I understand that the infamous, insulting 2-for-1 offer only came in response to Pitt’s intentions to bundle tickets and charge more for the Penn State games when they moved to Heinz Field. I just don’t understand how it’s any of Penn State’s business how Pitt conducts their ticket pricing structure. Does Iowa dictate how Iowa State charges for their tickets?

im over PSU-lets keep it going with WVU and not worry about UPS. yes i would like them on the schedule, but its not going to happen, plus id rather play WVU..

i can see the two points of having PA football in the spring.

Having played high school football, I already know the amount of time it really takes up, which is a lot. I know some programs (usually the good ones) practice till 7-8pm during the day, and then Saturday all morning til 1pm. So one concern is just the time it takes up and the toll on the mind and body. It takes some dedication but it definitely can be done.

Also you could have more of training camp type items in the spring… a lesser load.. but keeps the rust off in the offseason. I know some individuals have the dedication to do this.. but remember they are highschool kids.

If you look at the big fertile grounds for talent.. FL and TX are tops and they play year around… i mean what other reason can somebody explain why the talent there is so sought after ? Are kids in FL and TX just genetically superior ?..haha.

If regulated correctly, I’d be for it to keep PA a rich ground for recruits, thus improving Pitt.

Snala:

I live in Texas, spring practice actually gives the high school players an opportunity to develop their individual skills and the extra time allows them to address their weaknesses.

If managed correctly it is not an academic or personal distraction.

Spring practice is unecessary at the HS level. Kids that are good enough athletes go on to play in college. Their skills are developed more in their first year of college than all four years of hs combined. Heck most HS coaches are either teaching wrong technique or hardly teaching technique at all. As I said in a previous post FB isn’t like hoops, it doesn’t take years to develop skills like ball handling and shooting in bball. This is why the Greg Romeus’s and Antonio Gates can be so successful. Take an athlete, give them a few years in HS and then the tutiledge of a college coach and they will be fine. I believe spring practice is more of a hindrance because it keeps kids from playing other sports. I believe cross-training in HS helps kids develop all-around athletic skills and become a better overall athlete. It is fine for the kids who only play FB to begin with, but when it starts discouraging kids from playing other sports thats a problem.

Living in Texas I’ve come to see spring football as necessary for skill development. Our high schools have spring games. Isn’t PA falling behind both by not having spring football and by under-playing basketball season with around twenty-one games as opposed to the 27 or 28+ we play here in Texas? I agree with Mike. Penn State has become a dead issue for me. I’d rather see the Big East survive with the WVU rivalry intact. After all, Pitt & WVU are the two best basketball and football teams in the league. Makes a helluva rivalry! Penn State with its pathetic BB program will not provide the level of competition WVU does.

I still don’t see what football skills necessitate 6-12 extra practices a year to develop at the HS level. Sure it may be good for O-lineman or kids that wouldn’t play another sport normally. But its horrible to for kids that are forced into playing only football.

PA has fallen behind states like Texas, California and Florida because of one reason…talent. That is in state, raw talent and it has nothing to do with whether or not the kids there play spring ball.
The population in western PA has been on the decline for decades now and there simply aren’t as many talented players in the area (its still a great place to recruit, but certainly not the level of FL or TX).

Spring ball would ruin a lot of the high school athletic experience for a ton of kids who would otherwise play other sports and furthermore, it would only help very few kids.

I agree with TJ. Not only has there been a population decline in Western PA, the area schools with the largest enrollments tend to be affluent suburban schools where football does not get the attention it used to get … and soccer and non-sporting activities are on the rise.

I went to New Castle HS when it had a graduation class of 600 and football games would almost always be a sellout of 13,000; now the enrollment is a little over 1/3 of that, and the stadium holds about 6000 and very rarely sells out.