit. But as I got older and assumed more responsibilities, well, there just wasn't any room for a sport I never liked all that much to begin with.
I mean, the NBA isn't my thing either, but I still watch college and can relate to basketball a bit. I have never played hockey and just don't care all that much.
I know there are people who like all Pittsburgh sports, but like I've said, hockey can draw a weird crowd. I know plenty of Penguins fans who couldn't name three Steelers. Like, hockey is the only sport they follow. That tells me that I'm not too insane and it truly is just a little different and not for everyone. Has nothing to to with race, as I am as white as the ice they play on. If anything, I think hockey is the sport the last picks in gym class gravitate toward.
NHL and NBA make the regular season pointless. I'm not getting invested for 82 games when half the league makes the playoffs. I'll tune in around April.
MLB is doing the same thing adding so many wildcards. They had it right when they had 3 division winners and two wild cards per league. Now you can tune out until September and not miss much excitement.
College football just did this too, not that it impacts most teams. But there's no reason for me to care about OSU vs Michigan anymore when both teams are making a 12 team playoff win or lose.
I thought college needed to do this. Totally agree that it makes some regular season games a little less exciting, but there are always a few exciting games to choose from each week. Their postseason, however, was becoming way too elitist, and the non-playoff bowl games are glorified scrimmages these days. For a sport that's been trending in the wrong direction, I think this is something that actually makes it better.
1. Pitt Hoops excited to see the usage of what appears to be a loaded roster.
2. Steelers who and how is the QB position going to turn-out?
3 Pitt FB How fast or slow will the new Offense execute with a new coach, system and QB?
4. Pens How well will Sid hold up?
5. Pirates baseball...snore
2. Steelers who and how is the QB position going to turn-out?
3 Pitt FB How fast or slow will the new Offense execute with a new coach, system and QB?
4. Pens How well will Sid hold up?
5. Pirates baseball...snore
I like the penguins -
But, I’m not watching every game and honestly will just catch highlights until the final stretch towards playoffs .
Also why I don’t watch baseball .
I grew up in the 60s and 70s in Western PA and as a kid played football, baseball and basketball because those where the only sports played in my area, at the time I never knew a single person that played hockey or soccer, nobody in my area played those sports, when I was like 18 I remember some teams of Greek and Italian immigrants started a local adult soccer league and that was the first time I saw that played in person, but hockey, never saw it or knew anyone who played. Late 80s I jumped on the Penguins fan bandwagon and remained on it to this day, But I'm mainly a Pens fan and not a hockey fan, I never watch games that don't include the Pens, but as a fan, they have surpassed baseball, after they blew up the team in 1992 I never really watched baseball again, other than the Pirates playoff games in 2013-15.. I like the Pens, but the sport itself doesn't matter much to me. To me baseball ranks below hockey and hockey ranks below everything else, including soccer, which I got to learn and like because I had a chance to play some adult rec league (GK was fun to play) and was always involved with my daughter's teams for 12 years so I learned that up close, hockey my only connection is watching Pens on TV.
But the meaningless games can be a TV show for the evening on a cold night in February to pass a couple hours, doesn't need to mean more than that day's entertainment.
Just my opinion but it’s really weird to see the way you all are talking/feeling about Pitt football.
I mean, Pitt is and has been a solid program. Pretty mediocre but you can expect 6 to 8 wins yearly.
I get it, we had a 3-9 season. A disgrace. It was pathetic.
But guess what? We also had a pathetically bad offense, and the whole offensive staff and QB is gone.
2024 preseason win total from Vegas?
5.5
Which is pretty much predicting (with a ton of unknowns) right back to our usual mediocrity.
So I get it if you’re tapped out just because of the current landscape of college sports or whatever.
But there’s this weird sense of apathy and doom about Pitt football that I don’t totally understand. If you’re only interested when they have a CFP chance… then of course you’re not excited. But you shouldn’t be a Pitt fan.
To me, this season is pretty damn exciting because you can make a realistic case for anything from 4-8 to 8-4 and I’d believe it. Even 3-9 and 9-3 seem possible.
Brand new, drastic OC change. New Qb.
Just seems odd that Pitt football fans feel so entitled and dramatic.
JMO
I mean, Pitt is and has been a solid program. Pretty mediocre but you can expect 6 to 8 wins yearly.
I get it, we had a 3-9 season. A disgrace. It was pathetic.
But guess what? We also had a pathetically bad offense, and the whole offensive staff and QB is gone.
2024 preseason win total from Vegas?
5.5
Which is pretty much predicting (with a ton of unknowns) right back to our usual mediocrity.
So I get it if you’re tapped out just because of the current landscape of college sports or whatever.
But there’s this weird sense of apathy and doom about Pitt football that I don’t totally understand. If you’re only interested when they have a CFP chance… then of course you’re not excited. But you shouldn’t be a Pitt fan.
To me, this season is pretty damn exciting because you can make a realistic case for anything from 4-8 to 8-4 and I’d believe it. Even 3-9 and 9-3 seem possible.
Brand new, drastic OC change. New Qb.
Just seems odd that Pitt football fans feel so entitled and dramatic.
JMO
Because the fans have a pretty good pulse on the team, and this one isn't likely to be very good. In the last 25 years, we have only won 5 or less games four times. So when we're predicted to win 5.5 games, that isn't just "usual mediocrity."
I don't know many fans who are proclaiming "We did it!" and wanting to throw a parade when Pitt goes 7-5. The talk is usually about a few plays here or there that could have allowed us to get to that 9 or 10-win mark and have a special season (by Pitt standards). That's what has always kept fans coming back.
When you go into it thinking a special season is all but off the table as a possibility, yeah - it makes it significantly less exciting.
If you think 9-3 is even a remote possibility for this season, you are absolutely delusional.
