Black&Blue&Gold

The NHL and the NHLPA are playing a $3.3 billion game of chicken. Sadly, the casualties of this game are not the players or the owners. Rather, those most hurt are the thousands of employees whose livelihoods depend on the league. To them, three lockouts in 18 years isn’t embarrassing; it’s downright infuriating.

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Maybe you have heard of Pete Antimarino. He is the WPIAL football legend who guided Gateway to 236 wins, 17 conference championships and five undefeated seasons. For 32 years he marched the Gators into battle.

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The California Trojans are playing against more than just the Clairton Bears on Friday night. Brady Barbaro’s squad is also challenging a 49-game win streak, three top-flight WPIAL recruits and the PIAA’s reigning champion.

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College is a stepping stone. Penguins Development Camp and Olli Maatta: Stepping stones. That is the adopted outlook for the 209th overall pick of the 2012 NHL Draft.

Maatta and Scott Wilson were selected 186 picks apart—Maatta in the first-round, Wilson in the seventh—but one month ago they were both in Pittsburgh, on the same ice, playing for the same team. The success rate for seventh round picks is less than 8 percent, based on a sample size of the 2006-08 draft classes. Seventy-nine skaters were selected over those three years. Only seven of them have suited up for more than 15 NHL games.

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Warning: These projections are cautiously optimistic.

Louisville is the lone Big East representative in the preseason AP Top-25 and one of only two ranked teams on Pitt’s schedule this season. The Panthers will play both opponents at home. Pitt’s chances of winning the Big East will hinge on those two games, and these other points.

1.) The offensive line: Continue reading. 

The 2012 Pitt Panthers are rounding into shape. While there was a lot to like about Saturday’s scrimmage, Pitt’s second of the preseason, not everybody was happy. Count head coach Paul Chryst among those who were quick to point out that this team has a long way to go.

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Welcome to the Big 12, West Virginia. It took $20 million and eight months to officially defect from the Big East, but the move is worth it for a perfect match. That’s what this is, afterall: a perfect match.

Playmakers on offense, NFL prospects on defense; Pitt is loaded with talent. After a disappointing 2011 and off-season coaching change, the Panthers are finally getting down to football. Plain and simple football.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Pitt is the most skilled team in the Big East. The defense is laden with talent and the offense is star-studded, but can the Panthers finally live up to the hype?

All the tools were working for Pittsburgh this afternoon. Starter AJ Burnett became the first Pirates pitcher in 13 years to win 15 games while Garrett Jones totaled six RBI in a 10-6 win.

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Brian Taylor Urruela knows the meaning of sacrifice. A former baseball player in high school, Urruela still looks the part eight years later. Pegging the lightly stubbled, broad shouldered man as an athlete is not a thin limb to climb out on at first glance. It is only after scanning the 26-year-old’s lower body that you might second guess yourself.

Urruela stands on one leg, not two.