Oh, this is great. A Syracuse alum living in Virginia filed a state version of the Freedom Of Information Act to get emails from Virginia Tech officials regarding joining the ACC (link via the new Big East Fanblog). He excerpted some of the juicier comments. The best/worst

June 19, 2003, after rumors of a VT offer from the ACC

Email from Ralph Byers[, the VT Director of Government Relations,] to someone in the Virginia legislature, probably by the name of Phil Leone: “Obviously if we have a serious offer to join the ACC it would be tough not to do it, even with what’s happened. We all have demonstrated what this is about anyway, and it ain’t integrity.”

My feelings about VT ‘s actions are quite clear.

Looking over the preseason rankings at Athlon Sports, there was a link to “Cheerleaders” There I found this:

Please take some time to look over some of the very best in College Football Cheerleading.

Be sure to vote for your favorite one using the poll on the far right of the screen.

There are six head shots of cheerleadrs, with their name and school. Clicking the image only gives you a bigger picture. Wonder how they chose these six as the best.

Here was a past poll (no pictures) but the comments below are hilarious.

This is the TV schedule for college football, 2003. Guess which team you cannot find on the schedule?

On the heels of expectations, ESPN has listed Pitt as one of 5 potential breakthrough teams for the BCS

Pitt has lived in the shadow of Miami and Virginia Tech long enough. The Panthers have arguably the best receiver in the country in Larry Fitzgerald, the most underrated RB in the conference in Brandon Miree. And if QB Rod Rutherford can just be a little more consistent, this team could sneak up and spoil the Hurricanes’ and Hokies’ farewell tours. Walt Harris has loaded the Panthers with talent. They get Miami, Virginia Tech and Notre Dame in Heinz Field and travel to Texas A&M, West Virginia and BC. The season — and a BCS bowl bid — may come down to how well the Panthers play at home.

The others were NC State, Oregon St. (are you kidding me?), Oklahoma St. and Virginia.

There are fairly high expectations for Pitt, both in the national media and by the fans this year. The ever meaningless pre-season USA Today/ESPN/Coaches poll puts Pitt at #11. (The only useful thing about being rannked in the pre-season poll, is that it’s easier to stay in the poll once the season starts then it is to crack in from the outside). Despite being considered as the 3rd best team in the Big East, Pitt is considered one of the sleeper teams to contend for the BCS; to be this year’s Ohio State.

The undercurrent to that, is the fact that based on the polls, the two top teams in the Big East — Miami and Virgina Tech — are bailing for the ACC next year. For the Big East to hope to survive as a football conference, Pitt has to step up this year to show that the teams still in the Big East can compete on a national level.

So, let’s be clear.

Anything less than winning the Big East will be a disappointment this year.

We have added comments and a counter. The side links are functioning. All is well.

To Pitt Sports Blather. A name we chose because we couldn’t seem to agree on anything else, and this generated the least amount of opposition. With the exception of myself, the guys are blog newbies. Since this is a new site, things may change — get added, removed, moved, etc. Please bear with us as we try to figure this out. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get comments on the site as well.