Way To Go Duquesne, and Other Sports Tidbits

Hearty CONGRATULATIONS go out to day to the Duquesne Dukes, the college basketball team of my youth, and the Alma Mater of my parents, Class of '35, and my older brother Jim, Class of '66, and their head coach of seven years, Keith Dambrot for winning the Atlantic 10 Tournament and earning an automatic bid into this year's NCAA Tournament.  As we were constantly reminded by the announcers over the course of the A-10 tourney, this is the Dukes first trip to the Big Dance since 1977, the first year of the Carter Administration to put it perspective.

I'm not going to lie, I hadn't followed the Dukes much at all this season, but I was thrilled to watch them in this tournament as they beat top seed Dayton and then St. Bonaventure and Virginia Commonwealth in the semis and the finals.  When I was just a tyke being indoctrinated into the world of sports by my grandfather, father, and older brothers, there were the Pirates in baseball, the Steelers in football, and Duquesne in basketball.  That's was it.  That was the list.  So, yes, I'm thrilled for Duquesne today.

One could write a book - and my pal Dave Finoli probably already has - about what has happened to the once storied program on The Bluff, but let's forget about it for now and celebrate today.  Who knows what kind of run the Dukes may have once the NCAA extravaganza tips off, but it sure is nice to see them relevant once again.

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Well, the figurative ink was barely dry on my Grandstander post of yesterday, wherein I detailed the the amazing news from the Steelers this week, first Wilson, then Pickett (see what I did there), when another bombshell was donated from South Water Street:  the news that the Steelers had made a trade with the Chicago Bears and obtained quarterback Justin Fields (as speculated upon in yesterday's Grandstander).  To get this former first round pick and three year starter, the Steelers sent to Chicago a bag of practice footballs, a tackling sled, and a few kicking tees.   

Fields is set to be Russell Wilson's back up.  He is 25 years old, and he could become the team's QB for the next decade.  Of course, that might not happen either, but regardless of how it plays out, the Steelers and GM Omar Kahn have certainly not sat still during this off season.  An interesting note in the paper this morning stated that since Kahn took over as GM two years ago, only 17 players from the Kevin Colbert era remain on the current 90 man roster.  In addition, Kahn has let go of a bunch of scouts and personnel people and replaced them with new ones.   Omar is definitely putting his stamp on Rooney U.

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Of course, when the Steelers are making one blockbuster deal after another, other sports news in The Burgh gets pretty well lost in the shuffle.  Such was the case with the signing by the Pirates of outfielder Michael A. Taylor (former Twins, Nationals).   It was pretty much stated that Taylor would become the starting centerfielder for the Bucs heading into the '24 season.

To be sure, Taylor is no Andy Van Slyke, but I think that he could become a significant contributor to the Pirates as the season unfolds.

 

Calling B.S. on the Pitt Athletic Department

Since being named Athletic Director at Pitt in 2017, Heather Lyke has pretty much distinguished herself in that role, but a development this past week has caused me to call "bulls----" on the Pitt athletic department, and since the buck stops with her, well, sorry about that, Ms. Lyke.

I am speaking about the decision that Pitt has made to not play against Duquesne in the annual City Game basketball game next season.  "We just can't fit it on to our schedule next year" seems to be the word coming from Oakland.  Are you kidding me?  How many basketball games will be on Pitt's non-conference schedule next year? How many of them will be cream puff guaranteed wins against schools like East Overshoe State? 

Duquesne sits a few miles down Forbes Street from Pitt.  Duquesne is willing to play at the Peterson Center if PPG Paints Arena is somehow not available (which I find it hard to believe).  And Pitt can't see their way to playing this game?

I give credit to Pitt for agreeing to play Robert Morris next season in Moon Township for the opening of RMU's new on campus arena, but if they are using the scheduling of THAT game as an excuse NOT to find a way to play Duquesne, well, like I say....bull----!

All this is even more incomprehensible when one considers how the Pitt administration seems to be willing to crawl on its knees to schedule football games with Penn State, and then allows its fan base to bellyache and moan about Penn State's arrogance in not wanting to include the Panthers on its football schedule.  Looks like Pitt has learned a lesson from PSU and is doing the same thing to Duquesne in this instance.

Thoughts on the City Game

As you know from a previous post, I attended the Pitt-Duquesne basketball game this past weekend, aka, The City Game, and I found it to be a bit of a lackluster event in spite of the best efforts of the schools' respective pep bands, cheerleaders, dance teams, and, oh yeah, the basketball teams.

Part of this is no doubt due to the fact that on Thanksgiving Weekend, neither school was in session so the student sections on both sides were virtually empty, and that the Consol Energy Center was only half filled.  Mainly, however, I think that this stems from the one sided nature of what this "rivalry" has become.  Pitt has now won this game thirteen years in a row, and 31 of the past 35 times it has been played.