We’ll see. Either way, I think there’s a lot of intriguing things to watch this season.
The only thing intriguing is of the low rates transfers who followed the WCU coaches are any better or much worse than the goofballs from BC.
Yeah, this offense is going to be tough to watch. I don't see anything intriguing about it. Aside from how bad it looks on paper and the atrocity that was the Spring Game, multiple players have cited how bad it is on their way out.
If they can pull a rabbit out of their hat between now and the beginning of the season, I'll be pleasantly surprised. As of now, I expect the Iowa jokes to be a-flowin'.
1. Pirates until other seasons start
2. Pitt Football (starts a week before steelers)
3. Steelers
4. Pitt Basketball
5. Pens
2. Pitt Football (starts a week before steelers)
3. Steelers
4. Pitt Basketball
5. Pens
I'm in agreement with you. I can't wait for Pitt hoops, but, have low expectations for Pitt football. The Buccos have a shot and we are in August. I like what the Steelers have done with the O-line. Pens are on the way down.
1. Pitt Football
2. Pitt basketball
Hate the Steelers now cause of KP. Hate Bob Nutting and won’t support until he sells the team. Cheap skate.
Never was a hockey fan.
2. Pitt basketball
Hate the Steelers now cause of KP. Hate Bob Nutting and won’t support until he sells the team. Cheap skate.
Never was a hockey fan.
Not only that, and I haven't looked lately, but the last time I looked you had to pay a little premium to get the under 5.5. Which means that they think we are a little bit more likely to win five rather than six.
But hey, even five would be more than three. So hooray us, I guess.
Circa LV is pretty sharp and they have under 5.5 at -140.
LOL......Kenny is already demoted to 3rd string in Philly. He is a just another guy who was a great college QB and has no pro abililty.
I don't think those reports are official or anything. At least not what I've seen.
But yeah - tough to say he isn't just someone who benefitted from having four years of starting experience in college (when do you ever see that?), in addition to throwing to a wide open 1st round talent at receiver in 2021.
Not sure I understand the last pick in gym class thing. The best American athletes play football, basketball, and baseball. Soccer and hockey get good athletes, but generally, not the elite ones that the other sports gets. I do agree that there should be some crossover in fans. Not sure there is.
For me, I was a pretty big Pens fan until they got rid of Jagr and I couldn't get back into them after their rebuild.
The guys who played hockey when I was in high school were absolutely the last picks in gym class. None of them were the least bit talented at any other sport.
So I agree - If the 90% of guys who were better than them in football, basketball, etc. chose to play hockey, then I'm guessing they would fall back into the same low tier in that sport as well. It's a sport that doesn't attract the best of the best in this country.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
Haha, I kind of remember something similar. They were all good guys but didn't really play any other sports. Maybe soccer.
Again, this is not meant as a shot at Kenny. But I did an analysis and only 2 in 10 QB's drafted in the 1st rd actually make impact as a positive starter. While it is the most important, it is also the most valued (overvalued) position in the draft. It is why certain franchises who are known bottom feeders continue to suck because they chase bad QB after bad QB.
No I think that is called soccer. At least the USA is a power in hockey. And I think it has better athletes than you think.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
I'll be honest, I've looked at this thread a few times. It's really hard to be "excited" about any of them. Maybe Pitt basketball because there's a chance it could come back? I know everyone is all jacked up over the Pirates but it's just going to take one bad 10 game stretch to sink that ship and we all know that's likely. The tone of the information coming from camp makes me think the Steelers are in for a rough season. Pens are just old and tired looking and haven't seem to done much to address that. Pitt football is what it is and the NIL era won't help. I don't know. City is in for a rough few years with its major sports teams.
Soccer was kind of the same thing, but hockey was way worse. A lot of the soccer guys at least played baseball or basketball growing up. The hockey guys played video games growing up.
Plus I'm seeing soccer fields pop up all over the place. I'm not denying that the popularity of hockey among US kids may also be increasing (not sure either way). I'm just saying that when I was in school you'd have been able to tell who played football or basketball by looking at them. With the hockey guys, you wouldn't have known if you were looking at athletes or a Magic the Gathering club.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
I think hockey is limited by the cost so it takes a certain income level. I know different groups have tried to help with that but equipment and travel is crazy so that probably limits participation.
I played football, basketball, and baseball growing up. Hockey was an afterthought. There were hardly any ice rinks in the area and very few kids played it. I liked Mario, but just could never get into the sport and I’d much rather spend my time following the other 3 sports.
Yeah, and there just isn't a ton of ice to go around either. People are renting rinks out at like 10:00 pm or 5:00 am. Just not conducive to garnering the interest of the average kid, I wouldn't think.
That might not last long either. Saw a couple articles saying Pickett is struggling a bit and might not even be QB2.Just like you'll quit being an Inter Miami fan when Messi leaves, if you haven't quit on that already. So are you an Eagle's fan now? Or not until Hurts gets injured
Ultimately it might pan out that way...just keep in mind that those articles were amplified by the excellent journalist known as Vuk who and his minions simply copied a training camp report that said Hurts is #1 and was not playing in the Iggles first preseason game and Kenny and some other dude would share reps...again kenny might be 3rd on the depth chart leaving camp...or he might be 2nd...I highly doubt the iggles traded for kenny with the idea he would unseat hurts during the off-season.
I never even saw anything from Vuk. I believe one of the sources was an Eagles beat writer so I figured (wrongly perhaps) there was something to it.
That's probably the original source. I just know locally vuk has tweeted that story mulitple times.
No, the Eagles writers are all evil anti Pitt Nitters purposely trying to sabotage poor Kenny
pittdan77
Athletic Director
He was the last guy picked in gym class and didn't play any sports so he's struggling with the concept.
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