Thursday, October 11, 2007

Q&A with Frustrated Beat Reporter

One of the great things the Post-Gazette does -- remember, it is one of America's Great Newspapers, but seriously I'm being complimentary here -- is that it allows beat reporters enormous leeway in both real-time and mailbag Q&A sessions. The result is that, except for whomever is covering the Steelers at a given time, every single one of these Q&As turns into a highly entertaining variation on

DavefromNorthVersailles: Why are the (Pens) (Pirates) (RMU Colonials) (Panthers) so bad?

Beat Reporter: Modestly original joke, Dave. Additional generic pithiness. But seriously, let's all take a step back from the ledge.

StillLivingin1979: Beat Reporter, hey, it's me again. From a ledge.

Beat Reporter: At least (Philadelphia) (Manatee Community College) (Duquesne) (just Darnell Dickerson by himself, unprotected by pads, hands bound, with a missile trained on him) awaits on the schedule, so there is outside hope of a victory this week.

And so on, until the Stillers arrive in Latrobe and don the pads Darnell would so appreciate and hope springs and all the bad things go away.

Of course, with the heart of the Big East schedule ahead -- Cincinnati, at Louisville, Syracuse, at Rutgers, South Florida, at West Virginia -- there is no such optimism today from Paul Zeise.

itsonlyagame: In rebuilding a program you need to show some improvement. How will this consistent losing effect recruiting?

Paul Zeise: I think there are a lot of recruits who were on the fence about Pitt and waiting to see what was going to happen with this season. I'd say there is likely a lot less of them who will be considering matriculating in Oakland next August.

...

Douglas_John: Why is Paul Rhoades still Pitt's defensive coordinator?

Paul Zeise: next question

...

Blahovec: What was [Super Bowl quarterback] Rod Rutherford doing on the sidelines last night? Is he part of the staff now and does he have any eligibility?

Paul Zeise: He is some kind of an intern or graduate assistant. And no, he doesn't have any eligibility.

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