This year, Pitt was tired, I believe, from two tough games earlier in the week in Brooklyn, and allowed the Dukes to make a game of it for awhile...

...but in the end, overall talent prevailed, and a 17 point Pitt victory was the result.

I have opined on this subject in the past ( http://www.grandstander.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-city-game-steel-bowl-and-special.html ), but this game just does not have the significance that it once held in this town.  Pitt upped its ante as a basketball school decades ago when it joined the Big East, and now the ACC, and somewhere along the way, Duquesne made the choice that they were not going to make the "All In" commitment needed to compete in the elite circles of college basketball, or even in the top echelon of the Atlantic 10.  Duquesne shouldn't be criticized if this is the direction they wish to take, and, in fact, perhaps they are placing athletics in the priority that people often SAY that they should be (except, of course, when your school loses all the time), so perhaps they should also consider stepping down, perhaps to the Northeast Conference, and compete with schools, such as Robert Morris and St. Francis, to name two local institutions, who seem to place athletics in a similar perspective.

Jamie Dixon and Jim Ferry can say all they want about how much this "rivalry game" means, but if they were REALLY honest, I am guessing the neither school would be too upset of this game was no longer scheduled.

As far as the Event went this past Saturday, my vote for most outstanding performance goes to this guy:

Yep.  The kid who played the bass drum in the Pitt Pep Band was more enthusiastic than any player on the court.  He would actually leave his feet and jump into the air as he beat hell out of that drum when the band played, and his spiked Mohawk hair style only added to his panache. Loved him!

The City Game, the Steel Bowl, and a Special Anniversary

Earlier this week, Pitt easily defeated Duquesne in this annual "City Game".  My friend, Fred Shugars, was in attendance and offered the following observation on Facebook:

If you've never been to The City Game, you can't call yourself a Pittsburgh sports fan. Best spectacle around--both student sections, both bands, both sets of cheerleader and dancers, and a mascot dance-off!

Well, who am I to disagree, and I am sorry to say that I have not yet been to a "City Game" as it exists in its current iteration, but I will say to Fred, and to anyone else who (a) may not be a long time resident of Pittsburgh, and (b) may be under the age of, say, 60, and as such has no memory of when Duquesne was a significant player in the world of college basketball, and was, in fact, far superior to Pitt in the sport, both nationally and locally, that the Pitt-Duquesne  Rivalry has changed quite a bit over the years.  

The rivalry between the schools used to  manifest itself in the annual Steel Bowl Basketball Tournament.  For those who don't remember, two schools would be invited to play in the Steel Bowl, which was, if memory serves, held in December.  Pitt would play one opponent, Duquesne the other.  The hope would be that both teams would win their opening round game, and then face each other in the Championship.  It didn't always work out that way, but it usually did.  While I can't say this for certain, I am guessing that my first trip to a college basketball game was probably to a Steel Bowl event, where I, the son of two Duquesne grads, would furiously cheer for the Red & Blue.

Over the years, I know that I saw the University of Miami's Rick Barry play in the Steel Bowl, and I also saw the UCLA Bruins play in the event.  Unfortunately, I caught the Bruins after Lew Alcindor and before Bill Walton.  Yes, I was witness to a game during the glorious Steve Patterson Era.  Although after the game, I did go down on the floor and shake hands with John Wooden.  True story.

Pitt and Duquesne used to compete and recruit the same players, usually local kids like Bill Knight, Bill Zopf, Mickey Davis, and the Nelson Twins.  At some point in the mid- to late 70's, thew rivalry may have hit its peak when Tim Grgurich coached at Pitt and Mike Rice coached the Dukes.  Both were alums of their schools, and the rivalry was most intense.  Then Pitt joined the Big East, the basketball program took off and they never looked back, while the fortunes of the Dukes have been in a decline that with few exceptions, has been going on for well over thirty years.  I seriously doubt that either the players or the coaches, if they were honest with themselves, care a whole lot about this "rivalry" game.

I will say that I plan on taking up Fred's call next year, and be there at the 2013 City Game, but at the risk of sounding like a hey-you-kids-get-off-of-my-lawn old timer, I will hold fast to my belief that games between Pitt and Duquesne just ain't what they used to be.

How does all of this tie in with that "Special Anniversary" mentioned in the title?  Well, you see it was forty years ago today - December 8, 1972 - that Marilyn and I went out on our first date.  And where was that first date, you may ask?  Well, it was at the Civic Arena for the, you guessed it, Steel Bowl opening round doubleheader.  I  can't recall who the two opponents were, I do remember that Billy Knight played for Pitt, and I'm pretty sure that both Pitt and the Dukes won their games.  You can forgive me, I hope, if I'm fuzzy on the details, but I had more important thoughts on my mind that night than the results of a couple of hoops games!

Happy Anniversary, Marilyn!!!!